Michael Phelps has mastered the psychology of speed

Post Olympics it’s interesting to read more about what makes a great competitor under pressure.

From the Washington Post, where there is more:

‘Simplicity and certainty’

Mental strength can be broken down into two key components, McCann said. The first is an unyielding desire for victory and superiority in competition regardless of the pressure, which is known as an offensive mental aptitude, he said.

This allows an athlete to use the energy surges or adrenaline produced from high-pressure situations to enhance concentration, strength and execution — rather than to produce nervousness, panic, muscle tightening or over-exertion.

The second component, McCann said, is a defensive skill, a resilience that allows an athlete to roll with unforeseen circumstances such as a bad lane assignment, a poor night’s sleep — or a head-to-head collision just before racetime.

Only some athletes, he said, possess one of the two. Very few, he said, display both.

”The easiest thing for me is to predict the ones who will fail,” McCann said. “The ones who are weak mentally never succeed at the Olympic Games because their vulnerabilities are exposed . . . For the absolute best performance, what you need is simplicity and certainty.”

When Phelps arrived in Beijing in 2008, he was nothing short of the centerpiece of those Games. Speedo had offered a $1 million bonus if he could achieve eight gold medals in eight events. NBC had requested that the swimming schedule be turned upside down — finals in the early mornings, Beijing time, instead of evenings as is customary — to accommodate the interest in Phelps’s quest for the U.S. prime-time television audience.

McCann called the expectations Phelps faced to be “so outsized they were almost at an unfair level.”

“That’s part of what’s so unique about that story,” McCann said. “That’s probably one of the most spectacular mental efforts” in sports history.

‘Under stress, you just focus’

Bowman saw a deep drive to win in Phelps even before he coached him, though the trait did not display itself admirably in his pre-teen days. Bowman recalled watching Phelps, who took medication for ADHD throughout elementary school, playing an invented game with a tennis ball — the children named it “wall ball” — outside of the North Baltimore Aquatic Club.

“He was ‘out,’ and I remember him just pitching a fit,” Bowman said. “I remember thinking, ‘Who is this kid, who cares whether he’s kicked out of ‘wall ball’ or not when there’s going to be another game in five minutes?’ ”

Phelps and Bowman agreed that Phelps’s natural competitiveness grew as he gained confidence and refined his skills. When Bowman began coaching Phelps at age 11, Phelps despised his imperious coach’s hard-driving style. But Bowman’s methods worked. Phelps got faster and began to dominate kids even much older.

Bowman forced him to participate in multiple events at weekend meets, wanting him to develop his strokes and learn how to race fatigued.

“It was always important to him to do a really good time,” Bowman said. “By the third day of those meets, he would almost have tears in his eyes he was so tired. . . . But I think that’s where he learned that, under stress, you just focus.”

Bowman also demanded full allegiance to his methods. When he tried to force Phelps to adopt a new kick and Phelps refused, Bowman kicked him out of practice for nearly a week until Phelps agreed to implement the change. Despite countless conflicts, Phelps learned, eventually, that he had to do what Bowman wanted him to do.

By the time Phelps got to Beijing, there was comfort in that. Phelps did not second-guess himself because he was not in charge. Phelps took orders and followed them. He assumed Bowman, as always, had gotten the formula right. All Phelps had to do was dive in the water and go.

“Everything we did, he had planned,” Phelps said. “The maestro somehow got everything set into place, and it was my job to sort of let it happen.”