What the Olympics Taught Us about Grit, Grace, & Resilience
By Christie Solomon
I watched the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Games expecting to witness superhuman athletic feats resulting in gold medals. While that happened, what inspired me most was the mental fortitude and individual achievements of three female U.S. athletes: Lindsey Vonn, Alysa Liu, and Chloe Kim. Their exceptional attitudes–more than their athletic prowess–transformed them into role models of grit, grace, and resilience, leaving an enduring legacy irrespective of medaling.
41-year-old American Alpine ski racer and three-time Olympic medalist, Lindsey Vonn, came back from retirement to compete in the Milano Cortina Olympic Games with both a torn ACL and a titanium knee. Even after her women’s downhill race ended in a crash after clipping a gate, an airlift to the hospital, and multiple surgeries to repair a broken tibia, she still felt she won because she tried. Vonn later said,
“I tried. I dreamt. I jumped. I hope if you take away anything from my journey, it’s that you all have the courage to dare greatly. Life is too short not to take chances on yourself. Because the only failure in life is not trying.”
Defending Vonn’s choice to compete with an injury, organizational psychologist Adam Grant wrote, “Grit isn’t defined by the result–it’s revealed by the effort. Resilience isn’t seen in a fall–it’s shown in the resolve to bounce back. Success is more than the finish. It’s the distance traveled from the start.”
After stepping away from figure skating at 16 due to burnout, 20-year-old American figure skater and daughter of a Chinese refugee father, Alyssa Liu, returned to the sport on her own terms — and went on to win gold at this year’s Olympic Games.
Liu’s renewed joy in figure skating, due to her new freedom of personal expression and style, radiated throughout her 2026 gold-medal-winning routine, the first for the American figure skating team since 2002.
Her father, Arthur Liu, a pro-Democracy activist who fled to the U.S. following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, is now a U.S. immigration lawyer in California. Celebrating his daughter’s Olympic victory, he said, “Immigrants don’t weaken America, they win gold for it. Alysa proved it after 24 years.”
American Olympic medalist Chloe Kim entered the Milano Cortina Olympics hoping for her third gold medal in the women’s snowboard halfpipe. Kim’s impressive performance won her a silver medal, despite a serious shoulder injury. She said that her biggest accomplishment is not necessarily her medal–it is “always being able to get back up and try again.”
At the awards ceremony, Kim congratulated her 17-year-old South Korean mentee, Choi Gaon, who won her first gold medal in the event, with an enthusiastic hug. Afterwards, Kim said, “I’m really proud of [Gaon]. She deserves this… She took a heavy slam, got back up, and won the damn thing.”
Reflecting on Kim’s response at the award ceremony, U.S. Senator Michael Garrett said, “Our children learned that grace matters more than gold.”
Role models can be found in unexpected places. Individuals who exhibit grit, grace, and resilience remain open to experiences that may challenge their beliefs and mindsets. Grit means staying true to your goals and never giving up. Grace means possessing humility to support others and to change your mind based on circumstances and experience. Resilience means remembering that failure is not final–it is an opportunity to get back up, learn from your mistakes, and improve.
The examples set by these three impressive women teach us that it’s more than athleticism that wins the gold.
About the Author: Founder of Elevate Next, Christie holds an MBA in International Business from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and has extensive experience in marketing, public relations, finance, and project management.
