I have found that to be a champion you need to be obsessive about winning, but probably more importantly, obsessive about your training and everything else to do with your sport in order to win. Champions also seem to have the ability to control this obsessiveness and use it to their up most advantage. It seems you also need to have the desire to win at all costs, the ability to overcome setbacks, learn from it and to come back stronger. I have observed that champions are usually but not always naturally gifted in their chosen sport and mostly single minded and determined. Those who are not 'blessed' with natural talent can still be champions if they have the mental strength, the desire and the commitment to train hard to overcome this. Certainly, natural talent alone is not enough to make you a champion. True champions are not usually content unless they win and anything less than first place in a race can be a disaster for them. They are sometimes very self critical of what they have achieved. I can now understand why some champion runners give up the sport even when they are still very good and so not choosing to compete at veteran level - unless of course they can be assured of an outright win. They are usually very focussed individuals, usually paying particular attention to detail and organisation in their lives, more particularly when it is related to their chosen sport(running). They take their sport seriously, train hard and usually have superior mental strength. They are ferociously competitive and mostly possess an element of 'killer instinct'.
I have to admit I think I have a little bit of all these qualities but probably not enough of any of them to make a champion runner. At least I know that winning a race is not just about clocking up miles.
