|Belief, talent and pain|
|Around the Academy:
EIS psychologist Paul Dent explains how mental strength is the way to sporting success.
Steve Redgrave and Michael Johnson had total belief in themselves.
And whether it was in training or competition, they were unfailing in whatever happened.
Even if they were struggling with form or lost a race.
Of course they had great talent.
Lots of people have talent. The difference is having the confidence to produce and knowing what to produce at the right time.
To get to the top, the training schedules can be relentless. Not to mention the early mornings!
And Redgrave was one person who did not fear the pain.
There are many stories of him falling off the rowing machine unconscious!
They have to be willing to take themselves that extra bit further - no matter how tough it's going.
On top of all these efforts, or perhaps as a result of all these efforts, they believed they would eventually succeed.
They simply did not entertain the idea of failure - they had absolutely no doubts whatsoever.
And not only did they achieve this, they did it time, and time again.