This past summer was the first summer Olympics since 1904 in which no American competed for a racewalking title. This highly prized sport in England is little known in America and although athletes competed to make the Olympic trials, they just barely missed the mark. American sprinters in track and field, however, dominated the field, bringing home numerous gold, silver and bronze medals, more than other sport. Track and field brought in 34 medals, and swimming at a close second with 28 medals.

Is it sheer athleticism that causes one to excel in sports at an elite level? Many researchers would disagree. In fact, one article states that the main cause of inability to produce elite athletes comes from a lack of mental skills training (Gontijo et al, 2023)  What are the mental skills that makes some Olympians, such as multiple gold medalist-winner and newly famed star of the documentary Sprint, Noah Lyles, confidently state that they are going to win races before they attempt them and then follow-through with a shining victory? There are many theories, but Gontijo et al. (2023) narrow it down to mindset. Found in the International Journal of Nutrology, they conducted a systematic review of this topic. Out of 118 articles surveyed, they found that a mindset for elite performance includes the following: mindfulness interventions, self-regulatory skills, a person’s belief about stress, belief in ability to increase skill level and mental rehearsal skills. In fact, all athletes in their study credited success to psychological more than physical factors (Gontijo et. al., 2023)

This story will provide a deeper look into how many want to be high performers, but must be willing to work on their minds enough to achieve a champion mindset. In this article, I will talk about what a champion mindset is not and what it is, according to scientific evidence, coaches and experts connected with the Olympics. I will also include tips from cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy, both popular psychology tools.

Mindfulness is based in Buddhism, and encompasses the idea of being present in the moment (not thinking about past or the future) through an increased awareness of thoughts, emotions, sensations and the environment around you. One can practice it either during every day life or while deep breathing, sitting, walking or as part of a whole body scan. Gontijo et al. (2023) found that it is effective in reducing both anxiety and depression.

Self-regulatory skills refer to regulating one’s emotional state. Naragon-Gainey et. al (2017) at The University of Buffalo, the State University of New York, discuss emotional regulation in their article “The structure of common emotion regulation strategies: A meta-analytic examination.” They describe emotional regulation as the process of managing negative emotions. They state that emotional regulation can be any activity performed with the end goal of influencing emotions. So, this can include eating, suppressing emotions, talking to friends or family, isolating, avoidance, rumination or other strategies. However, DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) and CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) offer evidence-based solutions for emotional regulation. These include:

• Reappraisal

This is actively changing how you think about a situation to alter your emotional response. For instance, one might think, “These emotions are so painful. I cannot handle them.” To counteract the thought, one can come up with an alternate thought, such as “These emotions are painful, but the feeling will not last forever. I will feel better at some point.”

• Situational Role Reversal

Trying to see the situation from another person’s point of view. For example, one might be tempted to predict what another person is thinking about them. However, that person can remind themselves that this is a thinking error (mind reading), and then change their thought to, “I do not know what that person is thinking about me. They may have been having a bad day to interact with me in an irritated manner.”

• Third person self-talk.

Use your name instead of “I” or “me” to create some space between you and the problem, to help you to see it more clearly, such as “Kendall seems to be having a hard day. What is bothering her?” You might even write a story in third person to identify how you feel.

            Additionally, your mindset about stress impacts to what extent stress affects you. For instance, Lafterton et al. (2016) studied participants who had high levels of stress in the International Journal of Stress Management. Those that believed the stress was bad for them had a 43% increase in mortality risk, while those that did not believe stress was bad for them did not have any increase in mortality rate. So, basically, how you view stress impacts how it affects your health. You have much more power than you realize in your thinking patterns!

            A fourth component to having the mindset of a champion is having belief in your ability to increase your skill level. A key to this is to have a planned skill development program, along with a coach, both of which are necessary for skill improvement. Abraham & Collins (2011) studied best skill improvement methods in Performance Psychology: A Practitioner’s Guide, writing a journal article titled, “Effective skill development: how should athletes’ skills be developed?” They realized that there are dangers to learning by experience only, urging coaches to also include a depth of teaching. They also inform coaches that classifying goals as problems to be tackled can aid a person in achieving them, and they promote an ongoing, malleable approach to setting goals. While a 5-year S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) plan is effective and necessary, they encourage coaches not to neglect the dynamic, flexible moment-by-moment opportunities to adapt and refine goals. They call this the “test and adjust” approach (Abraham & Collins, 2011).

