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Join co-hosts Kat Lee, mom next door, and Laura Wilkinson, Olympic Gold Medalist, as we help you understand how to reach your goals, big or small. Whether you are winning a World Championship or decluttering your kitchen cabinets, we interview people who have gotten it done and break down the mindset shifts, processes and systems that got them to the finish line. Ultimately, our goal is to help you reach yours so that you can be our next guest on the Hello Goals Show.
Episode 2: Laura's Story
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[00:00:00] Laura Wilkinson: Welcome to Hello Goals. I'm Laura Wilkinson.
[00:00:02] kat: And I'm Kat Lee. And in this episode, we're going to dive into Laura's story and my story about goals that we have reached. ~And ~they're very different. Hers is being Olympic gold medalist and mine is being a mom. So my hope in this episode is that you can find something to inspire you and something that you can relate to.
And so we're going to start with Laura's story. Laura, when did. You decide you wanted to be an Olympian.
[00:00:28] Laura Wilkinson: going to date myself a little bit here. I keep doing that. Um, but I watched Mary Lou Retton do that perfect 10 vault way back in 1984 and I was I want to do that. I want to get tens, I want to wear the red, white, and blue, and I want to stay on the top of the podium. Um, and so of course I was a budding little gymnast and, uh, realized Pretty quickly that I wasn't gonna be Mary Lou Retton in gymnastics.
I wasn't that good. ~Um,~ but my dream of going to the Olympics and standing on top of the podium was still very much alive. I just decided [00:01:00] I needed to find the right sport to be able to do that. And so I started trying a whole bunch of different sports and it wasn't until the very end of my freshman year in high school, I was 15, almost 16 years old, um, that I actually found diving.
You know, it's like gymnastics into the water, was outside, music blaring, it was love at first sight.
[00:01:19] kat: So you find diving, but the, you know, I wanted to be in the Olympics when I was little too, and I didn't get there. What is the actual journey look like from a kid who wants to be in the Olympics and then does it like, is it because you had just intense talent? Is it because the age you started? Is it because of the support system you had?
How does that. What does that look like from wanting to, to actually getting on the path to doing that?
[00:01:49] Laura Wilkinson: I mean, there's so many layers. It's never just one thing, right? Um, and I, I would say I was not the most talented because, especially in gymnastics, I was the last one to get all the skills, [00:02:00] the last one to move up on the team. You know, I, I was not the first one, like, leaping and doing all the things, um, just naturally.
It didn't come naturally at all. But in diving, it was kind of cool when I started, there was actually a group of ex gymnasts that had just started. So I was kind of thrown in with them and it was cool because we all became fast friends because we had this similar background and connection, but we were also very competitive.
And so we pushed each other, but it was, it was really healthy. Like a lot of times, teenage girls can be super catty. This was really not like that. I mean, there was a little bit, obviously we're still girls, but for the most part, like we were together, we were pushing each other. And, um, I think that's what drove us.
Um, and, and everybody in that group was very successful and is very successful outside of sports now, like in their professional careers and being parents and things like that. So I think the people around me were a big deal, but also my coach, uh, Kenny Armstrong was super instrumental. And he, I think it [00:03:00] was the first person I was always scared to tell people that I wanted to go to the Olympics.
I didn't
tell like my very closest friends or something, you know, but I always felt kind of stupid saying it because I knew I wasn't.
Like the greatest athlete, I just had these big dreams. So I was like embarrassed to tell people that, but he asked me one day, like, what is your goal? Like, what do you want to do with the sport? And I, it took me a little while to like spit it out, but I finally told him I want to win the Olympics. I didn't even say I want to go to the Olympics.
I think I just said, I want to win the Olympics. And he didn't laugh. He didn't mock me. He just sat there and he kind of thoughtful for a minute and then just said, all right. It's not going to be easy, but this is what you need to start doing. And he just kind
of like, because it was this thing that like, Oh, what person can actually go and do this?
And these are the things you need to think about to try to make that happen. It was that like moment changed everything for me.
And that he was somebody who actually believed it was possible, you know? So it just wasn't so weird pipe [00:04:00] dream that I had just some random thing. And I think that was really kind of the driving force. Um, and I had been told by like, I was kicked off my high school team by our, uh, Our like high school, high school coach, I was a waste of space.
