Visualising Gold
“Anybody can achieve great things in life if they are willing to work hard, make sacrifices and dedicate themselves to the dream they have.”
- Sir Chris Hoy, 6 x Olympic Champion
Chris Hoy talks about working with a sport psychologist to help him win his first gold medal in the 1km pursuit at Athens games, 2004. The 1km pursuit is a race against the clock, one by one athletes race to post the best time and Hoy will be the last to go as he was the World Champion. However, this felt like unchartered territory for GB cycling as no GB cyclist had ever been in this position for over 18 years. It can be an advantage going last as you can see what times you need to achieve to win, however, it can also increase stress and anxiety from the added pressure when you see what time the opponents have produced.
A popular psychologist, Dr. Steve Peters, once came up to him at the Celtic games, 3 weeks before Athens and asked Chris Hoy how things were going.
Hoy replied, “It’s going really well, injury free, form is good and became World champion so will be starting number 1 seed at the Olympics in 3 weeks and ready to go for it.
To then Peters responded, “That’s great you are feeling ready for it. I just want to pose one scenario to you. What will you do if someone breaks the World Record right before you get on the track?”
Hoy: “I just won’t think about it.”
Peters: “If I say right now, don’t think about a pink elephant. What is the first thing that pops up into your head?”
Hoy: “Well… A Pink elephant of course.”
Peters: “It can be difficult to erase a thought by trying to dismiss it. Trying to not think about the opponents times can lead you to worry about it more than you’d like. I have a simple suggestion for you to try. Every time you get anxious or stressed about cycling or anything in life, I would like you to focus on something else; visualise the race from your perspective, in real time, from start to finish, performing the perfect ride.” This technique is defined as cognitive displacement, redirecting a negative thought or emotion for something more helpful to the individual.
After the chat, Hoy went into the room, logged onto the internet and it was a cycling news website when he saw one of his rivals had posted a great time in training. Hoy, immediately felt overwhelmed, thought he is going really well, and will be flying come the games. He paused himself quickly, reverted back to the conversation and shut his eyes to visualise the race he dreamed to ride. As it got closer to Athens he was performing his visualisation more frequently. It was almost like a constant loop of visualising his perfect race because there was so much stress surrounding him.
When Athens came, as if there was a crystal ball, four riders to go, Shane Kelly, stepped up and broke the world record. The next person, Stefan Nimke, again went even faster. When Hoy was getting ready to go, sitting on his bike, one rider to go, Arnaud Tournant, went even quicker with a World record and Olympic record. When Hoy stepped up, he went on to claim victory and start the momentum of a stampede of medals for British cycling. Having that visualisation technique to maintain composure and focus on the right aspects helped him to execute the performance just like how he imagined many times over. The use of the visual imagery, one of the most frequently used psychological tool kits, supported Hoy to overcome fears of anxiety, stress and perceived lack of belief and instead to feel more confident and trusting of his own abilities to deliver a grand performance on one of the biggest stage in the world.
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