#357 Sink Or Swim — Bashar Alturk

<p>Bashar Alturk has represented two countries at trampolining — Great Britain, then Jordan — and ruptured both his knees doing it, a year apart, once right before finals. He&#39;s also a final-year dental student at Leeds who bought his own phantom head and drill and set them up in his student room because the university wouldn&#39;t give him enough practice time.</p><p>His ADHD diagnosis came late on purpose. His mum spotted it in primary school and refused to let it be labelled, worried about what that label would do to him; he didn&#39;t get assessed properly until Covid forced the question. He now credits the delay with making him work harder rather than lean on an excuse.</p><p>There&#39;s a loupes business in here too, run out of that same student room, undercutting the market on price until his own dental school shut it down over a GDC conduct issue. And there&#39;s a longer, harder conversation about faith: what he actually believes about suffering and reasons, tested properly the first time his knee gave out weeks before an Olympic cycle.</p><p>Payman keeps circling one question throughout: what happens when you take the &quot;sink or swim&quot; mentality that built an Olympic athlete and try to run a dental career on it too.</p><p> </p><p><strong>In This Episode</strong></p><p>00:00:50 – Introduction</p><p>00:02:10 – Growing up in Manchester</p><p>00:06:40 – Getting into trampolining</p><p>00:11:53 – ADHD diagnosis</p><p>00:18:35 – Injuries and setbacks</p><p>00:33:00 – Sacrifice and family</p><p>00:41:52 – Faith and meaning</p><p>00:46:25 – The phantom head</p><p>00:48:28 – The loupes business</p><p>01:02:41 – Delegation</p><p>01:11:56 – Wanting to be known</p><p>01:19:36 – Choosing a path</p><p>01:20:41 – Blackbox thinking</p><p>01:29:47 – Fantasy dinner party</p><p>01:36:57 – Post-competition blues</p><p> </p><p><strong>About Bashar Alturk</strong></p><p>Bashar Alturk is a final-year dental student at the University of Leeds and an Olympic-level trampolinist, having represented both Great Britain and Jordan internationally. Alongside his studies, he founded a student loupes company, served as president of his dental society, and helped organise one of the UK&#39;s largest undergraduate dental conferences.</p>