Watching Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt achieve 11 golds between them, breaking world record after world record in the process in Beijing. I couldn't help but wonder what separated them out from other athletes to date in order for them to achieve what they have done.

Einstein would argue that you can't solve problems with the same kind of thinking that created them. So if a sport needs to evolve forward in leaps and bounds rather than slight incremental steps then you can assume that a whole new evolution needs to take place in training or the make up of an athlete, if drugs are not to be permitted.

With 100 metre running, archetypical sprinters are traditionally fairly compact individuals, stocky, highly muscled, short limbed, capable of generating a high degree of leg speed, tense, anxious, ready to explode into their running from the blocks, in short, real power houses. Compare that to Usain Bolt, over 6ft tall, long limbed, a giant striding individual, relaxed, confident, and suprisingly muscled for an athlete of his nature. A different kind of being altogether.

No wonder then that he was able to win with such authority when adapting his leg speed to that of the other competitors, smashing the previous world best with consummate ease. Over 200 metres too, he has also been able to lower the world mark, a record that has stood the test of time for the last 12 years, testament to the last great athlete whose make up was slightly different to that which was considered the norm, Michael Johnson.

Johnson's body always seemed longer than his rivals, and his legs proportionately smaller, his upright style was able to create a higher degree of rotation in his rather smaller limbs generating the speed he was able to muster over both 200 and 400 metres. Creating the times he was able to set that are still in existence in the latter event today.

With Michael Phelps the difference isn't immediately so obvious, however like the last named legend of the track, Mr Phelps also has a long body and shorter legs, this makes him an ideal swimmer but not necessarily really great. His 8 gold medals eclipsed Mark Spitz previous record of 7 golds in any one Olympics, both creating world records by the bucket load in the process and here lies the key to the answer.

Like Spitz, Phelps is a specialist in Butterfly as well as Freestyle, in order to be a good swimmer in Butterfly you need a large wing span, and a high degree of upper body strength in order to pull the water back underneath you as you travel along, it being the most energy sapping event in swimming. This also makes the Freestyle an easier event to swim. The difference between Phelps and Spitz was that Michael was able to sustain his stamina over a longer distance and the sport has been slightly modified to allow a Butterfly kick on the turns of all the swimming events, something he is supreme at doing, practicing the turns as much as the actual swimming itself it would seem. This combination has allowed him to amass the 8 golds he has.

We all have the ability to succeed as Michael and Usain have done, we just have to understand which event or vocation best suits our own body, mind and soul in order to find our own true greatness. If you feel you need help in order to do this please do not hesitate to contact me.

The other thing we can learn from athletes at the Olympics is what has happened to them by way of illness and injury, hurdles which they have had to get over, before securing the success that they have desired.

It would seem as if that they have almost needed the injury at times in order to truly think about how they have been training and whether this has been the right way of going about things in order to guarantee success. Sometimes injury comes to test our will to fulfil our dreams, decipher whether we are on the right path or bring our minds attention to what we need to understand to make it all possible, the message often comes via metaphor.

One of the GB swimmers was noted as saying at the Olympics that she thought her career was going down the pan even before she started to get problems with her pancreas. As the pancreas deals with digestive issues there may well have been something within her training schedule in England that she was unable to digest.

It was during her recovery time that she decided she had one of two options left open to her, 1, stop the sport she loved altogether and go to Hawaii for pure enjoyment or 2, change her training schedule and go to Florida, having more fun in the process. The pancreas also governs balance in our lives between work and play, something perhaps more easily achieved in sunny Florida, than rainy England.

Liu Xiang too, China's equivalent to David Beckham, the 110m hurdler, who limped out of his event before it even took place with an ankle injury, has also something to learn from his most recent experience. Ankles often give way when the weight of expectation from above lies too heavily upon us. The ankles support all of our body weight and a lot more besides. The hopes of a nation could well have ultimately proved an achilles heel to their most treasured athlete, however odds on he'll be back in 2012, with rather less expectation weighing heavily upon him.

It may pay for us all to be more aware of what part of our body is hurting when we are feeling unable to shoulder our current responsibilities, if something or someone is proving a pain in the neck, or is bringing us to our knees. The message this delivers to us may suddenly become obvious as to what we need to do in order to change something in our lives for the better, changing the way we look at things in order to succeed where we currently are having difficulty.

If you are interested in talking further about how illness, dis-ease and injury may relate to something else happening within your life, and how this maybe related to your ultimate purpose in life, please do not hesitate to contact me.

For any individuals or businesses interested in saving energy and saving money and not wishing to rely on purely Olympic pedal power to energise their home or business. This is just a reminder of the events coming up in Ivybridge in the month ahead connected to the PL:21 Power Less - Energy Week. September 22nd to 27th.

Tuesday 23rd September, an opportunity to see An Inconvenient Truth at The Watermark Centre, Ivybridge 7.30pm.

Wednesday 24th September, Saving Business Energy, The Watermark Centre, Ivybridge 6.00pm. An event giving local businesses the chance to save money as well as save energy. A talk by Mark Hodgson of Envision will establish how easy it is to become more energy efficient, Bandvulc a local tyre manufacture will talk about how successful it has been in achieving this and Giles Boardman of Efficient Light will also be advising businesses on how they can save money by installing the latest energy efficient light bulbs throughout their premises.

Saturday 27th September PL:21 Power Less - Energy Fair, Methodist Church, Ivybridge, 10.00am to 4.00pm. Designed to help residents within the community become more insulated and energy efficient within their own homes. Talks will include aspects of Solar Thermal, Solar PV, Climate Change, Wind Turbines as well as Energy Efficiency at Home. Stands connected to all these issues will also be on show at the event.

Suggested donations for all the events will be £3 concessions £2.

If these events interest you please do not hesitate to contact me or simply turn up on the day.