Stefan Holm’s was an olympic high jumper who trained all of his life to reach the elite level. Holm’s was inspired to become a high jumper after watching the Moscow Olympics when he was four years old. Him and his friend, Magnus, flung themselves over the couch until Magnus broke his arm. Fast forward several years later, and Holm’s was still in love with the sport. Johnny Holm, Stefan’s father, was Stefan’s lifelong coach and had become obsessed with high jump just like his son. While Holm’s was dedicated to the sport, he did face one major disadvantage, he grew to be 5’11” and competed in an event that requires raising your center of mass as high as possible. Therefore, starting with a high center of mass can be a huge advantage. Holm’s also did not have a great standing vertical (28 inches), but all of his training gave him an extremely stiff achilles tendon. The stiff tendon acts as a rebounding spring to send Holm’s flying over the bar. His left achilles tendon had hardened so much from his training that a force of 1.8 tons would be needed to stretch it by just a centimeter. This is roughly four times stiffer than an average man’s achilles. When David Epstein met with Holm’s, Holm’s went and pointed at a copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s, Outliers, and said, “There were jumpers who beat me when I was young. You wouldn’t have said I would be Olympic champion. It’s all about your ten thousand hours”