The Olympics are over, and I'll miss Usain Bolt the most. The mighty champion from Jamaica smoked his competition and became the fastest runner in the world, over and over again.

I never got tired of watching him, smiling, relaxed, joshing with Andre de Grasse as they crossed the finish line with effortless effort. To me, Bolt sparks joy for his country, for his sport — unlike Ryan Lochte, the disgraced one, who sparks pity. Something snapped in Rio, and it wasn't his Speedo.

But why dwell on the negative when there are so many positively inspiring moments in the 2016 Summer Olympics to recall, so many lessons to be learned to make us all more competitive, more daring and more likely to score big in the everyday ultra-marathon that is life in these dis-United States?

LEARN TO LOSE. Rio gave us so many great examples of Olympic athletes going down in defeat — and rising up again to realize that, sometimes, doing your best is as good as it gets.

Even the mighty Bolt had his moments of despair. "I was disappointed," he said moments after winning the 200-meter race but failing to beat his own record. "I really wanted to go faster ... but my body would not respond to me."

Keep it in mind. Some days you've got it, and some days your body says no. The day Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross lost to the Brazilian team in women's beach volleyball — Jennings' first defeat in four consecutive Olympic games — she felt totally devastated.

The Los Angeles Times reported Walsh Jennings spent a sleepless night cursing and crying, beating herself up for playing poorly. Less than 24 hours later, she was back on the beach at Copacabana, playing another Brazilian team for the bronze. It wasn't going well. The Brazilians won the first set and were ahead in the second when — finally! — Walsh Jennings let go of her misery. She and Ross found another gear and ended up winning the bronze, 17-21, 21-17, 15-9. It was a remarkable comeback and Walsh Jennings and Ross were ecstatic — hugging, kissing, reminding us all that winning third place is still winning.

"It's crazy what 24 hours can do," Walsh Jennings told a reporter. "This is a highlight of my athletic career, without a doubt."

WINNING ISN'T EVERYTHING. In Rio, for the first time ever, there was a refugee team of athletes, men and women fleeing death, war, evil and chaos. None of them won a medal; all of them are golden examples of strength, courage and perseverance.

The BBC tracked the progress of the team members and reported that Yusra Mardini — a swimmer who escaped the horrors of Syria on an overcrowded boat to Germany — won her women's 100-meter butterfly heat, but her time wasn't fast enough to move ahead. Mardini is hardly a loser. She used her swimming skills to rescue 17 of her fellow refugees from drowning in the open sea.

"I want everyone to think refugees are normal people who had their homelands and lost them," she said.

Another refugee team member James Chiengjiek — who fled his home in South Sudan to avoid being recruited as a child soldier — finished eighth in his heat for the men's 400-meter and is living his dream.

"My dream is to get good results at the Olympics and also to help people," he said. "Because I have been supported by someone, I also want to support someone."

CHANGING LIVES IS ALSO AN OLYMPIC SPORT. U.S. champion Simone Manuel's gold medal in swimming made a big splash, partly because it will inspire countless black children to take up a sport that seemed out of reach before now.

"For all the people after me who believe they can't do it," said this first black woman to win a gold in swimming, "I want to be an inspiration to them that they can do it."

You can do it. The Rio Olympics are over, but this essential truth lives on: You can overcome enormous obstacles; you can survive wars; you can accept defeat and move on.

What you can't do is get drunk, go crazy at a gas station with some friends and then lie about it.

ENERGY EXPRESS-O! PERSONAL-BEST TAKEAWAY

"It's not about winning at the Olympic games; it's about trying to win. The motto is faster, higher, stronger, not fastest, highest, strongest." — Olympian Bronte Barratt

Marilynn Preston — healthy lifestyle expert, well being coach and Emmy-winning producer — is the creator of Energy Express, the longest-running syndicated fitness column in the country. She has a website, marilynnpreston.com, and welcomes reader questions, which can be sent to [email protected]. She also produces EnExTV, a digital reincarnation of her award-winning TV series about sports, fitness and adventure, for kids of all ages, at youtube.com/EnExTV and facebook.com/EnExTV. To find out more about Preston and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM