The Mindset of an Olympian: Success Starts Here with Manuela Berchtold

Manuela describes the emotional experience of standing in an Olympic start gate knowing she has done everything possible to prepare, and reflects on her 2006 Torino Games, where she finished 14th in mogul skiing and was the first Australian woman to make the moguls final. She emphasizes how sport shaped her identity, discipline, and mindset, even though, as a winter athlete, she was largely unpaid and had to self-fund much of her journey. A major theme is influence as intentional role-modeling: choosing positive influences, being careful about who you let shape your life, and striving to be a positive mentor for others, including the athletes she now supports off-snow through fitness, mindset, and goal-setting work. Manuela shares that her family’s example, active, healthy parents in their 80s and a brother who was also an elite skier and now a stuntman, deeply influenced her optimism and work ethic, and she now takes pride in learning she has, in turn, inspired athletes like Nicole Parks and Sami Kennedy-Sim. Throughout, both Manuela and Anton highlight how positivity, energy, and genuine belief in others can powerfully influence performance and life choices, often in ways you don’t realize until years later.

Takeaways:

1. Influence is a choice—both in who you follow and how you show up. Manuela stresses being intentional about who you let influence you (mentors, role models, circles) because those choices directly shape your outcomes.

2. Positivity and belief in others are powerful performance multipliers. She challenges the “tough, negative coach” model and shows how genuine encouragement—simply saying “I believe in you”—can change an athlete’s trajectory more than criticism can.

3. Your example reaches further than you realize. Manuela only discovered years later that athletes like Nicole Parks and Sami Kennedy-Sim saw her as a major influence, proving that your consistent actions, energy, and work ethic may be inspiring people who’ve never even told you.

Quotes:

1. On choosing your influences carefully

"We need to be very careful who we use as influence in our lives, because when we choose correctly with our influences, it makes a big, big difference."

1. On giving your all on the Olympic stage

"When I stood at the bottom of that course after my run, if I was last or first, the result wouldn't matter because I couldn't have done any more, and that's the amazing experience that I was able to have through training and dedication."

1. On the underrated power of positivity

"Positivity will always outweigh negativity. Positivity will help you through a situation... I just think positivity is so often underrated."

Timestamps:

00:00 – What Influence Really Means 01:10 – Podcast Introduction & Manuela’s Bio 04:19 – What It Feels Like to Be an Olympian 07:27 – Results, Goals, and Judged Sports 08:57 – The Fragility of Olympic Dreams 09:51 – Transitioning to “Real Life” After Sport 10:24 – How Sport Shapes Identity and Life 11:59 – Defining Influence & Choosing Your Circle 13:42 – Family as the Ultimate Role Models 16:30 – Near Miss: Her Brother’s Olympic Story 17:13 – Early Mogul Heroes: Edgar & Donna 18:43 – Staying in the Sport: Coaching & Mentoring 20:26 – The Power of “I Believe in You” 21:17 – Positivity, Energy, and Influence 25:02 – Who Has Manuela Influenced? 28:30 – Being the Best Version of Yourself Daily 29:49 – Small-Town Roots: Growing Up in Jindabyne 30:38 – COVID, Mountain Life & Community Growth 30:47 – Final Reflections on Influence & Excellence

Conclusion:

Manuela Berchtold ultimately shows that influence is less about status and more about consistent character. Her story as a two-time Winter Olympian, gym owner, and mentor reveals how preparation, resilience, and optimism can carry someone from elite sport into a meaningful “second career” of service to others. She demonstrates that who you choose to model, and how you choose to show up every day, quietly shapes not only your own life but the lives of people watching you—often without you realizing it until years later. The way Manuela speaks about her family, her heroes, her athletes, and her town of Jindabyne reinforces a simple but powerful theme: positivity, belief, and generosity with your knowledge are forms of leadership and influence available to anyone, not just Olympians. If there’s one lasting message from this episode, it’s that striving to be the best version of yourself—consistently and visibly—may be the greatest influence you ever have.