Bon Voyage, Anna Hemmings!

If you don’t already know, Anna is one of Britain’s Olympic hopefuls and in my opinion, one of the best examples of what an athlete should be.  She’s a canoeist, many times world champion and hopefully heading to Beijing to bring back some gold.

A few years ago, having achieved two world champion medals in a single weekend, Anna began to lose her strength and her energy – all of it. She went from world class fitness to barely able to fall out of bed and was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  As far as the experts were concerned, Anna’s career was over; she’d hit the wall.

Maybe that’s the difference between the winners and the rest – walls don’t stop winners; they give them something to climb over.  For the two years when all she had the energy to do was talk, Anna talked. She gave inspirational speeches to various organizations – schools and companies – about the focus and dedication you need to succeed and how this CFS was just another hurdle. And all the time she climbed.  Within five months of getting the all-clear, Anna was holding another World Class medal and she hasn’t stopped since.

Good luck in Beijing, Anna, to you and all your team!