There was something refreshing about Baxter Towers’ reaction to what was, by his own admission, a difficult day on the track after the first CGA sub-youth track and field league meeting on Heritage Day.

The Benoni Northerns Athletic Club youngster had every reason to be disappointed.

After enjoying a successful cross-country season that culminated in him representing CGA at the national championships in Pretoria last month, expectations were high when he lined up in the season opener at Germiston Stadium.

But sport does not always follow the script.

Baxter struggled in both his middle-distance and sprint events. It was not the performance he wanted, and afterwards he made no attempt to hide his disappointment.
What stood out, however, was what came next.

He did not make excuses or blame anyone. Instead, he spoke about going back to the drawing board, learning from the experience and making amends.
That attitude deserves recognition.

Because every athlete eventually has to learn one of sport’s hardest lessons: you are going to lose, you are going to struggle and sometimes you are simply going to have a bad day.

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What matters is what you do next. Baxter’s reaction reminded me of one of the greatest stories in modern sport – that of Usain Bolt.

Before Bolt became the fastest man in history, he experienced the kind of disappointment that could easily have derailed a young athlete.

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, the then 17-year-old Jamaican failed to progress from his 200m heat. For a teenager competing at his first Olympics, it was a painful lesson.

But Bolt did not allow Athens to become the story of his career. Four years later, he was a different athlete.

In May 2008, he ran 9.72 seconds in New York to break Asafa Powell’s 100m world record. Three months later, he lowered the mark again, running 9.69 to win Olympic gold in Beijing.

Then came Berlin in 2009.

Bolt ran 9.58 to set the 100m world record, before following it with 19.19 in the 200m – another world record that still stands.

Think about that.

Five years after failing to get out of his Olympic heat, Bolt was an Olympic and world champion and the fastest man on the planet.

The failure did not disappear. He simply refused to let it have the final word.

That is the lesson I hope Baxter takes from his difficult day at Germiston Stadium and one every young athlete should learn early.

Success is not a straight line. There will be races where your legs do not respond, matches where nothing goes right, selections you miss and finals you lose.

There will be days when you walk away wondering what went wrong. Those moments can hurt. But they do not have to stop you.

Sometimes the most important lessons in an athlete’s career are learned when they do not win. One bad race does not make you a bad athlete. One defeat does not make you a failure. And one disappointing day does not determine where your journey ends.

Failure is an event, not an identity. You can allow it to break your confidence, or you can use it as fuel.

Bolt chose the latter. Now Baxter has the same opportunity.

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