TEAM USA OLYMPIAN: How Chari Hawkins Trained Her Mind to Reach Paris After Years of Falling Short

About this episode

Chari Hawkins shares her journey to the 2024 Paris Olympics, discussing mental toughness, identity crises, and the lessons learned from competition.

Most people watch the Olympics and see the result. Chari Hawkins lived two and a half decades of work to get there, and almost didn't make it. I sit down with US Olympian and world-class heptathlete Chari Hawkins for a wide-ranging conversation about what it actually takes to build mental toughness from scratch, compete at the highest level with a broken heart, and figure out who you are when the sport is no longer the whole answer. This is not a highlight reel conversation. Chari is honest about the panic attacks, the identity crises, the years of therapy, the breakdowns under a tent at track meets, and the visualization breakthrough that got her to the 2024 Paris Olympics. She's also sharp, curious, and deeply thoughtful about what sport teaches you about life, not the other way around. If you've ever had to do hard things while scared, this one is for you. What we explore: Why tying your identity to a single role, athlete, title, achievement, sets you up for a crisis the moment it ends. How Chari used a three-word visualization framework to silence the fear before the race that got her to Paris. Why mental toughness is not a personality trait, and what the actual work of…

People in this episode

Host: Gabby Reece

Guest: Chari Hawkins

Topics covered

• mental toughness
• Olympics
• heptathlon
• identity
• performance
• nutrition
• breathwork

Keywords

• Olympics
• mental toughness
• heptathlete
• Chari Hawkins
• performance system
• visualization
• nutrition
• breathwork
• identity crisis
• therapy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: TEAM USA

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