I've been told I was too old to start a new sport. Like I've been told I wasn't good enough or I wasn't whatever they wanted for a long time. So to have somebody just say, yeah, you can do that. And here's what you have to do. Like, it just, it blew my mind. And I think that was really the trajectory that, that. Not only kept that dream alive, but really kind of like lit the fire.
[00:04:32] kat: Wow. I kind of have goosebumps from that. ~Like~ just to have a dream that you're afraid to share and then to share it and somebody is like, all right, this is what we're going to do. ~That's just, you know,~ I don't think a lot of people have that in their lives and probably, especially a lot of athletes as well.
Maybe they have the dream, but they don't have the people around them to help them do that. How old were you when you did that? When you said that to him?
[00:04:56] Laura Wilkinson: I was probably 16 or 17 at the time.
[00:04:59] kat: Wow. [00:05:00] And
[00:05:00] Laura Wilkinson: high school, I think.
[00:05:02] kat: I feel like a lot of divers are. 14 or 15 at the Olympics
[00:05:07] Laura Wilkinson: Yeah. So,
[00:05:08] kat: from some countries. ~Uh,~ that's amazing. So you're a junior in high school. He says, okay, this is the plan. ~Like, do, did you stay in high school? Like what did training look like? How did you, how did you, and were you like, okay, yes, I'm, I'm really all in this goes from a pipe dream to a plan.~
~How did that process look like? Like ~you had to tell your parents, ~like,~ I want to go to the Olympics. I'm going to have to invest all this time and energy. What did that look like?
[00:05:23] Laura Wilkinson: well, I mean, at the time I was obviously still in high school and still, I mean, I wasn't, Doing anything like super amazing at a time. I was trying to get to that point, um, knowing I was motivated athlete. So I was trying to like get to the nationals and do well at the nationals to like make meats or to make Olympic trials, like things like that. And, ~um,~ you know, so what we definitely did like after high school was out, we would go right to the pool. ~Um,~ but he had the option to come in a couple of days before school and my school, high school back then. It's Maybe different now, but we started at 7 30 and I lived a half an hour away from the pool. And so he offered like a 5 [00:06:00] AM. Well, I think that's maybe a 5 30 practice where you could come in the morning, you do trampoline, you could get pulled in like the belts where they pull you up and you can simulate dives over the trampoline. Um, and, and that was like the only time we had that option.
And so I was like, well, that's something I definitely need to do. But I lived a half an hour away. And We would have to go there and like race right back. And there was a rule. It was the first come first get in the belt. So the first person who showed up would be the first person to get into the belt. And I'm like, we live a ways away, like we, and we've got to hustle back.
So, and I had to pick two people up on the way. So I was waking up at four 30 in the morning,
leaving my house at like. 440 picking up two people and trying to get there before the people who lived five minutes from the pool because they would show up at 515 510 505 like they kept creeping earlier and earlier. So we were trying to get there super early.
So it's always this race to get there and get early enough. So like we can get in the belts and then like race back to high school. So as high school is done, we would race back to the pool to like get in [00:07:00] training time. And it was neat because at that time, we had this outdoor facility, um, and it was a little more flexible, like there weren't people just barging into our pool, um, like kind of it is now in our area, but, um, he would just let us hang out on the side of the pool deck afterward if we wanted to, he's like, as long as you're not getting in the way of the athletes freaking out, you can kind of play on the side, flip in the pool, do handstands, whatever. We would stay sometimes for hours and I just, I just loved it. And we would, we would mimic divers. We saw, we would be silly. We would try things. Um, you know, we would come in the summers, we would have two a day workouts, um, like six days a week, five or six days a week. And then, um, you know, we would just spend all our time in between there and we were just constantly doing it, but we, we loved it and it was, it wasn't just me.
It was like a group of us doing this. And I, I just, I dreamed about it nonstop. It was just like the only thing I wanted to be doing, you know, I was getting out of school as fast as I could to get to that pool, but you know, It was very like at that time and just [00:08:00] the way things were going. And I wasn't like somebody who had been at the top for a very long time.
So I was still pursuing a college scholarship, trying to like be able to prolong diving because just what everybody did then was you went to high school, then you dove in college and then you retired and moved on with your life. That's just
kind of what people did. And so I was trying to find this, a good college that I could go that route, but like my senior year in high school, I had made the national team.
I had made the world cup where with Kenny's wife, Patty, uh, was my syncro partner. and We got a bronze medal at that World Cup, which was pretty cool.
