“Fortius”

Stronger.

Faster.  Higher.  Stronger.

You don’t get Faster or Higher unless you’re Stronger.  You know—like Superman: “Faster than a speeding bullet.  Can leap tall buildings in a single bound.”  Try that on spindly legs.

So how strong do Olympic athletes have to be?  Ever skied?  Ice skated?  Pushed a 1,400 lb sled?  Withstood the same g-forces as a fighter pilot in a tight turn?  Take a look at the thighs on speed skaters.  Skiers aren’t really bulked up, but they’re amazingly strong.  Yeah, the Sports Illustrated bikini shots of Lindsey Vonn were awesome, but try this: do a wall squat.  Stand about 14 inches from a wall (a flat door jamb works well).  That’s about the length of your femur.  Then press your back against the wall and sit just like there was a chair under you.  Now hold it.  The fastest times in Giant Slalom, for instance, are over one minute and 15 seconds.  Racers are doing over fifty mph.  On icy snow.  Maneuvering through gates.  How did you do with your squat?  Watch ski racers hold that position, bent over their skis and fighting the icy ruts in the snow, the wind, the cold, the terrain.  Some of them will go fast enough that one slip in their aerodynamics and they’re literally airborne and out of control…at Interstate speeds.

Now watch the hockey team or the speed skaters or the ice dancers or the snowboarders or free style skiers.  Core strength and leg strength and strength of will launch them into the air, spinning and somersaulting or flattened against an ice track or chasing a puck or plunging headlong down a tube of ice just to prove they can do it better than anyone else in the world.

Speed.  Strength.  Guts.  Glory.

USA