Brown_Panel_FNL Design & layout by Quench Design & Communications Inc. | Port Hope | www.quenchme.ca Olympic Athletes In describing those months of grueling training Jeremiah gives us an insight into what drives an elite athlete despite injury and other obstacles: All that hard work paid o� for Jeremiah, and the dream of standing on the podium at London was realized. After a potentially disastrous preparatory heat, the Canadians fought o� the British and Australians in an exciting final, almost catching the Germans, but thrilled to be second and silver! Jeremiah counts himself lucky that he was spared the post-Olympic depression that a�icts many other athletes. Part of the way forward was to throw himself into one of his other passions, music. He plays the drums (and has created a platform to absorb the percussion so as not to disturb the neighbours in the condo below) and - he is an Honourary Fellow of the Royal Conservatory of Music. Jeremiah now works for the Canadian Olympic Committee helping athletes cope with the "real world" where the demands are so di�erent. He is an in-demand motivational speaker and blogger as well as the author of an upcoming autobiography, "The Four Year Olympian". There is not a clear answer to why we willingly su�er on a daily basis. Before I began training at this level I thought it had to be the ego and even vanity that pushed athletes on in the pursuit of an Olympic gold medal. But the ego gets broken down in those first 2 months of training and vanity is overshad- owed by fatigue and, at times, despair. At some primitive level we all have a disposition towards fighting or fleeing. The elite athlete is a fighter. When tested, he or she will feel the same symptoms as their fleeing counterpart; fear, nervousness, tension, anxiety, etc, the di�erence being that something irrational will compel the elite athlete to fight and overcome these symptoms just because it's in their nature. That's why I su�er. I don't have a choice. I'm a fighter and I can't turn it o�. Jeremiahspeaks.com Jeremiah Brown is truly an inspiration for aspiring Olympians everywhere! I try to impress on people that striving for excellence in whatever you gravitate toward will give you a road map for excellence in every other endeavor in your life. The painful truth is that you realize that nothing worth achieving is easy... Jeremiahspeaks.com Jeremiah Brown