Olympian boxer Harry Garside’s unique Paris preparation of rejection

Most athletes seek positive affirmation to build confidence, yet Harry Garside is not most athletes. He tells JESSICA ROBINSON how experiencing failure is helping him chase Olympic goals.

It’s quite possibly the most unconventional training technique in Olympic history.

Harry Garside has forced himself into 100 uncomfortable situations over the past two months - all with the purpose of strengthening his mental wellbeing - and shared his often difficult, occasionally awkward journey with his 156,000-plus social media followers.

Ahead of his second Olympic campaign, and transparent about his own mental health journey, the Tokyo bronze medallist wants to have “paid his dues in rejection and failure” ahead of the Paris Games, with the plan to build resilience and gain a mental edge over his opponents.

“I listen to heaps of podcasts about self growth and improvement and one was talking about the feelings we get when we are seriously rejected and the feeling that goes on inside your brain,” Garside explained to this masthead.

“So I thought I’d try it out, time it perfectly and start in March through April, May and a bit of June to finish the 100 days. And then July and August is all about gold medals and succession.”

Garside’s requests include to sing duets, give out hugs and hang out with strangers, asking a McDonalds server to feed him his order and inquire as to whether he can pack a child in his oversized baggage at the airport bag.

“I asked my Uber driver out on a date and he was so polite and so nice, it was the nicest rejection I’ve ever received so that was probably my favourite,” Garside said.

The point of all this is to enhance his Olympic medal chances come July.

And while many athletes seek positive affirmation before major competitions, the Australian boxer’s choice to face failure on 100 occasions is a level up on his usual mental strengthening activities.

“Over the past five and half years I’ve done one uncomfortable challenge per month and my growth from doing that is just chalk and cheese since I started in 2019,” Garside said.

“The first ten days of this were pretty challenging but then after that it did get easier and easier. The hardest part so far is probably creating 100 ideas.

“There have been some times where people are like, ‘F*** off, leave me alone.’ but mostly, it’s been a really positive thing. Ninety per cent of the time people leave the encounter happy and laughing, whether they’re laughing with me or at me I don’t really mind.”

What do you think of Harry Garside’s training technique? Picture: Getty Images

The Australian Institute of Sport National Performance Psychology Lead, Kristine Dunn says that “a willingness to make yourself uncomfortable- while it might be in a different setting- that practice of experiencing emotions and you still needing to deliver is useful.”

“The way that humans respond to stress or pressure, whether it be from social embarrassment or stress from an Olympic performance, that’s very similar. Your physiological responses are the same, your types of thoughts and how you can respond would be very similar,” Dunn told this masthead.

“Thinking about failure and how you want to respond to failure is going to be important and it’s (Garside’s pursuit) a lovely example of an athlete personalising for themselves, what am I willing to do and what do I think will help me? These situations make me uncomfortable, therefore I’m going to learn how to face these things and I am still ok,” Dunn added.

Can Garside claim gold in Paris? Picture: Getty Images

Thrown into the spotlight after bringing home Australia’s first Olympic boxing medal since 1988 in Tokyo, Garside admitted he has yet to fully come to terms with his public profile.

“When I was younger I was quite confident and I could do anything but to be honest as I got into the public eye, I almost became a recluse and you get a bit more lonely and self-conscious as you have a few more eyes on you.” Garside conceded.

“It’s nice to go back to being like, ‘You’re just a human and like everyone else’ and it’s really nice to just interact, bite the bullet of having an uncomfortable feeling in your gut and just be part of society.”

Garside said his focus is now fully trained on Paris.

“I’m like a bull at the gate with a lot of energy but I think with maturity and experience I’ve been able to contain that so I’m peaking in July rather than June,” he said.

“It’s less than 70 days away which feels so close but I’ve got to be patient and then shoot my shot.”

Originally published as Olympian boxer Harry Garside’s unique Paris preparation of rejection