Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[welkins2139]

Those first two teams that won Olympic gold in 1992 and 1996 never let up off the pedal and never looked past their opponents

It is tough to stay grounded.


But I've been on the losing end of the World Championship four years ago.

What are the meanings on the bold text?

Thank you

[CP]

"Never let up on the pedal" means kept the foot firmly pressed down on the gas pedal (accelerator), figuratively speaking. Never slowed down but pressed on with vigor.

"Never looked past their opponents" means never stopped thinking beyond the present game and about the future games, but remained concentrated on the here-and-now. Sometimes people or teams lose because (they say or people believe) they lost focus and started thinking about future opponents.

"Grounded" means more or less planted in the present, maintaining the focus on the present.

To be on "the losing end" just means to be on the losing side, on the team that lost the championship. The writer knows what it is like to lose the championship, because he was on a team that lost four years ago.
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