I don’t know about you, but the Olympics never fails to get my attention. This summer has been no different. The depth of skill, determination and resilience of the competitors really is awe inspiring.

I have written about mindfulness and sport before, but I was again reminded of the truth of our reality when watching Team GB’s Alex Yee compete in the triathlon. It was the last lap. Yee’s arch-rival Hayden Wilde was 14 seconds ahead of him. In Olympic terms, that’s about four days, right? By everyone’s reckoning, Yee’s coveted gold medal was out of his reach.

So much so, we changed channel as there was something even more thrilling happening in the pool which meant we missed the end of Yee’s race. (A classic case of missing the moment?!) Then the banner flashed up on our screen. Yee had got gold!

Cue much fumbling for the remote control, yelps, gasps, and wonderment.

What on earth had happened in a matter of seconds to turn that race around?

Yee, on his own admission afterwards, had been struggling and in a ‘bad place’. Then he hears four words of advice from the crowd. And not just any old bystander but Alistair Brownlee himself, the London 2012 and Rio 2016 triathlon champion.

What four words could possibly have spurred Yee on so much so that he not only caught up with Wilde, but went on to win the race?

“Anything can happen, mate”.

Those four words.

And it’s true. We don’t know with any degree of certainty what is going to happen next. We like to think we do, that we are top notch fortune tellers who can predict the next moment with 100% accuracy. But the fact is, we cannot.

Anything really can happen. And because Yee had trained his body to Olympic standard, his mind, once completely focussed but at the same time open to anything, enabled him to win gold.

How many times have you closed your mind off to something, simply believing that it could never happen? How often do we believe our expectation of the next moment, however skewed our thinking might be?

Alex Yee teaches us to be open minded. To never give up. To believe in ourselves when everyone around us is looking on doubtfully.

Is it time for you to dream big? I’m not talking about entering a synchronised swimming competition at high altitude or pole vaulting the neighbour’s fence with the washing line pole. I’m talking about quietly asking yourself what it is that your heart truly desires and setting a goal and an intention to help you to get there. One small step at a time. And maybe that does include some weird and wonderful sports! After all, anything can happen.