Um, and then I had made all these international meets and I got a scholarship to university of Texas in that process too. So it was kind of this like whirlwind, my senior year, like all these things kind of happening.
Um, and then I started at college, but every chance I got. I would come home on the weekends to train with Kenny and I would come home in the summer to train with Kenny at this break, we were doing more time training home with Kenny. And so I just, it was such a passion for me. I mean, [00:09:00] honestly, I'm just going to admit it.
I kind of went to college for the diving and not for the school part. Like that was the only thing I really cared about. because When
it came to the time where the next Olympics was coming around, where I had a real shot at it, um, I still had a year left of eligibility and I had full scholarship, but The Olympics were at a weird time.
Sydney being on the other side of the world, um, the summer Olympics were kind of in their winter time. So they pushed it
back to the end of September, which is really late. Usually it's July, August.
Um,
so it, it was kind of like, well, if I, if I go to the Olympics, am I going to want to come back at the semester and go right into this competitive collegiate season, if I don't make the Olympics, am I gonna want to keep diving after that?
Like, I just didn't really know. And so I thought what I need to do is. I need to go home and train and really be prepared for this, this Olympic games without all the distractions of school and trying to compete and I just need to focus.
And, and they didn't have red shirt, like they have Olympic waivers now where you can like take off a year and still have that eligibility. They didn't have that back then. [00:10:00] So I gave
my scholarship back because I didn't want, and I didn't want Matt holding it. My college coach, Matt Scoggin to hold it for me.
If I didn't know if I was coming back, I didn't think that was fair to him either. And he was super supportive. We had some great conversations around it and I. I left my scholarship and I left all my friends to come home with like two
[00:10:18] kat: Okay, wait, stop. I need, I
need to know what your parents, what did your parents think about that?
[00:10:24] Laura Wilkinson: My dad was all like, sweet, let's do it. He thought this was so exciting. And my mom was like, uh, you're leaving college, you know, cause her biggest regret was not finishing her degree. She had, she had gone
two years, but then. Quit so that she could work and earn money for the family and things like that. and and her, that was her biggest thing is she wanted me to get my degree So I had promised her, I will go back and I will finish, like I will get that degree I think she probably made me sign it writing somewhere. Um, and then she finally gave me her blessing, but it was a little scary. Like I was
trying to stay close to the pool so that I could [00:11:00] train, but then I'm having to pay rent and now I have no scholarship money. I have no income. And so my dad helped me find an agent and my agent got me this small little sponsorship where I was able to like basically afford rent and stay across the street from the pool.
And I was like, This is sweet. This is all going to work out, you know? And, uh, then three months before the Olympic trials, I shattered my foot in three places and was in a giant purple cast thinking everything was disappearing. but it was,
and that's never what you planned for, right? Like you have all these big
dreams and, uh, I think it's just going to work out like some cool movie, but then you forget like the big, the big plot points, you
know,
[00:11:38] kat: The big, yeah, the
big plot twist.
um, What I love about What you've shared so far is that a lot of times when we think about reaching a big goal we think I just need to grid it out and it just needs to take a ton of determination and self discipline and I see so many people especially around the new year like signing up for a marathon when they've never even like run around the block and what [00:12:00] permeates your stories you think What's your passion for diving?
Like you loved it. That doesn't mean there weren't, there wasn't a ton of having determination and grit and all those things, but it was paired with a love and a passion for something. And I think that's important in our goal setting process that we're picking things that we actually care about instead of just things that maybe other people care about, or we think we should.
We should do or a good idea. And I love just that your passion kind of is what motivated you. And then the grit and determination is what helped you stick with it. So you had to make some really hard decisions and you had to really believe in yourself and you had a coach that really believed in you and.
I mean, if you don't have those things, then you can't make those hard decisions and then the Olympics never happens. So I think that's, that's also so inspiring in this story. I know everybody who's listening is like, Kat, can you stop talking? Cause I need to know what happened. She broke her foot. Get on with it. So, Well, one, I want to know [00:13:00] how you broke your foot. And then two, that had to have been a massive emotional journey. What did you go through there? What processes did you go through? Like, yeah, just take us into that moment.
