At Paralympic Games, a Lesson in a Loss

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated PressJoshua George competing in a 400-meter race in London on Sunday.

The wheelchair racer Joshua George will be competing in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London and writing for the 2012 London blog.
LONDON–Some losses will keep you up at night. Some losses leave you so baffled as to what just happened that your mind scours every little detail of every second before and during the race trying to find the answer to the questions why and what. Why did I go so slow? What in the world just happened?
Day 4 of Paralympic competition brought with it my first event, the 400 meters. My excitement levels soared as I rode the bus over to the warm-up track outside Olympic Stadium. I had been waiting so long for this moment. The chance to race in the stadium and feel the energy of the crowd left me shaking in anticipation, but the moment felt like it would never come. Even on the day of the race I couldn’t get on the track fast enough.
It is customary to arrive at the warm-up track up to two and a half hours before your race. This leaves time to warm up and work out any kinks with your body or equipment. Athletes are ushered into a series of “call rooms” 40 minutes before their race. Athletes sit, grouped with the other competitors in their heats, while officials check their equipment and race numbers. The first call room is a giant tent at the end of the warm-up track.
From there athletes are taken over a bridge path that leads to the ground floor of the stadium and into the final call room, which is situated under the stands behind the 100-meter start line of the track. Athletes are given their lane numbers and allowed to finish their warm-up on an 80-meter stretch of track. From here, athletes are finally ushered onto the track for their competition.
It takes an eternity to get from the warm-up track to the stadium track. Two eternities if it is your first race of the competition and three eternities in London because events seem to be perpetually delayed because of constant breaks for medal ceremonies. By the time I got to the final call room for my 400-meter preliminary, I felt as though I could punch through a brick wall. I had been forcing myself to go through all the mental exercises that my sports psychologist had taught me, and was focusing on my own race, but I could do nothing to control the excitement