Right out of high school I never had the fear of getting beat, which is how most people lose.
Interpretation
Courage and confidence help in overcoming fear of failure in competition.
Dan Gable emphasizes the importance of having confidence and courage, especially when facing challenges right after high school. Many individuals succumb to fear, which leads to defeat, but those who believe in their abilities are more likely to succeed regardless of their circumstances.
In practice
During a motivational speech to young athletes.
Wrestling is the only sport I've ever competed in that puts you totally in a situation of constant motion without breaks. I could play football or baseball, swim -- but there's always some kind of situation that would break my thoughts, break my concentration.
Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.
Raising your level of performance requires a proper mentality and meaning from within. This gives you the ability and drive to work on the things necessary to go to a higher level. When people ask me how to raise their level of performance, the first thing I ask is, How important is it to you?
More enduringly than any other sport, wrestling teaches self-control and pride. Some have wrestled without great skill - none have wrestled without pride.
When my wrestlers got their hands raised, I jumped for joy.
We, as a wrestling community, better remember it is more than one individual that makes a winner.
There was a man who sold a hyena skin while the beast still lived and who was killed in hunting it.
It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew - and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents - that there was all the difference in the world.
I know in war good people can feel obliged for good reasons to do things they would normally object to and recoil from.
I have come up at the end of a dive, and the boat was not where I left it. I had to take care of a buddy who did panic. But I was confident the boat would come back.
There's no reason for the establishment to fear me. But it has every right to fear the people collectively - I am one with the people.
I've participated in many demonstrations since I was a child. When I was at medical college, I was fighting King Farouk, then British colonization, against Nasser, against Sadat who pushed me into prison, Mubarak who pushed me into exile. I never stopped.
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