[00:13:13] Laura Wilkinson: Before I get into it, I, it kind of reminds me of what you were talking about in the last episode when you, you just started taking this web design class to do something. And like, God took you on this
journey and it ended up with you in the Philippines meeting your family you'd never met. Like, When we, we do the things that God is asking us to do, it may not go how you think it's going to go. But a lot of times he gives us those dreams or those goals to put us on a path so that we go to the place we need to go or we should go. in it.
It's often greater than we could ever imagine or make up on our own, right? He's so creative. So I was in, I was in Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Florida in a meet, and we were doing a typical meet warmup, which involved doing flips or somersaults like a
gymnast, um, onto a mat. [00:14:00] But I was taking off of a block of wood.
And I came out of one somersault a little too early and I hit both the balls of my feet um, on that block of wood. And I, uh, yeah, I basically had a stress fracture in one foot and it completely broke the three metatarsals, middle metatarsals in my right foot. And, um, initially we went to the ER there, the doctor, Told me it would hurt more and be more swollen if it was broken.
So he didn't even x ray it. He just gave me crutches. So I was stuck in Florida and excruciating pain for almost a week. Um, till we could get our flight back home. And I mean, I couldn't sleep. I remember being on the floor with my foot up on the bed, just crying all night long. Like it was, it was horrible. Um, and when we got home, our doctor here x rayed it and came into the room with tears in her eyes saying, you know, if I'd seen it, when it happened, I may have been able to reset it. But. The way it had broken. So when I broke the three like metatarsals, it's kind of like the bones of your hand, the middle one, like the knuckle had slid underneath and had lodged [00:15:00] itself, um,
underneath my foot.
But within just that week had calcified to the two bones it was next to. So it was like stuck there. So she said it would require rebreaking everything, pinning it all back together. And the surgery would put me out for, I wouldn't be able to do Olympic trials
because I was three months away.
She's like, you, you can't do trials. And I was like. Is there another option? Is this my only like, come on, there's gotta be like a plan B. And she's like, I mean, we can cast it the way it is, but you have a bone sticking out, like, like stuck underneath your foot. Like, I don't know what that's gonna be like to walk on, let alone like jump on, you know?
And I was like, well, I mean, if we're gonna have to do surgery anyway, we may as well try casting it. And if that doesn't work, then we just do the surgery that we were gonna do, but we we've gotta Try, you know, and I, I remember we, we casted it and I went back home and just, whoo. Yeah. That, that first week dealing with that, that kind of mix of emotions.
It was, it was everything, [00:16:00] you know, have you ever had that when, when like work isn't going well, your kids won't listen to you. Like maybe you haven't seen your husband in a wait list, like all the stresses and they just feel like they're just weighing you down and you're like, just, just completely fall apart underneath it. Like, that's what that felt like,
I had given up my college scholarship. I had left all my friends. I felt completely alone in this journey.
And now it was just like watching my dreams slip through my fingers like quicksand or something. It was, um, yeah, it was overwhelming. And I remember the gravity of it hitting me as I was just standing in the middle of my living room and I dropped my crutches and just fell to the floor and just started. Screaming at God, basically. like, how can this be good for me? I left everything for this. I thought this is what you wanted me to do. And I was so angry, but in the middle of that, I found myself thanking him because I felt like I was in the middle of this huge storm, but he was right there with me in it.
And I had felt very alone. [00:17:00] And so it was like in that moment that I kind of realized like he gave me this dream
when I was a little kid. And this might be my only opportunity. Like, I don't want to look back in five years and say, what if, could I have, like, I couldn't, I don't think I could live with that.
I would go and fail if that's what I was meant to do, but I had to try. And Kenny, fortunately, my coach is as crazy as I am and came. I remember he came like barging into my house, like waving his finger in my face. He said, if we're going to do this, you need to make a decision, you know? And I was like, I'm in, I'm all in.
And he said, okay, I have one rule. We make a new plan. And we only look forward. You're not allowed to look back. You're not allowed to say, what if, you're not allowed to feel sorry for yourself. You look forward with this new plan and you're all in. I said, okay. And so the blessing began at this point, you know, he helped me think outside the box. We had to, obviously I had a giant purple cast on. I couldn't like just jump in and do all my dives and train. I couldn't even do weights. I couldn't do hardly anything. [00:18:00] Um, but what I could do. Was as he held my crutches, I could hop up the ladder to the 10 meter on my one good foot and shimmy my way out to the end.
And I could simulate the actions of my dives. They call it modeling now. I called it pretend diving back then. It's real fancy.
