Ep.006 Athlete Story PodcastValuable lessons and life skills from a life with sports at the highest level from Olympic Gold Medalist. Athlete story Joe JacobiAs an athlete, you come across many concepts in your sports career that can help you navigate in life. In fact you gain valuable skills that are actually are transferable life skills.Olympic gold medallist Joe Jacobi is a whitewater canoe slalom athlete turned executive business coach. He has made a whole framework for business coaching out of the images and physical concepts from his sport. He shares that with us in this episode of Athlete Story.Joe describes the world of whitewater canoe slalom and how you try to maneuver your boat in a river with strong currents while trying to avoid touching the obstacles (poles) that have been placed in your path.You have to paddle as fast as you can while avoiding these poles, since touching them adds penalty seconds to your time and the idea is to be as fast as you can. , He describes it as one of the most fun things you can do in your life.‘’It’s that feeling of gravity and working with a force of nature that is so much stronger than you or I could ever be.’’ he says.It’s almost like an art form because Joe describes successful people in canoeing as people who have learned to channel their energy into making the river work for them instead of fighting with it. More like a dance with the river, and this is a way we can choose to live life as well. When you position yourself so that you can take advantage of the currents in stead of fighting them – you don’t have to fight as hard.You can also watch a video version of this interview here.

READ the transcript of full interview by clicking here.

Hi! This is Athlete Story and I’m Anja Bolbjerg. In today’s Athlete Story you are in for a free world class coaching session. Not only does our guest American Joe Jacobi have an Olympic gold medal in whitewater canoeing, which I think is so cool, he’s also such a reflective generous source of wisdom of all the lessons he’s taken with him from the river that he now coaches CEOs and business leaders. He’s not your typical guru hyped up kind of coach, he just has some really solid points that can just wake you up when you’re getting a little too comfortable.Joe started whitewater canoeing when he was 12 years old on a river in Washington DC. And it was on this river that he fell in love with, the process of improving and see how he could be more efficient so that he could be faster and beat his friends. While the boys were competing against each other, they were also learning how to compete against themselves. This very competitive but still friendly environment was Joe’s incubator, and ten years later he stood at the top of the podium at the Olympics in Barcelona.I am so excited for this call, so let’s not wait any longer. Let’s just bring him in.AnjaHi there!JoeHello!AnjaGood to finally talk to you.JoeYeah, I know, it’s great to connect with you as well.AnjaWelcome to the show Athlete Story.JoeThank you!AnjaI was wondering if you could help me and my listeners by taking us inside a canoe in a river, before we imagine, you know, the picnic trip down a little….JoeI have a description of our sport that I hope you of all people will absolutely love. So I just want you to imagine that you’re in a canoe at the top of a snow-covered mountain. But it gets warm and the water and the snow melts and turns to water, and you’re going downhill in the canoe. And it’s just moving water now, instead of snow. And in our sport of whitewater canoe slalom instead of the slalom poles being fixed into the ground, they’re actually hung from wires over the river. And you have to maneuver, just like slalom skiing,