Derval O'Rourke: Five things that set Olympians apart

— and a red lentil dahl recipe that's just so tasty

You need to have an often unrealistic sense of hope — or as I now refer to it as ‘youthful optimism’.

With the Olympics underway now, I thought I’d focus on my experience with the Olympics this week. Let's chat through what it takes to step on the stage at the Olympic Games — from my experience! And here's my Red Lentil Dahl recipe.

These days I only train to stay fit and I coach my friends to help them keep fit and healthy. But I still love the world of Olympic sport and Olympians. There are a number of distinct differences between the mindsets, lifestyles and habits of Olympic athletes. Here are my top five points that make Olympic athletes a bit special:

1. Sustained Work Ethic

You need the ability to do repetitive, high-level training over a sustained period of time. At the peak of my career, I would have trained almost every day — sometimes twice. There was no short term, it was always long term. One-year cycles and four-year cycles. Your mindset has to be the long game.

2. Mindset

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB

You need to have an often unrealistic sense of hope — or as I now refer to it as ‘youthful optimism’. As a young athlete, I saw zero reasons why I wouldn’t or couldn’t become a champion. You really have to be able to stay positive and motivated. I ran more than 500 races during my career and about 493 of those were average to bad ones. Yet I still got up every morning and trained hard and pushed my body as far as it would go in the hope of having a few more good races. People are often motivated by instant gratification: you do not get this in Olympic sport!

3. Problem Solver

You have to continuously seek answers. Most people who become really good at a sport will upskill and use everything in their power to find an answer to improve. At the early stages of my career, I struggled with weightlifting. At 18 years of age, I couldn’t bench press the 20kg bar but fast forward 10 years later and I could press more than my body weight. Building lean body mass was a struggle for me so I worked on it continuously throughout my career.

4. Low Income with a high job commitment

You must be comfortable accepting very little to no payment or financial stability. The vast majority of Olympic athletes live on very little income: an athlete that qualifies for the Olympics will generally receive €12,000 and any extra income is hard to come by. Often athletes depend on family to supplement their sport. After my first Olympic games, I took a part-time job in a call centre to supplement my grant and continue to pursue sport.

5. You cannot have it all

You must have a willingness to park sections of your life during your competitive career.

Developing a lifelong career and working up the ladder in a job is pretty hard whilst getting ready for the Olympics. I accepted that I had to park ‘real work’ until I finished competing at the top level. There are very few people willing to put their career, personal and social lives on hold in the hope of winning medals in their field.

Every Olympic athlete I know has chosen to prioritise their sport and it’s often quite a noble quest

Fitness Tip: Plan and prepare. If you have fitness goals planning is key. Set aside ‘prep time’ for food, recovery time for sleep and downtime to relax. I plan my sessions around the LIVE events calendar for my Derval.ie members. This way I know exactly how many sessions I have that week and whether I need to add in some more at the gym for example.

Wellness Tip: When you’re busy you need to fuel yourself to deal with the stresses linked with that. Eating breakfast is associated with increased focus and concentration — better blood sugar control and maintenance of a healthier body weight. Think of breakfast as the first job of your day.

Red lentil dahl

recipe by:Derval O'Rourke

This recipe will be deliciously rich the following day as the flavours come out even more so try to make enough for a few meals!

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 25 mins

Total Time

 35 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Indian

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp coconut oil

• ½ onion, finely diced

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

• 1 thumb-size piece of ginger, grated

• 1 medium red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped

• 3 tsp cumin

• 1 tbsp medium curry powder

• 200g red lentils washed and drained

• juice of 2 limes

• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes

• 500ml boiling water

• bunch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Method

1. In a large pot melt the coconut oil. Add the vegetables and sweat off gently on a low heat for about 5 minutes. Add the dried spices and cook for roughly another 2 minutes.

2. Stir in your lentils, lime juice and chopped tomatoes. Add the water and bring to a gentle simmer. Continue to simmer for another 15- 20 minutes, adding more water if necessary.

3. Serve topped with heaps of fresh coriander and a good dollop of natural yoghurt!