EP 1507 - Selects Edition - Felix Savon

Tola Ogunlewe (0:05)

Welcome back to the Athlete Maestro Podcast, the sports education podcast that helps young athletes like you break your mental and physical limitations in sports, as well as come up with a strategy and a plan to achieve your sports goals. I'm your host Tola Ogunlewe and this is episode 1507 It's a selects edition, guys. This time, I'm taking you back to episode 700, when we looked at Cuban legendary boxer Felix Savon. So, except for a deep, deep, deeply rooted sports fan, you probably have not heard of Felix Savon, one of the greatest amateur fighters in the history of the sport. Won three Olympic gold medals. Remember, I've limited the selects editions to athletes that were not great, great, right? Athletes that were not, not great, sorry, athletes that were not very popular, even though they were great athletes, right? So, if I mention Felix Savon, you probably don't know who Felix Savon is. So, that's the whole idea. And again, episodes you might have missed, episodes that are no longer up here, on your podcast player, get the opportunities to listen to them a second time, or listen to them for the very first time, to get the ever great nuggets. So, selects edition guys, Felix Savon.

He's one of the greatest amateur boxers and Olympians of all time. He won three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games. Today on the show, Cuban great Felix Savon.

Winning an Olympic gold medal is a special fit in itself. It's the dream of many athletes to stand on top of the podium as the best athletes in their category. So, when you get to achieve the feat, three times, in the same discipline, at three different Olympic Games, it's stuff of legend. You see, for Felix Savon, that journey started when he was inspired by another all-time great boxer, Teofilo Stevenson. And of course, if you remember on the podcast, we looked at Teofilo Stevenson's amazing career. A fire burns in you when you see great athletes perform. Savon started training early, and by 1980, he was in the amateur rags. He would get tongs wagging when at the 1985 Junior World Championships, at just the age of 17, he won the gold medal in boxing. You see, at that point, the countdown had begun to see him compete at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. Before then, there was work to be done. But of course, knowing Savon, it was work that he was willing to put in. A year after his World Junior title, he won the World Championships itself, from Junior Champ to Senior Champ. He would win that Senior Championships five more times over the course of his career. The 1988 Olympic Games was meant to be his coming out party, but unfortunately, the Cubans boycotted the Games, which meant that he couldn't make his Olympic debut. But you see, good things come to those who wait. Savon will make his Olympic debut on the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Well, of course, as expected, he won the gold medal. It was no surprise. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, four years later, he defended his Olympic title, joining an elite company. You see, at that point, Siobhilo Stevenson, who of course was Savon's idol, had won the heavyweight gold at three Olympic Games and was the first man to do so. So, it was no surprise that Savon wanted to emulate his idol. At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, he would go for the three-pit. He achieved it in dominant fashion, becoming only the second fighter in history to win three Olympic gold medals in the same weight class in boxing. Like every great boxer, the lure was always to test your skills in America on the biggest stage of them all against the best of the best professionals. While many boxers were moved by money, Savon, like his idol, Stevenson, was moved by loyalty. Loyalty to Cuba and of course a few other reasons. He turned down the opportunity and instead continued to fight as an amateur. He won three Pan American Games, three Goodwill Games and was Cuban champion on all but two years of his career. His amateur record was an outstanding 362 wins to 21 defeats. And he avenged every single one of those defeats. An all-time great amateur boxer. Today is your mentor, guys, and there are three lessons that I want you to learn from Felix Savon. The first of those lessons, guys, is to be a great champion.

You must avoid temptation. To be a great champion, you must avoid temptation. You see, this is another leg, what you could call delayed gratification. In a way, you know, so you have the temptation on one side, and then you have delayed gratification on the other side. You know, so you'll always hear athletes being told, you know, like, focus on what you're trying to do. Don't get distracted. You know, you want to hang out with your friends, you want to do certain things. Those things can wait, depending when you achieve what you want to achieve in sports. When you've done all that, then of course you can go and enjoy. And of course, Usain Bolt is a perfect example. You know, the man had always loved football, wanted to play professional. I mean, he loves the good life and all of that. But he said, I had to sacrifice those things for my goal of becoming a legend in track and field. After I had accomplished everything there was to accomplish, three time back to back 100m champion, three time back to back 200m champion, it got to the point where it was just like, hey, look, man, like I think I need to go and now do all these things that I wanted to do. You see, when Savon started coming into the limelight and he started winning those world championships, you know, and doing so well, you know, just before he won his first Olympic title. You see, in Cuba, right, if Fidel Castro at the time took an interest in you, it meant that you had made it.