Eric Murray’s reputation on the sporting stage was a prequel to the wisdom he shared on the King’s and Queen’s auditorium stage.

On Friday 18  May a group of OGHS aspiring elite athletes attended a Q&A session with the double Olympic Gold medallist. His career with Dunedin born partner Hamish Bond spanned seven consecutive world championships in the coxless pair and two Olympic Gold medals. He reached the pinnacle of his sport and is an inspiration to many. However he disclosed that when he was younger, he would look up the the top sports people think, “If they can do it, why can’t I?”. This question is one that many of us may ask ourselves but ultimately it is our decision to chase the dream or not.

Eric reminded us that everyone is nervous before the race. If you are nervous, the race means something to you. But it is important to focus on what you need to do in the race rather than the outcome. There were high expectations on the pair leading into the Rio Olympics but he acknowledged that all he had to do was race the best race he could. If he had made a mistake or done something different to what they had practised in training then he would have felt guilty. But if he had raced his best and another team was better on the day then he knew that is all he could have done.

Despite being unbeaten in 69 races together with Bond, Murray said they went into each race with the mindset that they were there to win, not to defend their title. This was perhaps the most relevant message for High School students competing in local sporting competitions. Eric reiterated the message, “Just because you beat a school two weeks ago doesn’t mean you’re going to beat them again.” This obviously works vice versa and it is important to have an appropriate attitude leading into each game.

The most challenging parts of his career were the failures, “Failure, injury and sickness are inevitable,” he said but emphasised that you have to have those setbacks, place realistic expectations on yourself and then improve.

The ideal characteristics you need to have to be a successful sports person in Murray’s eyes are a mixture of humbleness and arrogance and patience. “It will take time, it’s not going to happen overnight,” he said, “it will realistically take 5-10 years.” As for the arrogance and humbleness, there’s a time and place for both of these. You need to be confident on the start line and believe you can win, on the flipside he said, “When you do win, remember that everyone else will be disappointed because they also wanted to win.” Eric must have certainly perfected the art of humble arrogance as evident in his impressive winning streak. The key is that we can all be like him if we choose the path of dedication and discipline.