The Pressure Of The Olympics

The Pressures Of The Olympic Games

Written By: ShaunSmith- Absolute Mental Training

Forthe upcoming Olympic Games the pressure is on the home team to shine this yearin Vancouver. Canadians everywhere have set high expectations for theirOlympians and are going for more medals, no matter what colour, than any othercountry.

TheOwn The Podium program was set up to help our athletes gear up for the Olympicson home territory. OTP is the $117-million, five-year plan established in 2004to prepare the host team to win medals in 2010. The federal government, i.e.taxpayers, funded $66 million of it and the Vancouver organizing committeecovered most of the remainder. The goal of the program is for Canadian athletesto win more medals than any other country this year in Vancouver.

In2006, Canada finished third overall with a total of 24 medals so at firstglance it would appear as though this goal is within our Olympians reach. Thereis though, one small detail which we must consider and that is in the 1988Olympics Canada only brought home a total of five medals including no goldmedals. Canada is the only country to have hosted an Olympics without winning agold medal on our own soil.

Themental demands that will be placed on our Olympians cannot be overlooked. Formany of our Olympic athletes this will be their one chance to display what alltheir hard work was for and what us as tax payers were paying for. Whenwatching our Olympians at the upcoming Olympics keep in mind the following.

IfCanada is to achieve their goal that was set forth with the Own The Podiumprogram they will need to win a medal early to create some momentum. Thepressure of winning a medal early will be weighing heavily on all of Canada’sOlympic athletes. Imagine the pressure of thirty five million Canadians beingplaced on the shoulders of our medal hopefuls.

Theentire country will be looking on carefully waiting for that Olympic medal butfor many athletes the pressure will also come from having friends and family sonear. In Turin many of our Olympic hopefuls were performing in front of crowdswhere the red and white, that we wear proudly, was hard to find. In 2010 ourOlympic athletes will be performing in front of many friends and family thathave made the trek to Vancouver and area to watch their Olympians perform.

Whatthis pressure will mean to our Olympians is restless nights which could lead toillness or result in injury if our athletes do not take care of themselves.Pressure results in stress and stress can kill our Olympic athlete’s energylevels leaving their bodies unable to fight illnesses.

TheOlympics are unique in that because they are hosted every four years thepressure to perform at an athlete’s best is magnified. Hearts will be broken asathletes everywhere learn that their four years of hard work has come down to onesmall mistake that will keep them out of a medal. Compound this with the factthat for many Olympic athletes this may be their first and only trip to theOlympics and you begin to understand why they may put so much pressure onthemselves.

Noone can forget the Media’s effect on our Olympians this year. Already eachOlympian has been constantly reminded on a day-to-day basis that the Olympicsare around the corner with events like the torch relay and commercials airingon television radio and on print media. Add the fact that each event will beaired while us as Canadian viewers will be awake and you can see how ourOlympians can feel the pressure to perform in this year’s Olympics.

WhatI do as a mental performance coach is teach athletes how to perform underpressure. In essence, we are all performers. We all perform under pressure bothin life and in sport. The elite athletes who experience success are often notphysically or technically stronger but are able to perform when under pressure.Our athletes have been given the tools to handle pressure and perform at theirbest under pressure but they need our support.

Whatcan you and I do to help our Olympic athletes in their pursuit for more Olympicmedals than any other country this year in Vancouver? We can inspire ourathletes to greatness. We can show up to each and every venue in our red andwhite, waive our Canada flags and be heard. The added motivation of our chantscan quickly allow our athletes to forget about the pressure of performing andprovide them with that needed energy late in their event.  

Finally,Canada lets silence those critics. Once we get on a roll it is pivotal forCanadians everywhere to show our support and instill a belief into each of ourathletes that they too can win an Olympic medal. Momentum will be huge and ifeach athlete begins to believe that they too can win a medal we will be able tocarry this momentum right into the closing ceremonies. 

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