On the morning of 1 March 2018, right at the beginning of the final stage of my half-marathon preparation, I was listening to a podcast and had a thought.

If I went back in time, could I earn a medal in an Olympic event?

After getting home from my run I went back and looking at the quintessential running event of the Olympics, the 100m Race, I found that the current Gold medal holder Usain Bolt won his gold with a 9.81s time but 122 years ago, the gold medal time was 12.0s. Now obviously I can’t even have a dream that I will ever run 100 meters in 9.81s, but maybe, just maybe 12.0s could be possible. However, this isn’t even about Gold medals, its about could I ever medal at all. That requirement is a bit slower, 12.2s for a silver or 12.6s for bronze.

Thanks to these numbers and a solid desire to attempt something that very well might be impossible, I have decided to embark on this journey to become an Olympic medalist in any event at some point in history.

I am doing this for a few reasons:

• In 3 months, right after my 25th birthday I will be completing my first ever half-marathon and it is a physical achievement I am quite proud to be doing.
• I want to continue to maintain my fitness
• I want to set a new goal for me to be proud of and chase after
• If I am going to do something, why not do it big?

The Plan

Following my half-marathon, I will begin training for my first event which will be the 100m. I am joining my local Athletics club and will take 3 months of focused sprint, weight and other training required to change my conditioning from long distance to sprinting.

At the end of the 3 months, I will take my one chance. I will have my 100m Olympic competition. It will be professionally timed, recorded and it will be my only chance. Following the event, I will hold a medal ceremony and if I am able to make my way onto the podium, I will alter the historical medal ceremony to fit the new reality for whatever place I successfully achieved. If I fail, I will not take another chance at being able to earn a medal in that Olympic event, just like anyone else who was there on the day.

Events

While the order of the events have not been fully decided, here is my tentative list.

1. 100m Race
2. Long Jump
3. Javelin throw
4. Shot Put
5. 100m Freestyle Swimming
6. Pole Vault
7. Cycling Sprint?
8. 110m Hurdles
9. 400m Race
10. 1500m Race

I fully understand going into this that I might not be able to manage to medal in any of these. However, I refuse to give up just because it looks possibly impossible from the outside.

Thank you for joining. Please follow my journey and I will make sure to post regular updates about training.