Team GB had unparalleled success in the London 2012 Olympic Games. What lessons can young people draw from their outlook and performance?

1. Four things all young people can
learn from Team GB
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2. • Amongst all the pride, the passion and the excitement
at Team GB’s success at the Olympics, there are
lessons we can all learn from our most successful
Olympians in more than a century.
• But with London 2012 looking to ‘inspire a generation’,
what can the youth of Britain take from the
achievements of Sir Chris Hoy, Jessica Ennis and Mo
Farah?

3. Winning does count!
• Don’t let anybody tell you that taking part is what it’s all
about. You only had to look at the reactions of the
athletes to winning and losing to understand this.
• Just try telling Sir Chris Hoy that taking part was the
most important thing. Katherine Grainger was so
determined to win gold that she kept going, through 3
Olympics, until she did.

4. Talent counts for nothing
without hard work!
• A consistent message from all the gold medal-winning
athletes was that success came after huge amounts of
hard work and dedication, not only from the athletes,
but also from coaches and support staff.
• So the next time someone tells you they delivered an A*
without putting in any work, or you get a hard time for
putting the hours in at school, think of what Jessica
Ennis might say to that.

5. Find something you are
good at!
• How did you choose your GCSE options, which sport to
play or which A levels to focus on.
• Chances are that it involved a bit of a mix: what mates
were doing, what you dislike the least, who was
teaching it.
• Athletes don’t work that way.
• Team GB excelled at rowing and cycling. Both sports
put in a lot of time up front to work out who has the
potential to be a really good rower or cyclist.

6. Find something you are
good at!
• Spend the time to work out what you can be really good
at and you’ll be a winner in the long run.
• Remember the story of Bradley Wiggins – he was riding
his bike when all his mates were playing football and
thinking him uncool.
• But now he’s a champion and those other kids at school
are telling their friends Wiggo went to school with them.

7. Even the biggest problems can be tackled
if you if you break them down into small
pieces!
• It’s daunting to be faced by what can seem a huge task.
• The university course you really want to attend are
asking for 1 A* and 2 A’s. You need to get at least B’s to
study the A levels you want. Your parents are expecting
great things from your GCSE’s.
• Take a leaf out of Team GB Cycling’s book by taking
any problem and break it down into tiny pieces, 100 or
more.

8. Even the biggest problems can be tackled
if you if you break them down into small
pieces!
• Break it down by subject and list out all the pieces that
you have to learn.
• Get someone to help you. Colour-code the bits you
know well, know a bit and don’t know at all.
• Get help to improve the bits you don’t know – they’ll be
manageable chunks that can be tackled in a few days
or weeks. Then when you put it all back together, you’ll
find that you’ve improved massively. Success will give
you the energy to keep going.