I have always been a really good swimmer. I've also fundamentally understood that input ultimately equals output. If you've built anything of value over a 10-year period, you understand that requires an abnormal amount of consistency and effort—something the vast majority of people take for granted. I think one of the most difficult things I've tried to instill in my kids is a sense of confidence and consistency: the understanding that the work they put in on a regular basis will ultimately yield the results they're looking for.
Most things that are truly hard are hard for a reason, and there's a good reason why most people don't do them. When I was 36, I started training for triathlons, which are abnormally hard. If you don't know what triathlons are, the half Ironman triathlons I was training for consist of a 1.5 km swim, a 90 km bike ride, and a 21.1 km half marathon. I trained 10 to 12 hours a week for almost 2 years to be in the right shape to complete one, and it was crushing. But when I did my first triathlon, the confidence it gave me in myself and my ability to change my situation (from being grossly overweight to being super athletic) definitely gave me a sense of achievement that I don't think many other things have been able to do in my life. My next thought was: how can I instill that type of experience in my children?
First and foremost, my children see me training. They see me going out every morning. They see me trying to diet, trying to eat well, and cutting out various things. They see the sacrifices I was making, and they understood it. The next step was: how could I bring them along on this journey? My kids started swimming at a very, very young age. From age three, they all started swimming. And my ambition was always: let me give the family a crazy strength goal and communicate it to them regularly so they know what they're working towards (and that it requires an abnormal amount of effort and time). So we set the goal of qualifying for the 2032 Olympics. My kids, from a very young age, understand how important swimming is to us as a family. I think the great thing is that when I'm around, I train them myself. I'm a pretty strong swimmer, primarily in open water now, but I'm a really strong swimmer. That kind of gives them the confidence that I'm always with them on that.
They've always been good enough to be competitive. Although they're still quite young, from the age of 6 or 7, they were trained in Olympic-sized 50-meter sprints. They went to training 5 or 6 days a week when they were younger. Now it's 4 or 5 times a week. They're competitive in their school swimming squads. They train. My youngest daughter is 9. She wakes up at 6 am two days a week, and she goes to squad training at her school at the elite level so they have the foundations and are learning the basics. I think the key thing is, when they reach maybe 15 or so, we'll really double down and focus on getting elite training from wherever we can in the world. The key thing that this gives me is just a really clear view of how to adjust and spend their time.
For anyone who's ever done anything hard in physical athletics, the amount of discipline and sacrifice it requires, for me, is arguably one of the most important life skills that I think people of color (and definitely Nigerians) need to have. I think discipline is by far one of the most important, if not the most important, skills that someone needs to have. In the end, you can be intelligent and lack discipline. You can be universally attractive, and people want to do things for you, but if you lack discipline, you're never really going to reach your full potential.
I feel, at least for me and my family, there are very few ways to teach discipline to very young children, especially children of affluent backgrounds where pretty much everything is done for them or available to them.
A really focused long-term view of athletic input is crucial, because ultimately you know what you're going to do in training. If you hit a certain time in training, as long as you meet your expectations on race day, you kind of know roughly where you're going to be. Sometimes you can overperform because of adrenaline or just because you have a great day, but you definitely know roughly where you're going to be. I think that benchmarking is super important for children.
Someone once asked me whether my kids enjoy swimming. I thought about it for a little while. I realized I'd never actually asked them.
I think a significant amount of programming for children revolves around what the parents express to them. Ultimately, the success of a child is the success of their parents. The mobility of a child is the mobility of their parents.
If their parents are unhealthy and unfit, it's very unlikely the kids are going to be healthy and very fit. I think these are the kinds of things that, in places like Nigeria, become super important for those who are able to manage that day-to-day. For my kids, especially when we're in Dubai on holidays, etc., or just coming to visit me, we bicycle ride together. We take long 4- or 5-kilometer walks almost every night. I've got a 45-meter pool in my building, so we train there.
A lot of our time spent together is actually mobility time, and I think that's really important to me. I hope that it's something that they will take into their future because ultimately, if you're not fit, then you're just going to be more inefficient, if you ask me. I've been asked many times about my approach to parenting and possibly to create a guide. Honestly, I'm still figuring things out, but I've always believed in sharing my experiences and learnings. My son calling me Daddy was when I decided to lock in.
