While our not-so-mini off-season drags on, I wanted to show something which might be an apt description of Yuzu. These are the findings of the well-known Russian sports psychologist Zagainov, who helped Yagudin in his Olympic season. Zagainov wrote extensively about what makes an athlete a true champion, so the summary of his research is this:
Seven qualities of the champion athlete
1. Concentration (Focus): an athlete aiming at ultimate goals develops the absolute sense of focus and concentration which helps them overcome weakening and interfering factors. The first steps towards developing this kind of focus is having a personal diary, image perfection or image change, self-isolation, limiting daily communication with people.
2. Setting goals and motivation: a champion athlete is set to achieve success both in their sport and outside of it.
3. Professionalism: it refers to being professional in every aspect of a champion athlete’s life for years (ex. image, behaviour, regime, diet etc). Athletes are not born professionals, it takes to time to develop that quality, but even the most talented athletes can’t achieve much without that self-discipline.
4. Seclusion (hiding behind a mask): A well-known champion athlete develops a certain outer image which keeps masses of people at a distance. That’s a defence mechanism against exhausting communication and intrusion into their personal life and into their performance, especially during competitions. Champion athletes shut out rivals and their teams, judges, journalists, supporters, audiences. They don’t let out much information about their injuries, illnesses, stress etc.
5. Ritualism: a specifically organised way of life and a set of superstitions. Everything in their life is ritualised, and thus their day looks like this: a prayer, warm up exercises, keeping a strict diet, two or three practices, bringing their diary up to date and a prayer/meditation before falling asleep. A champion athlete understands that this regime builds up their defence against contingencies
6. Resistance against their own natural instincts, psychological complexes and the conditions of modern sport (rivalry, judging, hostilities, pressure etc.): Many athletes buckle down and stumble under pressure because of these while champion athletes can persevere against all these and win.
7. Stability/consistency: Champion athletes don’t perform below a certain standard and thus manifest their fighting instinct and technical excellence. They are also consistent in their behaviour and in how much they choose to reveal to the world, which is a proof of their self-control. It increases their attractiveness to people – audiences interpret all these qualities as the athlete’s inner self-belief, power and confidence. One can develop stability only by working for years, and champion athletes are capable of working hard even if there are no major competitions ahead. This motivation for daily routine hard work is what makes an athlete a champion.
Ok, my predictions for men and pairs seem to be wildly off the mark so far... let’s see what the next few days will bring.