Elana Meyer

Undoubtedly the most successful female distance runner South Africa has ever produced, Elana Meyer is a household name in South African sports.  Together with Esther Brand, Zola Pieterse, Marjorie Clark, Daphne Hasenjager, Barbara Burke, Hestrie Cloete and Colleen de Reuck, Elana is one of the top women athletes this country has seen.

The only SA woman to have won a global road title, Elana’s domination of the road running scene in South Africa started in the early 90’s, and remains unrivalled to this day.   Between losing a mile race to Zola Pieterse in Bloemfontein on 18 February 1991 and finishing fifth over 1500 metres at the Nice Grand Prix on 15 July 1992, Meyer enjoyed 51 straight victories over a variety of distances and on all three surfaces - an unprecedented “streak” in the history of women’s distance running.

Between 1992, when she exploded onto the international scene by winning a silver medal at the Barcelona Olympics, and her retirement in 2005, Elana performed consistently well on the world stage and was a feared and respected competitor wherever she competed.  In the words of one of her peers: “If Elana Meyer is in the race, you know it will be a hard and fast race.” 

She broke 23 South African records, five world records, and won both a World Cup and the World Half Marathon titles. At the age of 35 in her first race as a veteran, Elana broke the South African national 10km record in Budapest, and continued to race successfully until her retirement three years later.

MOTIVATIONAL PROGRAMS
Since her retirement from international competitive racing in 2005, Elana has focused on using her vast experience to add value to organizations and institutions. Her two most popular offerings are interactive inspirational programs: Success and balance (based on her life story and running career), and Achieving Excellence, where she translates the effort and dedication that enabled her to break the world half marathon record, into achieving success in business. As a qualified LIFE COACH, Elana also offers extensive one-on-one follow-up sessions for in-depth personal growth.

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE - It’s a choice
Achieving excellence in sport requires hard work, perseverance and patience. This presentation sheds light on the key elements that enabled Elana to break the world half marathon record, and how these same principles can be used by anyone to live a life in pursuit of personal excellence.

Main points:

• Have a goal
• Develop a plan
• Break it into achievable chunks
• Pay attention to detail
• Be consistent
• Make sacrifices
• Hiccups
• Make use of support
• Have knowledge
• How to develop the right attitude
• Celebrate the process and the achievement!!

BALANCE YOUR SUCCESS
Over 25 years, competing on different levels, Elana has extracted valuable lessons not only from her tremendous success, but also from the disappointments she has suffered, and created a life that encourages achievement, purpose, happiness and balance.  She talks about her experience and the life skills which she picked up along the way, relating these to skills in life and business which any audience can associate with.