my mindset was already so made up, so
solid that it didn’t really matter what anyone
told me. That was their opinion of what was
happening, and I had already made mine.
Kate Monahan: Did being told that you
wouldn’t compete again ever make you want
to throw in the towel?
John Farrow: What made me want to give
up was the injuries, the fear of it maybe not
happening or you might not be good enough,
the constant beating down from life, the
external situations that sometimes just make
you feel like you aren’t getting anywhere, no
matter how hard you try and the second you
do, something kicks you to the floor again. It’s
heavy, it pulls you down, it depresses you,
and sometimes, that definitely made me want
to give up. But I see it also builds character,
or just move my toes and nothing happened,
something that was so natural and normal
before was gone. I would sit in tears with
my lifeless limb, feeling helpless, thinking I
can’t do this with this condition, thinking all
negative thoughts. One day, with a friend I
was depressed about the situation I was in,
wondering if I will ever recover to how I used
to be. He said, “you don’t have to get to how
you used to be, you just have to adapt.” It
stuck with me because he was right, what
had happened, happened, and it didn’t
need to go back to the way it was. If I was to
achieve my goals, I just have to adapt and
change what I am used to doing to what I
need to do now. Any negative thoughts were
then cut out as I was focused on new ways
of doing things and by just trying to get better
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it builds mindset, it gives you strength and
those qualities stay with you. So, when
someone tells you that you will not compete
again, you know you have the strength to
choose what you want. If you want to try to
compete or you want to quit, you decide, not
them. Anything I am told now is merely an
opinion, I will listen and respect it but it’s up
to you to choose who you want to be.
Kate Monahan: What was the biggest
motivating factor in your recovery?
John Farrow: Knowing I could be better day
by day. Making the deal to be better than I
was before the injury; I coined a phrase “are
you better?” Dependent on one’s mindset,
this phrase can mean a lot of different things.
It was originally meant to be a motivator to
be better than the 27 ranking that I was. I
day by day rather than achieving everything
at once. Negative thoughts and doubt came
a lot less. When they did come up, I would
just focus back on the daily goals.
Kate Monahan: What was it like proving
the odds wrong and making it to the 2014
Olympic games?
John Farrow: By the time I got selected to
compete in the Olympics, my mindset was
so far away from proving things it was all
about achieving things. I didn’t even think
I had proven the odds wrong, I was proud
of my achievements, proud of having the
courage to stick with it, proud of facing all
my fears, and coming out the other side.
Being selected to the Olympic Games for
me didn’t really hit me with any emotions. I
wrote it on my wall next to my bed and every
morning I would wake up and see “are you
better?” Slowly, as my rehab increased, I
started to see “are you better?” as – was I
better than the day before? If I had walked up
four steps yesterday, I would do five today. If
I had walked 100 meters yesterday, I would
walk 101 meters today and this carried all
the way through my recovery. If I was lifting
100kg in the gym yesterday, I would wake
up and do 101kg today. “Are you better?” was
definitely my biggest motivating factor.
Kate Monahan: How did you deal with
negative thoughts and doubt in your
recovery?
John Farrow: Day by day. I would have some
days I would look down at my paralyzed leg
and look at my foot while trying to move it up
was selected to represent my country and I
took it seriously that I still had a huge job to
do. I had to lay down my best performance
for my country, as well as myself. This was
the feeling of being selected to an Olympic
team, a feeling of challenge, of a job to do.
After my final run, I had placed 17th. The
highest Australian result ever by 5 places
in male skeleton. I sat in the change rooms
just soaking up the spectacle of the Olympic
Games. I had taken on one of the biggest
challenges I had ever pursued and I had
achieved a result I was amazingly proud of
in front of the world. A euphoric feeling swept
over me, it’s something I cannot even explain
with words but I sat there in that feeling and
it’s one of the most amazing things I have
ever experienced.