OLYMPIAN STEINER OVERCAME ADVERSITY TO WIN GOLD From Tragedy to Triumph
In June 2007, just one year before the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, an SUV traveling on the wrong side of the road hit 22-year-old Susann Steiner — wife of German Olympic weightlifter Matthias Steiner — while she was driving. She was rushed to the hospital, and it was there that Matthias promised her he would win a gold medal in her honor. Tragically, Susann died as a result of her injuries, but Matthias’ promise to his late love lived on. Wanting to make his wife proud, Matthias trained harder than ever before. He had been lifting weights since he was just a teenager, and though he had won medals and championships before, he had never claimed the ultimate prize: an Olympic medal.
weightlifters in the world. Among his competitors were the formidable Russian Evgeny Chigishev, an Olympic veteran and champion, and the Latvian Viktors Scerbaiths, who won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. “Weightlifting is a sport without mercy [and] it is very tough to make progress,” Matthias said in an interview with the Olympic Channel. “Every time you touch the bar, you realize that you are always alone in weightlifting, the weights are getting heavier and heavier, everything hurts.” But Matthias was not alone. His memory and dedication to Susann inspired him to attain strength he never imagined possible. As it turned out, he needed every ounce of his strength to claim victory. The competition was incredibly close. Matthias’ victory was not secure until the last lift; he needed to clean and jerk an
astounding 569 pounds — more than he had ever lifted before — to fulfill his promise.
Incredibly, he succeeded. He edged out Chigishev by 1 kilogram, winning the gold medal with a score of 461 against Chigishev’s 460. After he had completed his lift, he fell to his knees in tears. At the podium, he held his gold medal and a bouquet of roses in his right hand and clutched a picture of Susann in his left. Matthias honored Susann’s memory with his gold medal victory, exactly as he promised.
Matthias also had to compete in the super heavyweight category against the strongest
Nobody Deserves to Be Left in the Dark! YOU CAN’T REACH YOUR ACCOUNT MANAGER
I looked at my mutual fund account statement this morning only to find that the fund’s value had dropped. As you know, I have most of my net worth in multi-family communities, but I also have cash in mutual funds. So, after scanning this month’s statement, I saw the value of my account was about what it was a year ago. I did not go through the other statements I have had over the last few months to see the trends, but if memory serves, it has been pretty consistently flat! Of course, I want my investment in the mutual fund to improve, but I am realistic, knowing that every month or quarter will not include more profits than the last. But I expect the results to be better, especially since the person or persons running the fund should be educated and experienced in investing money into the best companies. Supposedly, the best of the best, right? Plus, they are being paid very, very well for doing this. But here I am, wondering what the story is about the fund performance, and I want answers. And that is the frustrating thing. I can’t get any answers.
Can I get ahold of the person running the fund to answer three or four questions about the fund and its operations? No. Heck, I can’t even send an email to get any kind of response from the person who runs the fund. Have you ever tried to get a hold of your fund manager for your regular money or even IRA/401(k) money? You probably didn’t even try, and I don’t blame you. Instead, I have to wait for the 50-page report every quarter, which doesn’t tell me that much anyway. So, I’m a little frustrated. I will tell you who is NOT frustrated — my investor friends and investment partners. You see, every once in a while, a partner will have a few questions about a property they are involved in, its performance, distributions, and what is on the horizon for the investment. But they also want answers on things now. How did they get those answers? They simply called me. We spent about 20 minutes on the phone talking about the property, what was happening, and answering their questions. They
obviously felt much better about getting answers and clearing up their confusion. That is one thing I think is a big deal to investors — getting answers to questions instead of being left in the dark. Of course, there is never a guarantee that investors get all the answers they want to hear, but they get answers nonetheless — when they want them. All it takes is a phone call or an email. So, as I am wrapping up the mid-year items for my investment clients/partners, I am sure there will be questions. And my investors will get answers — answers that even the big fund managers won’t provide. And that is what makes us different and arguably a lot better. We are all looking for the best return and investment for ourselves, no doubt, but it should also go beyond the numbers. Shouldn’t it? We provide investors with answers when they want them.
–Darin
2 DARINGARMAN.COM
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