On this day 25 years ago, I began to live out my dream. It was the prelims of my first Olympic Games. When I look back at my pictures, I’m not in a lot of them. The images are flooded with Olympic rings, lit torches and stadiums full of spectators. I had been dreaming about that since I was 8 years old. Now here I was, walking it out. After an okay but not great prelim, I was feeling all the internal battles that night as the next morning would be semi finals followed by a ridiculously long wait and then finals… the medal rounds. I was feeling the full weight of my entire life that night. But instead of running away scared or trying to distract myself, I chose to go sit on my bed alone and deal with it. I thought of all the things that made me scared from failing to winning, and I walked through every possible scenario. What was I left with? Hope. Determination. Motivation. I realized that no matter happened that next day, I would overcome. And that set me free. Now I lov...