The GOAT, the Greatest of All Time. With three Hawaii wins in the pocket, an Olympic gold medal and many more incredible achievements, it’s a title that Germany’s Jan Frodeno proved to deserve. But what goes on in the mind of an athlete that can achieve such things? In a video by the Professional Triathletes Organization, Frodeno answer this question. He’s also honest about a turning point in his life, and he looks ahead: because where does this all stop? How long can he keep the fire burning?
“I’m at a point in my career where I do it for the challenge, where I do it for the nerves before a race and the absolute deep places you go to during a race. It’s a point where you are with yourself, and you make a decision. That decision is whether you pursue and extend yourself a little more, or whether to back off, which equals giving up. Of course, it’s easier to back off. But it’s a price I have to pay for months. Even in training: if I back off, I’m pretty hard on myself… It takes me a lot of time to digest.”
“I think my greatest accomplishment is still being around after so many years. I really hope to keep my fire alive within me. It’s a moment that I know will come: one day, I will wake up, and it’ll be gone. That will be a scary moment. Just to keep reigniting the fire and finding little things, finding projects, finding rivalries, maybe sometimes even finding a comment of somebody who pisses me off”, Frodeno laughs. “And it just adds to the fire again. I just keeps things going.”
