Olympian Priscilla Loomis shares her path to triumph

In order to get to the Olympics, high jumper Priscilla Loomis said she went through a personal transformation, focusing on creating her own path.

“Back in 2014, when I first became a professional athlete, I was a different person, and I had to give myself the time to be humble in order to evolve into the person I am now,” she said when talking at INCmty 2021.

She took part in the discussion The Three realms of belief: Create a business of more than enough, where she mentioned that it takes a lot of effort to achieve Olympic success, such as by prioritizing preparation over other parts of life, like personal ones.

Although born in the United States, Loomis represented Antigua and Barbuda at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and was a double silver medalist at the Pan American Games.

In the chat she had with David Meltzer, co-founder of the consulting agency Sports 1 Marketing, the athlete said that many people lose the ability to evolve due to the failures they have during their training.

“I think a lot of people quit too early. They want instant success, gratification, and results.

“You learn from the moments that you think you’re down. We (athletes) say that failure is like steroids. Because they aren’t really failures, they’re just moments where you didn’t get the success you wanted,” she said.

Priscilla, who now goes by her married name of Frederick, has retired from professional sports and is a motivational speaker and entrepreneur.

“The best version of myself is different from the best version of someone else, so I don’t compare myself to anyone else. Everything that comes my way should line up with what leads to the best version of me.”

She created the Priscilla E. Frederick Foundation to help individuals and families obtain assistance or relief through the generosity of individuals.

The Olympian shared that she evolved during those moments when she hit the bar when she was jumping or when she was in training and things didn’t work out.

“We have to realize that we earn the title of Olympic athlete, we aren’t born with it.

“I said to myself: I’m going to fight and I’m going to be a warrior every second of every day so nothing can stop me,” she said.

Reaching the goal is a daily battle

For the high jump athlete, reaching her goal isn’t easy. She stressed that it represents 365 days of daily effort.

“For me, every day of the 365 days of the year was a turning point. Every day, I had to give everything to achieve what I wanted. The Olympics take place every four years. We train 365 days for a competition which lasts one or two days,” said Priscilla.

She also said that the best advice she can give is to make people aware that difficulties are always going to come up.

“There’s always going to be someone negative in your life, there’s always going to be someone who doesn’t want to see you grow,” Loomis said.

In her opinion, one of the keys to success is knowing exactly where you want to go and balancing all aspects of your life in order to achieve it.

“I said to myself: I’m going to fight and I’m going to be a warrior every second of every day so nothing can stop me.”

She also said that it’s important to understand that there’s a moment for everything. There’s a lot of pressure because life goes on while you’re training. Friends get married, have kids, go to parties, and you have to focus.

She had to change her exercise, nutritional and personal habits, she said, because her goal was clear.

“The best version of myself is different from the best version of someone else, so I don’t compare myself to anyone else. Everything that comes my way has to line up with what leads to the best version of me,” she said.

About INCmty

INCmty is the Tec de Monterrey entrepreneurship festival. Canada was the guest country for the 2021 event.

The event has three main objectives:

• Promote inspiration, with the participation of renowned Mexican entrepreneurs.
• Provide tools that can be implemented immediately.
• Networking with the right people. 

According to Josué Delgado, director of INCmty, this festival gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to be inspired by great examples, as he says: 

“There are many people who come here who want to create, change, and transform things.”

The event took place virtually from November 8 to 10. This year, it had more than 170 activities and 200 speakers.

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