[00:18:15] kat: I like pretend diving.
[00:18:16] Laura Wilkinson: It's more fun.
So I would, I would go through all the actions of my dive and I would really try to visualize it and see what I was doing and feel it. He would coach me from the pool deck and I would, I just, I spent hours up there every day.
I would, I would study videos as well. Um, I would clip and this is back before you had iPhones and things were super easy to make videos. I was taking VHS and clipping my best ever dives and put it like burning them on the CDs and like trying to, you know, or DVDs and making this video. It was, I felt very proud of myself for doing that, but you know, I'd listen to all my favorite, like inspirational songs, like anything that would motivate me, but it was.
I, my, It was this total mental game that I had done a little bit of like trying to like learn how to [00:19:00] get into competing and stuff, but never to the, I'm going to do it six to eight hours a day because I didn't have another choice. And I said, well, this is all I can do. I gotta be a hundred percent in, you know, and. It's really cool. I mean, there's, there's so much to that, but, but looking back now, I probably could have made the Olympic team if I hadn't broken my foot, but I can guarantee you, I would not have stood on top of that podium if I hadn't broken my foot.
because what I was forced to learn how to do and to go through. Made me strong enough. It equipped me to do what I needed to do in the moment at the Olympic games. And that's, that's where I felt that connection with your story about ending up in the Philippines with your family. And that is not what you set out to do at all. Um, even though this is what I set out to do, it was not the way I thought I was going to
get there, but God changed that path in order to equip me. For what he had planned for me, you know, I love
[00:19:54] kat: y'all, that is
[00:19:55] Laura Wilkinson: didn't love it in the moment, mind you, cause I didn't understand, but I
love it [00:20:00] now.
[00:20:01] kat: there's just so much, so much in there, like I'm blown away by the fact that you broke your foot. Just insert, I broke my pinky toe at the beginning of last year, and y'all it hurts, and I was just upset I wasn't going to be able to play pickleball and do my other sporty things, so, you know, in the tiniest little kindergarten micro version of what she experienced, you know, I know how hard it is to have a broken foot and to, Consider being an elite athlete.
And, you know, I was like, Oh, I can't play pickleball. And she's like, I'm just still going to go to the Olympics. Like that thought process and that belief and faith, I just think is, um, amazing. Uh, and I think it's something that we all have access to and what amazing things we could probably all accomplish.
If we didn't let the setbacks set us back, like, I feel [00:21:00] like you're kind of like Siri, you know, when you're going somewhere, especially you living in Houston and there's traffic or something, it's not like when there's an accident or there's traffic, it's not like Siri says. Well, better pull over and cry.
You're never going to get there. She just keeps rerouting you and rerouting you. And you know, no matter how much longer it takes, she eventually gets you to your destination. And so I love how in that whole journey, you just kept thinking, okay, well, what can I do? I can't go to the Olympics as a gymnast.
I'll go as a diver. You know, I, I broke my foot. Well, I'll just practice in my head and then, and then it actually
[00:21:39] Laura Wilkinson: they don't sound like smart choices on the outside, but again, though, this is the point where like, you know, it's, it's exciting to have big goals. It's
exciting to chase after them. But there's real moments that aren't exciting in that journey that
feel desperate and feel hopeless and make you want to give [00:22:00] up or quit, um, that you don't see how you're getting out of this.
But those are the moments where when you depend on God in that like desperation, he does his best work in you. And, And, and As much as it's nice to be out of some of those horrible moments and be thankful to God, there is a beauty that you miss when you're in a good place because you don't feel as desperate and as, as dependent on him.
There's a beauty in that dependence. Um, and so like when you're at the bottom of the pit, it's it's good to know you can look up. You know what I
mean? It's not fun being in the pit, but knowing that you can look up and lock eyes with him and he's going to pull you out. Like that's the beautiful part.
[00:22:40] kat: Yeah. I love the Corrie ten Boom quote that says there is no pit so deep that he is not deeper still. And so just for those of you listening, if you feel like you are in that season that feels unknown and scary and disappointing, um, know that there is a purpose for all of it [00:23:00] and just keep pursuing him.
So, so you break your foot. You do pretend diving. I'm sure all the other divers were like, yeah, that's a good plan. That's a real good plan, Laura. This is going to work for you. You're not getting wet and you're going to go to the Olympics. What, how did other people respond to this?
