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To quote Albert Einstein:

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

If all you could go be was NBC , this is a tape-delayed, 3 week, 5-sport event between the USA and maybe one other country … possibly China, but sometimes Italy.

Thanks for the post on one of the interesting sports American TV will never show you.

Very well done to John Dane and best of luck to him – that’s determination! I’ll watch out for his crew on the TV.

and talking of great examples from the Olympics for business or life in general, the US 4×100 freestyle team today were pretty impressive (and I’m a Brit, so no patriotic rose tinted glasses here). Looked like they had no chance with 25m to go, but their final swimmer didn’t give up, kept on doing what he had practised a zillion times – and well, it worked out pretty well in the end.

Perseverance furthers! I am impressed not just with his Olympic accomplishment, but also by his response to the lose of his business after Hurricane Katrina. John Dane-我為你加油！ Go get ‘em in Qingdao!!

@Tim: I don’t think he would have done the same thing each time. He would have looked at what was working – and what wasn’t – and altered his technique.

@Tim: I suspect Richard is right. The Einstein quote is relevant if nothing changes, but I don’t think Einstein was advocating quitting.

Anyone who has accomplished anything knows that talent has little to do with achievement. Effort and determination will trump other advantages every time.

Kudos to John Dane. Both for making the team and, even more, sticking with it.

USA USA USA USA

If Michael Phelps wins the eight gold medals he’s aiming for, nobody forget that Jason Lezak let him do it. Lezak, who’s 32 (old for a top Olympic swimmer), carried the 4×100 for his team with the fastest split time ever:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/sports/olympics/11swim.html

Gotta give the non-stars their props. :)

@RF

Lezak definitely helped Phelps get closer to his goal, but don’t forget that his poor performance in the 2004 relay resulting in a Bronze for the team was the reason Phelps didn’t tie the gold medal record four years ago

:P

@Tim – Not only did he expected different results, he achieved them.

To quote Abraham Lincoln:

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to speak out and remove all doubt.”

That is downright awesome…congrats to him!