23. When the beautiful Olympic moment is not what you expected with Abbey and Jacob Cooper
Laura’s guests on the podcast today are Olympic runner, Abbey Cooper, and her sport psychologist husband, Jacob. Abbey’s impressive college career includes being seven-time national champion, 16-time Ivy League champion and 12-time All-American. In 2012, she became the first Dartmouth woman to win a national title, and in 2013 she became the first Ivy League student-athlete to win the cross-country title. Currently running for New Balance and pursuing the Tokyo Olympics, Abbey is perhaps best known for her inspiring performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics, which she describes in full here today. Highly talented in his own right, Jacob was a scholarship athlete and four-year starter on the football team at Taylor University. This experience led to his interest in the field of sport psychology, and currently, he is the Director of Sport Psychology Services at Appalachian State University and a member of the Mental Health Registry of the USOPC.
Their conversation with Laura today explores not only their story in sport and in their personal relationship, but also of their unwavering faith, and the role that God plays in their lives. Along the way, they touch on Abbey’s experience at Dartmouth and the beginning of her faith journey, God’s grace in her life, His transformation of Jacob’s heart, and how He has taught them lessons about hardship, suffering, and what really matters through His ministry to them. Of course, Abbey’s historic and inspiring performance at the 2016 Olympics is recounted from both of their perspectives, and they also share details of their unique dynamic, what the past four years have been like, what they’ve been working on during the pandemic, and the dream that they have for helping other athletes. Having been through so much, and having faced it all together, supported by the power of their faith, Abbey and Jacob have many lessons to teach about making meaning out of experiences, and they do precisely that here today with extraordinary grace, humility, and sincerity.
Episode Highlights:
· Abbey’s experience at Dartmouth
· The beginning of her faith journey and her transitional moment
· God’s grace in her life
· Jacob’s athletic experience
· God’s transformation of his heart
· Jacob’s transition into sports psychology
· How Abbey and Jacob’s relationship started and built
· Abbey’s 2016 Olympic experience, and how God prepared her for the moment
· Jacob’s perspective of it
· God shifting Abbey’s perspective on the meaning of hardship
· What really matters
· How God ministers back to us
· What their past four years have been like
· The dynamic between Abbey and Jacob
· What they’ve worked on during the pandemic and Tokyo Games postponement
· Understanding the purpose of suffering
· The importance of acknowledging grief
· The unique fulfillment of inspiring and lifting other people up
· Jacob and Abbey’s dream to help other athletes rehabilitate their relationship with sport
· runningwithheart.org (coming soon)
Quotes:
“God had other plans.”
“I wouldn’t go back and change it, because it really brought me to the end of myself, and introduced me to this need for the Lord in my life.”
“It was the peace He gave you inside.”
“It was definitely a pretty humbling and arduous path from there that God really used to kind of transform my life.”
“It was this gift to glorify Him.”
“Luckily, God surrounded me with great friends, coaching, and mentors that helped me make meaning of my experience.”
“It was the fastest mile of my life, and probably the slowest of Abbey’s.”
“It was like God’s hand was over the whole thing.”
“I know that I’m here for a reason, but none of this makes sense.”
“That is so unnatural to me to respond in a way that isn’t selfish that I am so sure that it was just the Holy Spirit.”
“Abbey tried to get up like two or three times and run, and just kind of collapsed.”
“It was one of the most memorable and uplifting stories of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.”
“Now to him who is able.”
“When I crossed the finish line, I was already so amazed by what God had done.”
“Lord, bless me with wisdom, bless me with humility, and bless me with a godly wife someday…He gave me all three combined into one.”
“God’s given me a lot of hardship to walk through, and so I’ve picked up a few things along the way about what’s helped me.”
“I hope and pray athletes will feel less alone in their struggles.”
Links:
Mental Training: https://www.laurawilkinson.com/learn
Laura’s Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lala_the_diver
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLauraWilkinson
Connect with Abbey and Jacob:
Running With Heart homepage: https://www.runningwithheart.org/
Abbey’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbey_dags/
3. Learning to perform instead of compete with legend, Greg Louganis
Joining Laura today on a very special episode is the man, the myth, the legend, Greg Louganis, currently the Sports Director for the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. As you probably already know, Greg is a 4 time Olympian, and the only man to ever win consecutive double gold medals in diving at the Olympics. He is also, of course, the man who came back to win Olympic gold in dramatic fashion after hitting his head during a dive, and we do discuss that as well as many other topics during the show.
