Champions in the making

Sri Chinmoy: In your book Champions in the Making, you have said nothing about your personal achievements. You have written all about your friends, colleagues and competitors. You speak about Jesse Owens, Metcalfe and others, but you don't say anything about your own achievements.

Mr. Jordan: There's not much to say about me, but there's a lot to say about them. They are the ones who have done so much. They've been the inspiration; they've been the great athletes. I get more fun out of talking about people that I like and people who have done something than I get out of talking about myself. It's fun to discuss my philosophy if that philosophy can help other people. I was chatting with some of your students before you came, and I tried to express my feeling about people who are winners. Sometimes the world looks upon the first-place man as the only winner; yet everybody who takes part is the winner.

Sri Chinmoy: Who made him the winner? Just because all the rest of us lost, he became the winner. If he had run all by himself, then nobody would have appreciated him. So many times people have run on their own and broken records, but nobody believes it. Nobody believes that you have broken a record when you run alone.

Mr. Jordan: That's right. My feeling is that the winner can come from any level — first, second, third, fourth, fifth or very last — providing he sets goals, works hard, achieves a new pinnacle in his life and just takes part to the best of his ability. This is a winner, and to just worship at the shrine of number one is a mistake because everyone is a part of the process. If there weren't a lot of people there, there couldn't be a winner. If you were all by yourself, you couldn't place first. You've got to have other people. So everyone plays a part in making the winner a winner. We all take part. We all have a piece of the action. We all do something and we all contribute and share.