John Walton Smith came tantalizingly close to winning a gold medal at the Olympics. But fate intervened.
A track star, Smith was ranked No. 1 in the world in the early 1970s. He broke the record in the 440-yard dash in 1971 with a time of 44.5 seconds.
Smith didn't win a gold medal. But thanks to lessons learned, today he is hailed as "the world's best track coach." He has coached many Olympic medalists.
Rise From Defeat
In 1972, Smith was the favorite to win the 400-meter race in the Munich Olympics. He qualified for the final while battling a hamstring injury.
"In the semifinals, I was dead last on the final turn," he recalled. "I dug so deep and emptied my tank. I made the finals."
In the finals, however, he could only push himself so far. His injury flared up and he couldn't finish the race, limping off the track in pain.
"After Munich, there aren't words I can use in public to describe my emotions," Smith said. "I was pissed off."
Improve Your Mindset
Refusing to wallow in self-pity, Smith coped with crushing disappointment by reframing his attitude.
"I had to change my concept of what was successful," he said. Eventually, he gained success by coaching others to victory.
Smith knew how the injury occurred: About two weeks earlier, he was running a pre-Olympic meet in Munich at 7:30 p.m. when the temperature dropped 10 degrees. "I didn't realize how cold it had gotten," he said.
Running at sprint speed, he felt a twinge. "Next morning, I couldn't straighten my leg," he said. "It was painful but I said to myself, 'Don't give up.'"
Form Your Motto
Just qualifying for the finals was a triumph, given Smith's injury. His main takeaway from the searing experience: Keep pushing and never give up.
Smith, 74, grew up in Los Angeles listening to Dodgers baseball games on a transistor radio. He realized from a young age that champions persevere amid adversity.
"Guys like Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Johnny Podres had a particular skill and demeanor," he said. "In good times and bad times, they wouldn't give up. Maury Wills had bruises up and down his hips but he kept stealing bases."
These legends became Smith's role models. He sought to emulate them.
John Smith: Control Your Emotions
Smith started dreaming about the Olympics as a 12-year-old. His junior high school physical-education teacher, Charles Dumas, won the gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics in the high jump.
"One day, Charlie brought his gold medal to school," Smith recalled. "I still feel it in my right hand now. I vowed to work toward that."
At 16, he ran track for Fremont High School in Los Angeles. His father, who worked two jobs, could not attend his son's races.
When his dad finally was able to see him compete, Smith put extra pressure on himself. He lost his race and his composure.
"I took the baton and threw it on the ground," Smith said. "I was mad ... (and) I didn't want my father to see me lose."
Heed Your Mentor's Advice
Later, Smith's father shared advice that carried lasting impact. "Son, you're the best out there," Smith's dad told him. "But you act like you're the worst."
Smith took his father's words to heart. He understood that teammates took their cues from him and he needed to exhibit humility, not anger.
As a coach, Smith tells sprinters that humility gives them an edge. Rather than engage in trash talk as runners line up next to them at the start line, he urges them to treat opponents with respect.
"If someone beats you, say, 'Thank you,'" Smith said. Observe what they did, why it worked and learn from it.
For Smith, the worst thing you can do is show off and get cocky. Overconfidence leads to self-sabotage.
"When you say, 'I got this,' you've just undid your goal," he warned. "And if you think you're better than someone else, don't spit on them or you'll wake up that giant. Once you have your foot on their neck, you reach down and pick them up."
Smith: Don't Apologize For Winning
At the same time, set goals and strive for technical perfection. Respecting your opponents doesn't mean you must defer to them.
Smith learned this lesson at age 19 when he competed at the Amateur Athletic Union championship in Bakersfield, Calif. An underdog, he beat Lee Evans, an Olympic gold medalist, in the 440-yard dash.
"I apologized to Lee Evans after I beat him," Smith said. "He said, 'Don't do that! If I beat you, I wouldn't apologize to you.'"
As a coach of stars such as Maurice Greene, Quincy Watts and Carmelita Jeter, Smith has sought to instill in them a will to win through flawless mechanics and peak physical conditioning. He emphasizes that even the top dog will lose a race now and then — and that's when your graciousness gets tested.
He cites Carl Lewis' reaction in 1994 when Leroy Burrell beat Lewis in a Grand Prix race — breaking Lewis' world record in the 100-meter dash.
Afterward, Lewis hugged Burrell and seemed thrilled for him. In a postrace TV interview, he praised Burrell's performance.
Master Your Attitude
Smith also knows that an athlete's mindset can make or break a race.
"John taught me that really good coaches know when to stop," said Ato Boldon, one of the many champions that Smith has coached. "Many coaches know when to say go" but don't know when to pull the reins in.
Boldon, a four-time Olympic medalist, was riding high in 1996. He had just beat his own record and was prepping for the next event — going against Carl Lewis — when Smith called him over.
"You're not running this race," Smith told Boldon.
"I wondered why is he holding me back," Boldon said. "But I had a reverence for his knowledge so I accepted it."
When Boldon became a coach years later, he came to understand what Smith did that day.
"An athlete is most vulnerable right after establishing a personal best," Boldon said. "The adrenaline is flowing and confidence is soaring. That's when you can get injured, and I was training for Atlanta (Olympics)."
Smith: Rally To Accept Defeat
What's Smith's secret as a coach? He listens to athletes, observes their body language and responds accordingly.
"I'm trying to catch their vibration, what they're giving off," he said. "You've got to start where they are, to take them as they are."
For example, he likes to begin by asking, "How do you feel today?" They often respond, "I feel fine." But he might detect from their nonverbal cues that something's amiss.
"So I'll say, 'Why don't we do this?' and warm up and go from there," he said. "I always say 'we.' Then we ease into it so that they can run with equanimity."
He also studies how athletes process information and considers their background and bedrock beliefs.
"If they were raised differently with a different religion or whatever, they'll tell you how to coach," he said. "And when they lose, and everyone loses at some point, don't let them beat themselves up."
To rally athletes who don't finish first, Smith gives them a pep talk. "Be enamored with the place you got," he tells them. "And improve on it next time. Don't let others define you."
John Smith's Keys:
- Considered the world's top track coach, he has worked with many Olympic sprinters who have won medals.
- Overcame: Disappointment of not winning a medal at the 1972 Olympics due to a hamstring injury.
- Lesson: "I was fearless. I had the fire to be successful from a young age. I'd walk 2-1/2 miles to school with my goals in mind."
