Winning is self-defined | Janet Evans TedxTalk

In this video, Janet Evans shares with brio, emotion, and great storytelling how as a top female Olympic winner she discovered the true meaning of winning. More than an outside validation, winning is self defined. Janet says: The only way we will become the champions we are capable of being is to personally define what winning means. Janet is widely considered the greatest female distance swimmer in history holding unbroken swimming records for twenty years. Janet competed in three Olympic Games with her debut at the age of seventeen where she won three Gold Medals. The early success was a wonderful surprise which kicked off a celebrated career. It also set expectations for the future. The societal pressures of winning and exceeding previous goals was strong, but Janet retired a decorated Olympian with four Gold Medals and one Silver Medal. In 2012, at the age of forty, Janet made a comeback and reached her goal of competing in the Olympic Trials 23 years after her first Olympic Games. Janet still swims every day for fun and enjoys life in California with her husband and two children. 

Olympic swimmer Janet Evans defied the odds when she beat competitors who were bigger, stronger and some who were taking performance-enhancement drugs to capture her Olympic medals, including four gold’s. Even though a natural-born swimmer, her small stature and unorthodox windmill stroke made others doubt her ability to beat the top competitors. She followed her dreams and accomplished what many thought she could not.