Mental Training for the Olympics: An Indian perspective

To play for your country in the Olympics is a dream for many athletes. After all, it is one of the highest regarded sporting event in the world which comes every four years that showcase the best athletes from across the globe to participate in a sporting spectacle incomparable to any other sporting event.

Every elite athlete rigorously trains to be able to participate, compete and win a medal at the Olympics to achieve glory for themselves, their family and their country.

Performance of an elite athlete in any major sporting event is dependent on various factors like training facilities, crowd support, weather, diet and logistical support. However, the biggest contributor to sporting performance is the mental strength of an individual, regardless of the type of sport.

Every Olympic participant goes through tough training, eats healthy and gets the right amount of sleep to be able to thrive in the competition. But, physical performance can only take them to a certain point. It is the mental strength that sets an athlete apart from others and decides the fate of any sportsperson.

If you look at two Olympic athletes side by side in a particular sport, you will see that on training, physical and nutrition parameters, they are almost at par. The fact that they have a very high level of performance is the reason why they have been chosen by their country through a variety of National and Championship Trials to represent their country and get that ‘quota’ position or the coveted spot.

So, between the two Olympic athletes, the one and only other variable that can decide who will win on that particular day of the Olympics is the athlete who has ‘learnt’ how to control his mental state and keep it to an optimum level. It is that athlete who is mentally trained to make fewer mistakes during play, who accepts the challenges of the day and responds accordingly. It is also that athlete who does not dwell on the past and future events but ‘maintains that mental equilibrium to be in the present, despite all the external and internal distractions that are pushing him away from that Optimal Mental State, is the one who will win.

This Optimum Mental State is what Olympic athletes need to train for, in the Olympic year.

At one level, this seems to be a given. It’s obvious that athletes will do it. Infact, one may argue that athletes who are representing their country at the Olympics have already got these things covered.

But, have they?

Olympic preparation is different than for Other World Championship Games

The fact of the matter is that India has till now, won very few medals at the Olympics. That is also the reason that, being at the Olympics and winning a medal acquires even bigger proportions for India and for the athlete.

I have met a lot of Olympians during the course of my career and one thing that strikes me most when I ask about their Olympic experience is what most say is a  ‘Blurry’ feeling. They describe being overwhelmed with the occasion, how inspite of training well and ticking all the boxes, the presence of the media, the other international athletes, the crowds, the expectations of a billion Indians start subconsciously creeping into their system and before they can even realise it, their matches have come and in most cases gone and with that, a chance of a Olympic podium finish. The same Indian athlete, who performed so well in front of the media, to full crowds at the Asian and Commonwealth Games, is unable to repeat that performance at the Olympics.

Unfortunately, athletes realise this later on, but it’s again a 4 year wait, with no guarantee of securing that Olympic berth again.

Elite Athletes need to understand that although they have been to and won at many World Championships, Commonwealth and Asian Games and other big International events, the Olympics is bigger than what they can even imagine and thus, their level of Mental Preparation and Training should proportionally be different, detailed, customised and tangible and which caters specifically for the Olympic challenge.

Training for achieving the Optimal Mental State for the Olympics

Although, we know that it takes years to mentally train your mind, another reason why players cannot perform to their potential is because they do not have a clear Mental Training Regimen that can get integrated along with their other training regimen and that is one of the big reasons, why Indian elite athletes seem to falter at the Olympic Level, despite performing so well at other International events.

This doesn’t mean that they are not mentally tough or they cannot handle the pressures of the sport. The fact that they have reached at this level of elite training, won so much medals for India means that they have won great battles and won against great odds to win medals for India and all of this has been because of their mental strength.

What it means, is an understanding, that, for the Olympics, their Mental Preparation and Training will have to change and they will have to look at this aspect with even greater detail and get trained at the right time, because they cannot simply leave it either to chance or to say that ‘we will just do what we have been doing’.

History tells us that this has not worked!

Thus, with less than a year away from Tokyo 2020 Olympics, it’s critical that this crucial element gets incorporated as a daily routine in an athlete’s plan.

As a Mental Conditioning Coach, I work with many current elite athletes who are fighting for their quota for the Tokyo Olympics and I am sure there are other Sports Psychologists who are also doing the same for the athletes at this level and it is indeed heartening to see players coming forward and pushing their associations and other partner organisations to help them get the right people for this aspect.

However, a lot more needs to be done.

As the time closes in for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, there are so many things that players have to do in their training in the Olympic Year that many a times, Mental Training is the area that starts getting neglected and starts becoming a ‘tickmark’ of a completed counselling session rather than an active and integrated training regimen.

For an elite athlete, just because they are working with a Mental Conditioning and Performance Psychologist doesn’t mean that they are not mentally tough.

Infact, It only implies that they don’t want to leave any stone unturned in that important year towards attaining Olympic glory!

Most of the times, articles get written post the Olympics on what needed to be done. I hope this article helps in plugging any loopholes in our Olympic training plan to ensure what all Indians so desperately want – Consistency of Medals at the Olympics and Glory for India at the world stage!