As I re-launch JoeJacobi.com, I’m re-posting a few of my favorite blogs and video blogs from the past year. Last summer, I wrote my 2004 Olympic teammate, Brett Heyl, just after he narrowly missed qualifying for the Beijing Olympics. A post-script to this writing – Brett is hard at work with his goal posted across the top of his web site. -JJ

A Final Word About Brett Heyl

(July 8th, 2008) A few weeks ago on the day before starting the U.S. Olympic Whitewater Team Trials, elite competitor, Brett Heyl sat down to speak with the MSNBC broadcast crew. He looked relaxed, ready, and almost comfortable. When asked at about his competitive edge entering the drawn-out Olympic selection process, he crisply answered, “mental toughness.”

Hanging with Brett Heyl at the Olympic Village before the Closing Ceremonies in Athens

At this moment that I realized how far Brett had come not only as elite athlete on top of his game, but as a student of life approaching complex problem-solving. As far as sports go, Brett’s problem was a big one – the 2004 Olympian was one of the most dynamic kayakers in the world yet his chief rival in the U.S. held a large points advantage in the on-going U.S. Olympic selection system.
I’ve been been around Brett in good moments and tough ones – it’s the latter in which I would worry about him. Brett can be brutally hard on himself. And this Olympic selection situation could have easily spiraled in that direction. But instead of holding himself down, he rose up. Quickly and forcefully. After a dramatic win at the Olympic Trials, Brett took a personal best 4th place finish at the World Cup in Prague. Two weeks later in Augsburg, the final race of the U.S. Olympic selection process, Brett continued his ascent with a third place finish the in the qualification rounds. His next run would be his last of the selection process – a 15th place finish in the semi-final ended Brett’s Olympic journey a few places short of a trip to Beijing but hopefully not a career.
It would take years for most people to cover the ground that Brett did in just a few weeks. Everywhere he looked, he saw opportunity. Every step he took went up. Brett’s comment about mental toughness turned out to be much more than a 15 second sound bite. He not only fueled the most exciting – and grueling – Olympic selections in the history of the U.S. Whitewater program, Brett opened to a door to a brighter beginning.

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