How to Bounce Back and Win

Ruben Gonzalez
April 25, 2012

Ruben Gonzalez

Incredible Olympic Story - Business Author - Award Winning Speaker

by Four-time Olympian Ruben Gonzalez

     Karoly Takacs. You’ve probably never heard of him. However, in Hungary, he’s a national hero - everybody there knows his name and his incredible story. After reading his story, you’ll never forget him…

     In 1938, Karoly Takacs of the Hungarian Army, was the top pistol shooter in the world. He was expected to win the gold in the 1940 Olympic Games scheduled for Tokyo.

     Those expectations vanished one terrible day just months before the Olympics. While training with his army squad, a hand grenade exploded in Takacs’ right hand, and Takacs’ shooting hand was blown off.

     Takacs spent a month in the hospital depressed at both the loss of his hand, and the end to his Olympic dream. At that point most people would have quit. And they would have probably spent the rest of their life feeling sorry for themselves. Most people would have quit but not Takacs. Takacs was a winner. Winners know that they can’t let circumstances keep them down. They understand that life is hard and that they can’t let life beat them down. Winners know in their heart that quitting is not an option.

     Takacs did the unthinkable; he picked himself up, dusted himself off, and decided to learn how to shoot with his left hand! His reasoning was simple. He simply asked himself, “Why not?”  

     Instead of focusing on what he didn’t have – a world class right shooting hand, he decided to focus on what he did have – incredible mental toughness, and a healthy left hand that with time, could be developed to shoot like a champion.

     For months Takacs practiced by himself. No one knew what he was doing. Maybe he didn’t want to subject himself to people who most certainly would have discouraged him from his rekindled dream.

     In the spring of 1939 he showed up at the Hungarian National Pistol Shooting Championship. Other shooters approached Takacs to give him their condolences and to congratulate him on having the strength to come watch them shoot. They were surprised when he said, “I didn’t come to watch, I came to compete.” They were even more surprised when Takacs won!

     The 1940 and 1944 Olympics were cancelled because of World War II. It looked like Takacs’ Olympic Dream would never have a chance to realize itself. But Takacs kept training and in 1944 he qualified for the London Olympics. At the age of 38, Takacs won the Gold Medal and set a new world record in pistol shooting. Four years later, Takacs won the Gold Medal again at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Takacs - a man with the mental toughness to bounce back from anything.

     Winners in every field have a special trait that helps them become unstoppable. A special characteristic that allows them to survive major setbacks on the road to success. Winners recover QUICKLY. Bouncing back is not enough. Winners bounce back QUICKLY. They take their hit, they experience their setback, they have the wind taken out of their sails, but they immediately recover. Right away they FORCE themselves to look at the bright side of things – ANY bright side, and they say to themselves, “That’s OK. There is always a way. I will find a way.” They dust themselves off, and pick up where they left off.

     The reason quick recovery is important is that if you recover quickly, you don’t lose your momentum and your drive. Takacs recovered in only one month. If he had wallowed in his misery, if he had stayed “under the circumstances,” if he had played the martyr, and felt sorry for himself much longer, he would have lost his mental edge – his “eye of the tiger” and he never would have been able to come back.

     When a boxer gets knocked down, he has ten seconds to get back up. If he gets up in eleven seconds, he loses the fight. Remember that next time you get knocked down.

     Takacs definitely had a right to feel sorry for himself. He had a right to stay depressed and to ask himself “Why me?” for the rest of his life. He had the right to act like an average man.

     Takacs could have let his terrible accident cause him to become permanently discouraged, to take up heavy drinking, to quit on life altogether, and maybe even to end his own life. He could have acted like a loser.

     But Takacs made the DECISION to dig deep inside and to find a solution. To pick himself up and to learn to shoot all over again. Winners always search for a solution. Losers always search for an escape.

     Next time you get knocked down, DECIDE you will act like a winner. DECIDE to act like Takacs. Get up quickly, take action, and astound the world!

Ruben Gonzalez is a four-time Olympian, a bestselling business author and an award-winning keynote speaker. For information on how to bring him to your next event, visit PremiereSpeakers.com/Ruben_Gonzalez.

