Usain Bolt still is the fastest man alive. He stills hold the world records for both the men’s 100-meter and 200-meter sprints, which he clocked at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.

An interesting highlight of his sprint is that he always starts slow but then gains the momentum to finish first.

This is a unique mentality that we see in all elite athletes. I mean among the GOATs 🐐. He once famously said:

“I trained 4 years to run only 9 seconds. There are people who do not see results in 2 months, give up and leave. Sometimes failure is sought by oneself.”

The GOAT’s Never Give Up.

Just don’t give up, hold on! Even while losing, show your strength. “ Thank You for letting me to win today” This was Novak Djokovic’s salute to Roger Federer after winning one of the all-time great Wimbledon finals, after a majestic comeback by Federer to win the fourth set.

Similarly winning the La Decima with Real Madrid was one of the stellar highlights of Cristiano Ronaldo’s career. But this was achieved only after displaying a never-die-give-up attitude by the Real Madrid Players. Reflecting on that night, he said:

At 88 minutes gone in the final, I looked for Di Maria and I saw him face down thinking: ‘we have a better team but we are going to lose.’

But I always believe. I will always say that it doesn’t matter if you play good or bad, as long as you win.

In 20 years, no-one will look back and say; ‘they played better, they created more chances.’ It just depends on who wins.

Being Hopefully even at time of difficulty

One of the difficult incident in the life of Prophet Muhammed ﷺ was the “Battle of Trench”. The Quraysh tribes of Mecca plotted & planned a huge attack to wipe out the newly emerged young community of Muslims. In response the Muslims resorted to dig a huge trench to defend themselves from the attack.

During the preparation for the battle, a large rock was causing great difficulty in digging the trench for the pick mattock could not break it. When the Prophet (peace be upon him) was informed about it, he went down into the trench and struck the stone with the pickaxe breaking one-third of the rock. Thereupon the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, Glory be to God, the keys of Syria have been given to me.

With the second blow of the pick, the Prophet (peace be upon him) hewed another one-third of the rock and said, Glory be to God, the keys of Persia have been given to me. By God, I see white castle of Madain (Ctesiphon).

In the third attempt, the remaining portion of the rock was broken into pieces. The Prophet (peace be upon him) then said, Glory be to God, I have been given the keys of Yemen. By God, I can now see the gate of Sanaa. (Ibn Kathir, Vol. III, p. 194).

This battle was one of the key decisive battles in the history of Islam. Outnumbered on army & weapons, it seemed Muslims hardly had any chance of defending it. But even during those difficult circumstances, the Prophet ﷺ was giving immense hope to the community that in a few years time, this army will conquer the world.

As we look at the course of the history, this is exactly what happened. Reflecting on this incredible takeover of the world by Islamic Civilization, the British Historian remarked:

“You have to remember, that the two great superpowers were the Byzantine empire [Eastern Roman empire] and Sassanid Persia..they were the dominant powers. If you’re putting it in a modern parlance it’s a bit like the Eskimos taking on the United States of America and Russia.” Barnaby Rogerson