Over the past two weeks, I have enjoyed the athletic displays of excellence that characterize the Olympics. Sochi 2014 has been no exception. Truly there were so many great moments, performances, once-in-a-lifetime experiences and terrific stories. Among the American delegation, the stories of four athletes caught my attention because they teach us about pursuing our own potential.

Sage Kotsenburg showed us that we can be rewarded by putting it all on the line. In his gold-medal winning run in Men’s Slope Style Snowboarding, a new event to the Olympic stage, he finished with a daring trick. The 1620 Japan was courageous for Sage because he had never tried that trick before. Not ever! That’s nuts! On the biggest stage in sport, he decided minutes before his run to go rogue, GO BIG and win the gold! Is that your approach in the biggest moments of your career? Sage demonstrated the value of taking calculated risks and then executing with confidence.

Just over a week ago, few Americans had even heard his name, but after the USA Men’s Hokey victory over Russia last week, the name T.J. Oshie became a household name. Oshie, who barely made the roster for team USA, showed us how to rise to the occasion. Though he was not new to shootout success, many still questioned the move to send Oshie onto the ice time and again. Regardless, he stepped up and simply focused on putting the puck in the net. We don’t always know when we will be called to rise to the occasion for our team. However, the time will come. Oshie showed us how to trust our skills and ourselves, and know that our team has our back.

T.J. Oshie also illustrated how to maintain humility and class when the hype centered on him. When referred to as a hero, Oshie said, “Heroes wear camp. That’s not me.” He added, “Those guys sacrifice a lot more than a couple of hours in the gym and practice every day. Those guys sacrifice their lives.” Again, he showed us how to rise to the occasion.

We all love comeback stories. Noelle Pikus-Pace is no exception. Through her storied slide to win the women’s silver-medal in skeleton, she taught us about following our dreams, perseverance, optimism and resilience. Pikus-Pace has fought her way back from multiple injuries, including a concussion the week before her event in Sochi. In 2010, in Vancouver, she missed the podium by one-tenth of a second. Then she retired to focus on being a mom. However, after losing her third child to a miscarriage, she decided to return to the sport she loved – this time as a family.

With so much adversity, Noelle focused her mind on a single thought as she slid her way to a silver-medal in Sochi. This is it. Don’t get scared now. Under that she drew a smiley face. She seemed to know this was her opportunity, fearful thoughts were her adversary and that keeping positive was her only shot. Afterwards she said, “Nothing came easy! See, you have to stay positive. You have to see the good things. That’s how you keep coming back, and that’s how you get to the finish line.” That’s it! That is the secret to overcoming adversity, challenges and setbacks that inevitably show up when we try to do great things. Noelle teaches us the power of optimism, searching for the good stuff and persevering our way to victories.

For Pikus-Pace, it’s on to other arenas: “I want to be a mom! I want to be on the PTA! I want to bake cookies! I want to have a garden!” Likely, she’ll overcome life’s challenges there too.

In her Olympic debut, 18-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin, won gold in Women’s Slalom. An American woman hasn’t done that in decades. Remarkably, a teenager held her composure and was able to bring her best performance against the best skiers in the world. So, how does she view her lack of experience? According to Shiffrin, she viewed it as a challenge to be met. In the mini-documentary aired by NBC, Shiffrin talked about studying the best attributes and techniques of other skiers and building on those foundations to give her an edge. She clearly has what Dr. Carol Dweck calls a “growth mindset.” Mikaela is always looking to learn and improve wherever she can. This is something we must all be intentional about – never stop improving.

Many also spoke of Mikaela’s mental toughness as a key to her success. Shiffrin herself talked of her mental preparation in the form of visualization. She said she had played out these big moments countless times in her head. She said, “You can visualize this in your head. And you can mentally prepare. And you can make the moment happen. And create your miracle.” Viewers could see her playing the video of the next run in her mind as she awaited her turn, bobbing and weaving with her eyes closed.

She’s also trained her thinking. When asked what she was telling herself when she nearly fell on her final run, she said, “No! Don’t do that! Do not give up! See this through!” Shiffrin made her thoughts work for her and not against her. When we lack experience or are just looking to get an edge over the competition, we must learn to train our minds, or our skills and experience may amount to little more than a disappointing performance.

The truth is, we all face big moments, pressure, setbacks and obstacles on the journey to pursuing our dreams in business, sports and life. It’s just part of life. How we choose to prepare, respond and seize the moments is what we will be remembered for. I encourage us all to learn from these Olympic champions. Our true potential is not bound by our circumstances or experience. It comes from within us and we must be intentional in our thinking and training our mind so that we, too, can achieve excellence on the big stage of life.

• Book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol Dweck