Episode 069: Kevin Reynolds -- Olympic Figure Skater

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What we cover: "Take the past for what it is. And then, focus on moving forward." -- Kevin Reynolds

Today's guest is Kevin Reynolds. He is, of course, the Canadian figure skating super star who won silver at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, as part of the mixed team event.

According to the official Olympics athlete site, he is the first skater in the world to ever land a quad-triple-triple combination, and in 2010 he became the first man ever to land two quadruple jumps in the short program – and we talk about all that goodness.

But this is by no means just a talk about skating. You don’t have to be up on your figure skating lingo to follow along – despite the fact that many of us will be up on it on account of we Canadians following the recent success of our own ice dancers, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. This is a conversation about getting up after we fall – figuratively and literally. It’s about recognizing what Kevin calls that “glimmer of hope” in order to set the wheels in motion and turn a dream into reality. It’s about harnessing the adrenaline we’ve all felt at one point or another, and turning that into something positive. It’s about learning to replace the question: “What if it all goes wrong?” with “What if it all goes right?”

It’s a peek behind the curtain of the present-moment focus that is required to compete and perform at this elite a level.

And, it’s a conversation about the Top 5 skating movies in pop culture, and I’ve posted that complete list at MJDionne.com, under the podcaster tab. So there’s that.