[00:23:21] Laura Wilkinson: I mean, I felt pretty stupid. that The swimmers in the pool across from us, like, in the next pool, like, started making fun of me. I mean, I felt stupid. Like, it's, nobody had ever done that before. Nobody done the modeling like that. I, just. Yeah. I mean, after like eight weeks of that, 10 weeks of that, I mean, it had been a long time, two and a half months.
So yeah, like 10 weeks. at the beginning. It's exciting. You're like, I'm doing something. And by the end you're like, how is pretending to dive going to get me to the Olympics. Like, what is this? You know? But the moment I kind of wanted to give up something really incredible happened. All the little divers on my team, you know, I was 22 coming out of college.
All of the [00:24:00] divers on my team were like between eight and 18. They had been watching me. day after day after day doing this. And they started to believe in what we were doing because we were still doing it and still all in. And the moment I felt like giving up, these divers were coming up to me going, Hey, I really think you can do this.
Like, hang in there, keep going. And It became like to the point where I would do like a pretend entry off the 10 meter, maybe on the other side of the pool, clapping, going, I didn't see a drop of water. I'd give it a 10, you know? And and it became really funny and probably crazy to anyone watching us, but they made me feel like I was part of the workout again.
You know, they would hang out up there, like during their 10 meter workouts, I would go in between their dives. And they made me feel like I was part of the team and that I was actually doing something and that I wasn't alone anymore. I really feel like they made such a difference for me so that I, I didn't give up, you know, and there did come a point where I finally got my cast off. [00:25:00] I had two and a half weeks before the Olympic trials.
So yeah, almost three months of pretend diving and then two and a half weeks in the water before the Olympic trials, like talk about, talk about kind of a crazy time. And I had never been to an Olympic trials. And let me tell you, Olympic trials is a lot more nerve wracking than the Olympics in a lot of ways, because, You can have all these big Olympic dreams, but if you don't get there, you know what I mean?
Getting there is really, really difficult and really intense. And so going to the Olympic trials, I was, I was kind of terrified, but I was so excited just to be there after what we had been through that, that overwhelmed a lot of the doubts and fears that I had. And so the Olympic trials was kind of a wild experience.
I just tried to stay in my lane. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I was just trying to stay in this like, imaginary zone, this visualization zone that I had been in and I was pretty consistent and ended up winning the trials, like making the team actually won by a pretty large margin making the Olympic team.
And [00:26:00] that alone is, is almost more memorable than the Olympics themselves, just because of what we had just gone through
to get to that point. Like it was, it was wild, but that also just solidified my belief that like God is doing something and whatever this new thing is I'm doing. It works and it's, it's changing me and it's changing this and I have to stick with this.
And you know, I mean, just cause I made it through the Olympic trials didn't mean my foot was magically healed. I still had that bone sticking out from underneath. It was still incredibly painful. I had to wear a stupid tennis shoe up to the 10 meter cause I couldn't walk barefoot. And to wear a tennis shoe up to the 10 meter and throw it down, trying not to hit people. Like it was, and that was embarrassing because it called a lot of attention to me as I'm throwing a shoe at people, you know? Um, so it, it wasn't that it was just, okay, I'm magically better and I'm going to the Olympics. And it was, I still could only do limited training and I still had to rely on this, this mental side of things that was so new, um, equipping me for that process.
Yeah.
[00:26:59] kat: wore that shoe [00:27:00] at the Olympics.
You had
to
[00:27:02] Laura Wilkinson: upgraded to a kayak shoe that was a little easier to slip or no, we, we had a kayak shoe at the beginning and we slipped to that's right. The tennis shoe, because it was lighter weight. and The kayak shoe was like real thick. So this was, so this, this way it wouldn't hurt people as much either. If I dropped it off,
[00:27:16] kat: That's so thoughtful of you. So how long between the winning the Olympic Trials and then the Olympics?
[00:27:22] Laura Wilkinson: we actually had three months. So that was a
big gap. It's usually only about a month, but again, this, this Olympic games is like later in the year. So there was a bigger gap there. Um, but we were traveling a lot and going to competitions. And so it was. It was, it was just a weird, it was a weird ride. Um, you know, and we, and we get to the Olympic games and it's, it's awesome and overwhelming, it's everything you dream of there's Olympic rings everywhere, there's the torch, you see the torch being lit, like, and that's like seeing your passion right in front of your face, like that's just this amazing moment, you know, um, and I, I got some of the best advice I had ever gotten before I went to that Olympics.
