of USA boasts the most Olympic medals thanks to some stunning performances from its top athletes. swimmer Michael Phelpswho competed in five Olympic Games spanning Sydney 2000 to Rio 2016, is the most decorated Olympian in history with 28 medals, and Simone Biles is the most decorated gymnast in US history, winning an “unprecedented” four gold medals in the floor exercise, vault, all-around and team segments at The Rio Games.

Now, the Paris 2024 Olympics are underway and although Phelps is retired – passing the proverbial torch to Katie Ledecky, who may leave the City of Lights as the most decorated woman Olympic swimmer of all time – Biles is competing again, four years after she retired from Tokyo Olympics and started an important dialogue about the mental health of athletes.

^{Image credit: Tom Weller/VOIGT | Getty Images}

Over the years, we've celebrated these athletes for their inspiring physical and mental triumphs, but there's another story that deserves attention as well. And, in practical terms, it's one of particular importance to your daily challenges and victories at work. It is the story of NEW.

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Olympians, NEW and you…really? Absolutely. No innovation, Biles they would not be maneuvers that no other competitor, male or female, could think of. Phelps wouldn't have left Rio with his career-high 23rd gold medal, and Ledecky wouldn't have endured breaking another record in the sport.

Even if your personal athletic career involves nothing more challenging than watching from your living room couch as the best of the best compete live in Paris this summer, you should consider how their successes might translate to creative breakthroughs in your performance.

By following a few principles of Olympic-level innovation, you too can “medal” in today's grueling workplace competitions.

1. Seek group support for your individual creativity

“At this point in time, no one can beat Simone Biles,” said Nastia Liukin, a 2008 gold medalist. New York Times in 2016.

Coach Aimee Boorman notes that Biles' routines require less running and allow her to do more slides than other gymnasts' routines. It is this innovative combination of the round, backhand, double roll, half roll and landing that makes Biles the best in the world. Where most competitors win by fractions of a point, Biles wins by a point or two.

However, the Olympian recognizes the value of competing as a team.

After Biles was sidelined at the Tokyo Games, she told her teammates they were well trained and ready to compete without her. People reported. The team didn't win the gold medal, but Biles was very proud of the silver medal nonetheless, saying, “I owe it to the girls, it's not about me.”

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2. Build on the innovation that others have already discovered

Phelps embodies a unique blend of physical gifts, technique and exquisite determination. Less obvious are the decades of innovation that paved the way for its dominance. Take his mastery of the underwater dolphin kick that has propelled him to the medalist's podium so often.

Phelps has benefited from innovations dating back at least to David Armbruster, who coached the University of Iowa swimming team from 1917 to 1958. According to the International Swimming Hall of Fame, Armbruster first saw a demonstration of the stroke technique of the dolphin in 1911 and then in the 1930s began encouraging his swimmers to use it instead of the traditional frog stroke. Others also played a role in the development of the stroke, including physicist Volney Wilson, who was a swimming enthusiast as well as a contributor to the World War II project that produced the first atomic bomb.

In addition, in 2012, Johns Hopkins professor of mechanical engineering Rajat Mittal took an interest in analyzing the stroke and provided his technical support to the US swimming team. Television viewers see the athletes strive for greatness for two intense weeks, but all of this backstory and behind-the-scenes activity is actually a bigger part of the story.

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3. Dream, and then work like crazy

Daniel James Brown, in his beautiful book, The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympicsshowed a scene in which the University of Washington coach conceived the audacious goal of defeating the top U.S. rowing teams and making it all the way to the 1936 Olympic Gold Medal in Munich.

Amazingly, years of all-out suffering separated that inspiring vision on the shores of Lake Washington and the historic moment when the Americans became world champions under the bitter gaze of Adolf Hitler. But the exhilaration of victory often eclipses all the effort that led up to it.

You should never forget that it is effort that turns dreams into reality. While many breakthroughs start with an idea, the ones that make a difference are realized through discipline practice. Go ahead and daydreambut then go to work.

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You can get a head start by considering three important questions:

• Who are your teammates who can push you to find that next level of performance?
• What are the innovations you can build on?
• How much work will it really take to turn your idea into results?

By acting on your answers, you can be the office Olympian who wins the gold medal in the workplace.