This is from the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Very interesting points and something to think about, specially after our debacle in the last Olympics. In fact there is a new measure for people nowadays. Before, we talked about IQ (Intelligence), and EQ (Emotional Quotient); right now, there is such a thing as AQ (Adversity Quotient). More on that in upcoming articles. I am reprinting an excerpt of the article here; please click on the link below to read the rest of the article.

To overcome adversity is common trait of champions
By Beverly T. Natividad
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:10:00 08/17/2008

THE WORLD’S EYES ARE FIXED on the Beijing Olympics to witness the feats of world champions. But the Olympics really serve to remind us that champions are not only found in the sports arena, they are also found in other areas of life.

The statement is taken very seriously by the International Olympics Committee (IOC). It had convened a congress to gather world champions in the field of politics, science, the arts, business and sports to answer the question: “What makes a champion?”

Marissa Adviento, a sports psychologist from the Ateneo de Manila University, was the lone Filipino delegate to this pre-Olympic congress held a few days before the opening of the Beijing Olympics.

“The idea was to search for the common traits in the lives of champions and find out what makes a champion,” she explains.

According to Adviento, champions are made out of adversity.

“All the speakers in the congress said the one thing that made them champions was adversity, the experience of tremendous pain and trials. It’s like you can’t be a champion without adversity,” she says.

Read the rest of the article here…

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