In our discussion, Greg shares how elite athletes, including himself, handle cancelled or boycotted competitions, deal with distractions, and maintain motivation while processing criticism. We also explore the importance of the trust between a coach and athlete, dealing with feelings of failure, and the incredible story of Greg’s 1988 Olympics experience. We finish up by looking at his perception of challenges actually being opportunities, and I ask him how he would like to be remembered. Throughout this fascinating conversation we discover Greg’s lifelong focus upon learning to perform to the best of his ability rather than competing for awards – a valuable attitude for us all to emulate in both sports and life in general.
Episode Highlights:
How athletes are handling the cancellation of the Red Bull Cliff Diving Season
How Greg dealt with the boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games
Managing distractions while competing, maintaining motivation and processing criticism
Building coach-athlete trust
Dealing with feelings of failure
The story of the 1988 Olympics
Seeing challenges as opportunities
Performing instead of competing
How Greg would like to be remembered
Quotes:
“If you think of an elite athlete in many sports, it’s like a carton of milk…it has an expiration date.”
“I always wanted my performance to speak for itself…I was out there to prove something.”
“It’s human nature to root for the underdog, and for many, many years, I was not the underdog.”
“I think the most important thing is to observe and listen.”
“It was never my goal to win gold…my goal was to have the best performance that I could on that given time, and just be the absolute best that I could be…the results will take care of themselves.”
“This pandemic is proof – we have such little control, ultimately.”
“As long as I was in the pool in training, HIV didn’t exist, nor did my relationship… that was my safe space, my sanctuary.”
“I always thought…a bad takeoff was a great opportunity.”
“Emulate what you admire, but be your own person.”
Links:
The Pursuit of Gold homepage: http://thepursuitofgold.com/
Greg’s homepage: https://greglouganis.com/
Greg’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greglouganis/
2. Keys to a gold medal mindset with USOPC sports psychologist Dr. Karen Cogan
This week’s guest is Dr. Karen Cogan, a Senior Sports Psychologist for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) who has attended 4 Olympic Games as the Sports Psychology Consultant for several Olympic medalists and their coaches. Dr. Cogan has a special set of skills, and she most certainly ‘knows her stuff’.
In today’s episode, Laura and Dr. Cogan cover an incredible amount of territory including the Doctor’s journey to sports psychology, her direction for athletes dealing with the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and the benefits of implementing mindfulness techniques in both sports and life in general. They also look at the causes of burnout in athletes, some reasons behind athletes seeking Dr. Cogan’s assistance and what it means to honor their feelings, as well as some common characteristics of successful and struggling athletes. Finally, Dr. Cogan offers her advice on a number of topics ranging from helping struggling athletes to managing distractions, routines, and pressure, and she also shares some words of wisdom for parents and young athletes. This is an episode overflowing with amazing insight, unique perspective, and powerful ‘truth bombs’ from two highly accomplished experts in their fields.
Episode Highlights:
Dr. Cogan’s background and her journey to sports psychology
Her direction for athletes trying to cope through this pandemic and who are preparing to get back to full swing when this isolation ends
Mindfulness training for sports and life
The causes of burnout in athletes and how to avoid it
Reasons that athletes have for talking with Dr. Cogan and how she honors their feelings
Common characteristics of both successful and struggling athletes
Dr. Cogan’s advice regarding helping struggling athletes, overcoming ‘fear of success’, dealing with pressure, managing distractions, routines, community, and technology
Her advice for young athletes and parents of athletes
Quotes:
“What I have encouraged athletes to do is to really honor the feelings that they have, whatever those are.”
“It’s okay to grieve dreams or hopes and things like that when it doesn’t play out like you want.”
“When we try to push down those things we’re afraid are going to take over, we’re actually giving them power to take over, and that’s when they end up exploding in our face.”
“Everything is a performance issue when it comes to the Olympics.”
“An athlete has to be able to talk openly.”
“Now’s the time to get rid of the bad habits and establish the good habits.”
“Winning and losing does not define you as a person or an athlete.”
“While the gold medal is awesome, and it’s a great goal to strive for, it’s that pursuit that’s going to make you who you are in the long run.”
Links:
The Pursuit of Gold homepage: http://thepursuitofgold.com/
Dr. Karen Cogan information: http://www.teamusa.org/InsideTheUSOC/Meetings/Sports-Technology-Symposium/Bio-Cogan-Karen.pdf