Ruben Gonzalez

Want Ruben Gonzalez for your next event?

Find out more information, including fees and availability.
Find Out More
Keep Reading
A leadership TED Talk from Olympian Ruben Gonzalez
Ruben Gonzalez
Ruben Gonzalez
March 14, 2022
It "only"; took me 3 Olympics for meto learn this lesson that helped meperform better ...
The First Steps on the Way to Realizing Your Dreams
Ruben Gonzalez
Ruben Gonzalez
September 28, 2021
One day in February of 1972, I turned on the TV and saw something that changed my ...
Your Focus Impacts Your Results
Ruben Gonzalez
Ruben Gonzalez
September 22, 2021
I started luging in 1984. For 24 years I didn't like the sport of luge. I forced myself to slide because ...
A leadership TED Talk from Olympian Ruben Gonzalez
It "only"; took me 3 Olympics for meto learn this lesson that helped meperform better at 55 than I ever didbefore. A simple leadership lesson anyonecan use to achieve their goals faster. FollowTheLeaderTEDTalk.com
Read More
The First Steps on the Way to Realizing Your Dreams
One day in February of 1972, I turned on the TV and saw something that changed my life: the Sapporo Winter Olympics. After watching the pageantry of the Opening Ceremonies and the thrilling competitions, I turned to my younger brother Marcelo and said, "I'm going to be in the Olympics!"; It takes two types of courage to realize your goals and...
Read More
Your Focus Impacts Your Results
I started luging in 1984. For 24 years I didn't like the sport of luge. I forced myself to slide because the luge was my ticket to the Olympics. The Olympic dream kept me going. And the dream was always in focus. Whenever I was up at the start tower preparing to slide, my heart hammered in my chest, my mouth dried out and my hands were be cov...
Read More
Don't Limit Your Options to What's Obvious
Most people go through life making decisions based on just a fraction of their available options. They hold themselves back because they allow circumstances or other people's opinions limit their perceived choices. By the way, I was born in Argentina. Since this is Hispanic Heritage Month, I looked up Hispanic and Latino because I wasn't sure...
Read More
Staying Positive by Focusing on the Possibilities
Whether I'm speaking for 25 people in a boardroom or 10,000 people in an arena, I finish my speeches by saying, "What are the chances that someonelike me was going to make it to the Olympics?I wasn't a great athlete, I didn't get started untilI was 21 years old, and to top it off I live in hot andhumid Houston and I chose to compete in the lugef...
Read More
What's Holding You Back?
Whether your dream is to lose weight, or to buy your dream home, or to double your income, or to learn the ins and outs of soccer so you cancoach your daughter's soccer team, you willfind that there are things that hold you back. Ninety five percent of people, look at theirobstacles and all they see is a reason whythey can't make their dream a ...
Read More
Feedback, The Breakfast of Champions
Here is a simple thing you can start doing right now to help you improve your relationships, your results at work, the quality of your products, and anything else in your life. Something that doesn't take much time, but saves you huge amounts of time. That something is asking for feedback from qualified people. At the end of each luge run, ...
Read More
The Power of Being Flexible
We live in times of constant and rapid change. Because of this, one of the most important qualities you can develop to succeed in the 21st century is the quality of flexibility. Flexibility means approaching life's circumstances with an open mind ever ready to make course changes. The opposite of flexibility is rigidity andhard-headedness. Th...
Read More
Developing Your Vision to Succeed
All great leaders have two main qualities: gutsand vision. Today we'll focus on vision. You become what you think about all the time.Leaders think about the future most of the time.They think about where they are going and aboutwhat they can do to get there. Non-leaders focus on the present, on the past,and on their obstacles. When you start ...
Read More
It takes a special person to be a leader.
Leadership, whether in a family, in a little league team, or in an organization, requires the same factors. First of all, you have to have the mindset that you want to help people reach their full potential. The leader constantly teaches the people in his team how they can become more successful by contributing to the team's common goals. T...
Read More