Um, [00:28:00] from, from, uh, an Olympian who had been. At the Montreal Olympics, and she was Canadian, and she cracked under the pressure of being in her home country. And she gave me some of the best advice that I think I got going into that game. She said, look, when you get to the Olympics, soak it in. Like, enjoy where you're at.
Recognize all the things. Like, love the fact that you're there. But when it's time to dive, It's just another diving meet. It's the same people you've competed against a million times. You're doing the same dives you've done a million times. The meet is run the same way you've done a meet so many times.
Like there's nothing new there. It's just all the extra stuff that makes it this kind of crazy event. Like all the people, the cameras, which seems overwhelming, but you can let go of that when you're like, I'm just diving. It's easier said than done. I understand. But like that. That, I took that to heart and walked in to have that kind of attitude um, throughout the game.
So that was really helpful for me.
[00:28:55] kat: Well, and I imagine the practice that you had of directing your thoughts [00:29:00] towards pretend diving for so long before that helped you to actually focus on either enjoying the moment or on focusing on the fact that it's just another meet. Like you had that mental fortitude to be able to do that and to stay focused.
So, So the meet starting, like what, I'm curious to know, did you think you were going to, like, do you go in like, yeah, I'm going to win gold or yeah, it'd be cool if I win gold or I'm glad to be here. Like what perspective do Olympians go into the Olympics with?
[00:29:33] Laura Wilkinson: I went in pretty certain, like, I mean, I was, that was my, my aim was I was going to win. I was going to beat the Chinese. I was going to do this impossible thing. And, um,
[00:29:41] kat: What other people have said, like did the diving, okay.
[00:29:44] Laura Wilkinson: no. no, I probably looked pretty foolish saying that. Like, who are you to like, you've never done anything. Like, who are you to think you're so awesome? Um, but you, you, I, mean. If you don't believe in yourself, nobody else is going
to write, Which is hard, um, but I [00:30:00] really believed, especially after what we had been through and, the progress I had seen, like, I really thought there was a chance. Like I believed wholeheartedly that I was capable of it. I didn't know what the likelihood of it was, but I believed it was possible.
And I
think that was the really important part is that I knew it was possible. If all the things came together as they should, I knew I had that shot. Um, but I had, I knew I had to figure out how to do that, you know,
Um, but there was a gift also in all that time, not being able to do all the physical training that everyone else was doing.
I was spending time thinking about meet scenarios and walking through crazy things that can happen. You know, I, I knew I had a weakness at certain things. Like, um, I'm great at coming from behind. I'm not always great. If I have the lead, like, how do I deal with that? If I've got a hard dive coming up and I'm actually in the lead and somebody is putting pressure on me, how do I, how do I deal with that?
And I was walking myself through different scenarios and that actually really helped me a lot prepare for, I think what the Olympic games were. Cause there were kind of a lot of crazy moments, [00:31:00] like the it's old school. I had a Discman, you know, that's what we had back in the day. And I forgot extra batteries and my. My discman died and I had no music. And that's like how I get my head in the right space and how I get in the zone. So I properly panicked, you know, there was, um, a moment where I came from behind and all of a sudden everyone who was ahead of me completely missed their dive. And I was in the lead going into my hardest dive. Um,
there were, there were crazy moments like that throughout the entire event. Um, but because I think of the mental preparation that I put in. Not to say it wasn't scary or I wasn't nervous, but I knew how to talk to myself. I knew how to handle things. Um, I wasn't scared of emotions. Like I used my emotions.
Like I had learned how to kind of. Think through All of those things. So even though it was wild, I was ready, you know,
it
was, it
was cool. It was very cool.
[00:31:53] kat: So then you go through all the rounds, you have the lead, you win the Olympic gold medal. Like what, what point did you [00:32:00] know that you'd won it? And what thoughts are going through your head?
[00:32:06] Laura Wilkinson: Um, I didn't know until after it was over, like I, after I had done my last dive, cause I could never see the scoreboard. So I knew at some point everybody missed and I had caught up because I didn't have my, Headphones on anymore. So like I knew, I knew I must have been rivaling people with who was screaming and the way the crowd was coming behind me, but I didn't know, I just thought I had a chance at a medal.
I didn't know how close I was. And so after my last dive, there were four people, the top four people went after me. And so I still couldn't see the scoreboard, but I could see my coach and he could see the scoreboard. So after each person went, he would turn around and be like, yeah, I'm like, All right.
Like, what does that mean? You know? And after the last person, she went way past vertical before her scores were even up, he came running over and picked me up and just kept saying, we did it. We did it. And I was like, great. What'd we do? Like I, you know, it was just like, Oh, we got a metal, You know,
he just kept saying, we did it, we did it.
And it was like, Oh my [00:33:00] goodness. Like we did it. Like we got gold. Like I had no idea. Um, so that was really cool that he got to tell me in that moment. And yeah, it was, it was wild. It was
[00:33:09] kat: that's amazing. So was it a conscious choice that you had to not see the scoreboard? Or is it just where they placed the athletes
at that
[00:33:16] Laura Wilkinson: was where, like where we had to come up from under the platform, there was a huge banner hanging. So by the time I could walk around the banner, they had usually flipped the scores to the next person. So it was kind of just a timing thing where I couldn't see it. I went back and forth. Sometimes I didn't want to know.
Sometimes I wanted to know, like it just kind of depended on my, My mood and where I was like I knew myself really well, because sometimes it would motivate me. Other times, not so much.
Um, but I was just, I was really grateful that I didn't know because it really forced me to just I just got to look at the next dive.
It Doesn't matter. Like nothing else matters. I can't do anything to change what's happening. I can only do my next dive. And so it really kept me in that the headspace. So it was, it was good.
[00:33:57] kat: hmm. What do you think [00:34:00] is the biggest takeaway that you had from your Olympic journey that has helped you in life after the Olympics? Yes.
[00:34:06] Laura Wilkinson: Really hard question, Kat. Um,
[00:34:10] kat: You can think about it ~because we can edit.~
[00:34:11] Laura Wilkinson: ~that's right. Ooh, let's see.~
[00:34:11] kat: ~And FYI, I'm probably going to wrap up after this, and then if you have time to do the other part for asking me questions, we can do that, maybe even as a second episode, or I can decide to ~
[00:34:11] Laura Wilkinson: ~I know. I was like, I feel like this is going really long. I'm sorry.~
[00:34:11] kat: ~but it's, but no, it's totally good and a great story. This is the way I want it to go.~
~Um, but I just thought I would let you know that that's probably what I'll do. Um,~
[00:34:11] Laura Wilkinson: ~And then the next one we can turn the tables and do like your story. That'd be~
~awesome. Okay, cool. Um, Biggest takeaway. ~ It's really hard to pick just one biggest takeaway. I think if I have to do that, it's just trusting God with the plan because
I had a plan and my plan got broken and we had to just keep making up new plans and they just didn't seem like they made much sense, but it was all I could do because God forced me into this plan.
But when I started trusting him with that. He did incredible things that I couldn't have imagined. I couldn't have dreamed of, and he equipped me in a way that I wasn't expecting to do the very thing that I had dreamed of doing in the first place. Um, and it was just absolutely incredible. And I've seen that over and over again in my life, both in the pool and out of the pool, that I start with a certain plan thinking, okay, God, come on, this is my great [00:35:00] plan.
And he's like, That's cute. I have something bigger and then he just completely changes it, but we end up in a better place than I, I could have made up on my own, you know, just, just like with my kids, we were trying to have kids. I couldn't get pregnant. We end up with four kids from birth and adoption, and it's just an amazing. family experience. And so, um, I know that God's plans are way better than mine. And so kind of, I make plans, but I hold them loosely and I just give
them to God and say, make what you will with them or change them completely. I trust you now. Cause I've, I've learned to,
[00:35:32] kat: I love that so much and I think that's really the heart of this whole podcast that we want to help you have like really practical steps on how do I set a good goal? How do I actually take steps to reach that goal? How do I make a plan to reach a goal? But at the same time, How do I just hold that really lightly and trust God?
And it's such a dance and it goes against our nature. A lot of times we want the control. We don't want to let go of the control, but the beauty in it [00:36:00] is just making those plans, holding them loosely and seeing where God takes us. So thank you for sharing your story, Laura, and everyone listening. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Hello Goals, and we will see you next time.
Take care. And my hope is that you'll learn how to reach your goals so that you can be our next guest on the Hello Goals podcast.