Preparing for gold
Posted by ZenFish
Posted by
ZenFish
posted in
Mental Game
Preparing for gold
I thought this was an interesting parallel to the value of preparation and mental game techniques in poker:
Ole Einar Bjørndalen took his 7th Olympic gold in biathlon today, age 40. He was asked to be the opening ceremony flag bearer for the Norwegians (as an honor, this being Bjørndalen's last Olympic games), but he politely declined. The reason? He did not want the long ceremony to reduce his chances of winning today's event.
He said in an interview that declining was very egotistical, but these were his final Olympic games after all, and he didn't want to take any unnecessary risks the day before an event (tiring himself out, or getting a cold from being outside for so long, etc).
I found this inspirational. Even at 40 years old, Bjørndalen is totally committed to his sport, beating competitors not much more than half his age. He didn't go to Sochi just to finish his career in style, he went there to win. I got strong associations to Bassham's With Winning in Mind (which I recommend). I' be surprised if Bjørndalen hasn't read it more than once.
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Interesting read! Something similar happened to Great Britain's rowing team. They kept asking themselves 'Will it make the boat go faster?' before doing anything.
..."In a recent speech, he explained they asked 'Will lifting weights make the boat go faster? Probably.' So they did, 'Will attending the Olympic opening ceremony make the boat go faster? No.' So they didn’t."...
Nice, just like Tommy Angelo's "The Professional" (in his book The Elements of Poker).
"Does this increase my EV at the poker tables?"
It's a fun little mindgame to play (as long as you know when to stop). :-)
Zen, heh that made me think the exact same thing, "the professional". I think about him a lot. Kinda crazy how far you can actually take it too when you start thinking about it and framing everything in that context.
This book "Winning in mind" looks very interesting. Thanks for mentioning it. I think I'll order it.
Enjoyed the book although i qould of liked some more in-depth analysis.
i remember Andre Agassi getting a lot of grief for not showing up to the opening ceremonies but he went on to win Gold
As someone in their 40s this guy is my Hero!
Thanks for sharing, Zen.
Never give up! Try your best!I was born in a poor rural family in China,with a mental disease mom and a Mr. grumpy father, I work hard to study and graduated from university with a Master degree,making the life better, We should run for life like Forrest Gump.
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