As I watched Eilish McColgan run a spectacular 10,000-metre race to win gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, I told myself that this was true grit.
When the camera focused on her tenacious face in the last 100 metres, it showed the look of true grit. The 31-year-old sprinted to the finish line, beating two other seasoned long-distance runners, Irine Cheptai and Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya, in a time of 30:48.60.
McColgan emulated her mother, Liz McColgan, who won in the same event at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh (1986) and Auckland (1990).
It was the same grit Malaysian weightlifters Aniq Kasdan, Muhammad Aznil Bidin and Bonnie Bunyau Gustin had when they snagged gold in their respective categories.
Our badminton players in the mixed team category also demonstrated the same tenacity in winning gold. Para-powerlifter Bonnie clinched Malaysia's fourth gold medal in the men's lightweight event and emerged with a new Games record.
I believe grit encompasses the sustaining power to achieve goals in life. It is the hallmark of courage, conscientiousness, resilience and more importantly, passion and perseverance.
Can grit be taught and emulated? I believe we can learn and emulate grit in whatever discipline we pursue. It is putting our heart and soul into something that we believe we can succeed in.
Our weightlifters could not have lifted an extra kilogramme of weight if they did not have grit. Our badminton players would not have succeeded if they did not have the passion and perseverance to see the game through.
In her New York Times bestseller book, psychologist Angela Lee Duckworth opines that anyone striving to succeed, whether parents, students, educators, athletes or business people, the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent, but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls grit.
Duckworth in her research found that talent is hardly a guarantor of success, but grit is a major denominator. A combination of passion and perseverance for a singularly important goal, is the hallmark of high achievers in every domain. She also found scientific evidence that grit could grow.
In a Ted Talk series, Duckworth presented a first-person account of her research with teachers working in some of the toughest schools, cadets struggling through their first days in the West Point military college, and even young finalists in the United States National Spelling Bee.
Hence it is important for us to learn about grit. The young must have a purpose in life and pursue it with passion and perseverance.
Let's take our young sprinter Muhammad Azeem Mohd Fahmi, for example. Azeem broke the national 100-metre record at the Under-20 World Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia, a week ago. He clocked 10.09 seconds.
He came in fifth in the final with 10.14s.
His coach Amir Izwan Tan Abdullah was interviewed by Berita Harian. I was delighted to learn of Azeem's desire to study at the University of Houston, where Carl Lewis, the nine-time 100m Olympic champion, is teaching.
Lewis has always been known as an athlete with a great deal of grit, and what better way than to be tutored by the best?
It is crucial that the National Sports Council help Azeem become a formidable athlete.
Nevertheless, the entire process is up to him. And I believe he has what it takes.
A car salesman who I was acquainted with when I was working at an automotive company told me he persevered against all obstacles, from being looked down on by his superiors to his inability to sell a single car for six months.
As he believed perseverance was a powerful means to achieve his objective, he worked hard and years later he became the top salesman in the company, drawing millions of ringgit in income.
The writer, a former NST journalist, is a film scriptwriter whose penchant is finding new food haunts
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