Lastly, to master the proper mindset to be a top performer, one must perform mental rehearsal skills. The importance of mental skill training is widely recognized in sports psychology. And it is crucial. Birrer & Morgan (2010) point out the high pressure stakes at many sporting events in The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science on Sports. For example, at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the difference between first and fourth place in men’s rowing events averaged 1.34% for men and for women, just 1.03%, noting the massive pressure athletes face. They studied the literature in evidence-based psychological skills training for performance enhancement, finding that the interventions of self-talk, imagery, goal-setting and physical relaxation techniques are most widely recognized as improving performance. In addition, they discuss the important mental rehearsal skill of interpreting performance-related anxiety as an aid to performance rather than viewing it as a hindrance. People who view anxiety as debilitating suffer from decreased performance. One can work on this by restructuring thoughts, often practiced in the most popular form of therapy, CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy). In addition, the research again shows mindfulness interventions as helpful as well.

We have explored the research evidence, but what do coaches who work with Olympians on the front lines say? Coach Pam Allie-Morrill, who coached Olympic El Salvadorian racewalker Emerson Hernandez, a competitor in the 2012 London Olympics, gave the qualities she thought people like Emerson who make it to the Olympics must possess: passion, focus, humility, teachability, confidence and hard work. Also, Dave McGovern, 15x U.S. champion, author of The Complete Guide to Competitive Walking and foremost coach on racewalking in the U.S., gives his examples of what it takes to compete at the highest level. He attributes qualities such as an organized training program, support and good coaching, hard work, ability to overcome failure and believing in yourself to excel in performance. Both Allie-Morill and McGovern state that what the champion mindset is not is arrogance or unteachability. McGovern also said that having a lack of support and encouragement, or a lack of believing in yourself can hold one back. He said that the United States right now does not have an Olympic training center that has beds available for racewalkers, which is imperative, aiding most countries in making it to the Olympics in the racewalking category. He added that once countries start making medals in a sport in the Olympics, the financial support is greater, which can elevate athletes to the highest level, where they have the ability to solely focus on training. Both McGovern and Allie-Morill highlighted the importance of training for the Olympics like a full-time job. This goes right along with Malcolm Gladwell’s famous words from Outliers: The Story of Success (2008). He says that “to become a grandmaster also seems to take about ten years…it’s roughly how long it takes to put in ten thousand hours of hard practice. Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.”

No matter what your endeavor, these are some valuable keys to actualizing your potential. In summary, qualities such as developing mindfulness, self-regulation, one’s view of stress, belief in ability to increase skill and mental rehearsal skills all go a long way in developing the mindset of a champion, according to research. And according to coaches, passion, focus, belief in oneself, hard work, coachability, support and ability to overcome failure are all keys to successfully meeting your goals. With skills such as these, perhaps America will see racewalkers at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics!

References

Abraham, A., & Collins, D. (2011). Effective skill development: How should athletes’ skills be developed. Performance psychology: A practitioner’s guide, 207-229. 10.1016/B978-0-443-06734-1.00015-8

Birrer, D. and Morgan, G. (2010). Psychological skills training as a way to enhance an athlete’s performance in high-intensity sports. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 20: 78-87. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2010.01188.x

Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The Story of Success. Little, Brown and Company. United States.

Gould, D., Dieffenbach, K. & Moffett, A. (2002). Psychological characteristics and their development in Olympic champions. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 14(3), 172-204, https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200290103482

Gontijo, G. M., Ishikawa, V. N., Ichikawa, A. I. T., Bubna, P., Conter, F. da S., Queiroz, A. C. M. de, Picchia, R. D., Silva, D. D. da, & Uliana Filho, I. I. (2023). Influences of mindset and lifestyle on sports performance: a systematic review. International Journal of Nutrology, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.54448/ijn23227

Jowett, N., Spray C.M. (2013). British Olympic hopefuls: The antecedents and consequences of implicit ability beliefs in elite track and field athletes, Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 24(2), pp. 145-153, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2012.09.003

Laferton, Johannes & Stenzel, Nikola & Fischer, Susanne. (2016). The beliefs About stress scale (BASS): development, reliability, and validity. International Journal of Stress Management. 25. https://doi.org/10.1037/str0000047

Picchia, R. D., Silva, D. D. da, & Uliana Filho, I. I. (2023). Influences of mindset and lifestyle on sports performance: a systematic review. International Journal of Nutrology, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.54448/ijn23227

Naragon-Gainey, K., McMahon, T. P., & Chacko, T. P. (2017). The structure of common emotion regulation strategies: A meta-analytic examination. Psychological bulletin, 143(4), 384–427. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000093

Zhang, D., Lee, E. K. P., Mak, E. C. W., Ho, C. Y., & Wong, S. Y. S. (2021). Mindfulness-based interventions: an overall review. British medical bulletin, 138(1), 41–57. https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldab005