Thinking about it, I really have no claim to authority on today’s subject matter. I am writing on a whim so small it diminishes to nonsense the more you look at it. Look up at the title of the article again. Are Champions made? Is there a process which when followed would make a person to be a champion? The answer to the last question is, perhaps, one of the great ‘secrets’ of life. Life has almost become an unending search for that secret formula.

There are different kinds of champions even though fundamentally and generally a champion defines the best at something at a particular time. For us in sport, it is winning a competition that defines who a champion is. So, how do a few people become champions and most others fail?

Several years ago, I read something that provides a possible answer. In one of Neale Walsch’s books, he posited a theorem. He called it the be-do-have paradigm! It describes a process through which one can go with an almost certain guarantee that the person will achieve the condition they choose to be in life. Some choose to be rich. The theorem says BE rich! Some choose to be famous. It says be famous. Some choose to be happy. So, BE happy! Ok, some choose to be a champion in their field of specialization or sport. Neale says, ‘BE one!’ It seems too good, or too easy, to be true? How can one just BE what they choose? Why not? Let’s examine it closely. In choosing to be in any of these states it is only logical to think that there must be a process through which one must pass through.

I listened to Michael Johnson, retired American Olympic and World champion sprinter, the other day on television. He talked about how he ran, won his races and became the fastest human over 200 and 400 meters at a time in history. How did he become champion? What did he do to win his races? His response was intriguing. He said that he ‘ran’ every race first in his mind, every step of the way, before the actual race. Each time he ran that mental race he made sure he ‘won’ it, of course! To run and win the actual race, and to become a champion, therefore, every time he had to ‘replay’ the already ‘won’ mind-race in reality! How successful he was at ‘reliving’ it eventually determined his fate! He said he had to run and win every race in his mind first, from start to finish, even before the starter shoots his gun for the actual race. In short he was a champion in his mind even before running the race!

I also watched British runner, Lynford Christie’s interview on television a few days ago. He is a former European and Olympic sprints champion over 100 meters. He also spoke about how to be an Olympic champion. He said that although sprinters are born, winning a race and becoming a champion takes the process of ‘being’ one before the event takes place. Let me explain further as I understood what he was talking about. I had seen Lynford run and win several times. His routine was always the same. He would stand still at the starting blocks, staring down the track at the finish line in absolute concentration, unmoving and unfazed by everything happening around him. It was almost like he was in a trance, focused on something in the distance, invisible to every eye except his. Lynford explained that in those moments he was actually running the race in his mind, every step of the 100 meters distance. So, like Johnson, Lynford saw himself as a winner even before starting the race. The first act in creation is ‘to be’!

Observe every world-class athlete - high jumper, long jumper, golfer and so on - shortly before taking a jump, or hitting a golf ball. What you see them do in the final moments before the actual competitive action is revealing. In those last moments, they would often either shut their eyes, or rivet them on the obstacle (cross bar, or the final destination of the ball) before them.
They would simulate the routine movements or swing, Run through the jump movements, or hit the ball and see it land safely and successfully in the green in their minds, before making the actual jump or taking the actual swing. The process is a spectacle of its own to watch. Imagination comes into play. The athlete imagines how every step of the distance he has to cover would be run to win, and would see himself breasting the tape before everybody else. To be a champion he must be in this mental state of being going into the actual race.

I was asked some time ago to describe what I did on the eve of the finals of the African Cup of Nations in 1980. My recall is that 24 hours prior to the game I was living through the match from start to finish - in my mind - over and over again! I dreamt moves, dribbles, shots at goal, celebrations, everything about the 90 minutes that was to bring us victory. I created scenes of me lifting the giant Cup. Not for once did I imagine the opposition winning! My mind was fixated on the drama my head was playing. On the 22nd of March 1980, I walked onto the green turf of the National Stadium in Lagos almost oblivious to the cacophony of noises created by over 100,000 spectators screaming and rooting for their national team. I was totally concentrating on the games I had played in my mind that I now had to do again on the field. The spectators were a blur. Two minutes into the game, with my second touch of the ball, my mind game became reality - my first goal came from almost nothing - a curling lob from a throw-in sailed ‘harmlessly’ beyond the heads of all the defenders and beyond the stunned goalkeeper riveted on the goal line. Deep down it was my conviction coming true, my dream becoming reality, faith in full display!

That is the secret of how to BE a champion. Declare yourself a champion and instantly BE one!

Then what next? You have not yet run and won the race, or jumped the height, or scored the goal. Wait a minute. Apprehension could set in as it does for majority of people. How could you declare yourself a champion when you have not even run the actual race? What audacity? Is this not foolhardiness? What can be worse than one deceiving one’s self? You could end up not winning anything! In the face of no immediate manifestation of that which you declared and maybe ran through your mind, fear or doubt sets in. With these emotions, the declaration falters and the winning aura and spirit disappear, for those are the products of lack of faith or belief in the initial act of creating the champion in you!

On the other hand, you could now think and remember the be-do-have paradigm. You have fulfilled the first part, the Be-ing part. It may sound foolish and illogical, but you hold on in faith to your capacity to win because thats what you have chosen to BE. You recall that you read somewhere that the most powerful tool in creation is the word ‘be’. So, you remain focused and be the champion in your mind!     

Next. I have a message for all sports persons uninhibited by doctrine and dogma. What would a champion do? The response answers the question ‘what next’. Do what a champion would do! A champion would train till he is dropping dead; he will work from dawn to dusk; he will commit everything he has to the assignment; he will live a regimented life style; he will be completely focused on developing the winning edge and mentality; he will be more disciplined, dedicated and determined than all others; on the event day, he will prance up and down the track like Maurice Green, or remain calm like Carl Lewis, or in a trance like Lynford Christie, and run the race in the mind first before running the race of his life. He would most probably win! Or not! Which ever way, you would have created one with the stuff champions are made. Bingo! That is the ‘do’ aspect of the paradigm. DO what a champion would do. At worst, act the part well, the way you created it in your mind? A religious person would ask you to act in faith! It is the same thing.

What next? Nothing else. Just sit back and watch the product and power of belief and of acting upon it. I tell you, the universe will conspire with all its elements, make you champion and shower you with the reward of an open demonstration of faith in the choices you make.

The formula is simple. CHOOSE who you want to be. BE it by pronouncing it into existence and by Doing that which who you have chosen to be will do.
What would follow automatically is the natural emergence in you of that which your be-ing and your deeds have created and demonstrated - a champion. That is what, more or less, all the great champions of sports have used, consciously or not, to become champions! It is there for you: be it, do it and have it!

I pray it works for you!