Characteristics of a Champion

I think this article is a good one. It addresses a few psychological aspects which a group of Olympic Champions posses.

At the bottom of the Article is a list of the attributes and my self determined scores.


Psychological Characteristics of U.S. Olympic Champions
by Daniel Gould, Ph.D; Kristen Dieffenbach, M.S. and Aaron Moffett, M.S. University of North Carolina - Greensboro

Throughout modern history American athletes have provided some of the most memorable performances of the Olympic Games. As we watched these amazing performances we wondered what psychological characteristics allow these individual to reach such success.
Article Details
The 10 athletes in the study represented nine different Olympic sports. These athletes had competed in the Olympic Games between the years of 1976 and 1998 with an average of 2.4 Olympic Games each. The athletes who participated in this study were selected by an analysis of Olympic Games performance records and availability. Among them, these athletes won 32 Olympic medals (28 gold, three silver, one bronze). Four of the athletes participated in the Winter Games while the remaining six athletes were Summer Games participants. Six males and four females were interviewed.

Characteristics of Champions

These champions exhibited a number of impressive psychological characteristics. Some of the more important attributes are highlighted below.

High Motivation and Commitment

As one might expect, these athletes were highly motivated, committed and determined. For example, one parent characterized his athlete's drive, "He pushed himself; this kid was driving himself," and "He always was striving to be better."

An athlete reflecting on his drive and determination said, "I think I worked really hard. There were a lot of athletes that might have been more talented than I was, but I think I was more determined. I wanted to do well, I wanted to reach my goals, and I wasn't going to let anything stand in my way."

These athletes were competitive and looked forward to and really enjoyed competing. Their competitive drive was fueled by an internal desire or intrinsic motivation to accomplish their goals, as opposed to seeking external rewards.

The 10 Olympians were goal oriented. They not only set goals, but they were also good at deriving a set plan or pathways for achieving their goals. Finally, their dedication to their goals was extremely impressive.

Optimistic and Positive

A striking characteristic of these champions was their optimistic and positive nature. Their optimistic personalities caused them to look at the athletic glass as "half full versus half empty." This allowed them to remain positive when faced with difficulties and rebound more quickly when failures were experienced.

Postive Perfectionists

Specifically, psychologists have distinguished two types of perfectionism, adaptive (what we call positive perfectionism) and maladaptive perfectionsim. This distinction between the two is important because adaptive perfectionism is associated with achievement and success, while maladaptive perfectionism related negatively to mental health. Adaptive perfectionists set high standards and like to be organized, they are low on concern over mistakes, doubts about actions and concern over parental criticism (when young). Maladaptive perfectionists also hold high standards and like to be organized; however, they also overly concerned with mistakes, have frequent doubts about actions and are preoccupied with criticism.

The Olympians we studied were postive perfectionists and demonstrated few maladaptive perfectionist tendencies. Consequently, they set high standards and were organized, but they were not overly concerned with mistakes or experienced frequent doubts about their abilities. When growing up, they did not worry about parental criticism.

Uncanny Ability to Focus

The ability to focus and concentrate was one of the defining characteristics of this group. The Olmpians had the ability to concentrate or focus on key performance related factors while effectively blocking out distractions. They were described as having "the ability to dial in" and "the ability to intensely focus to quiet the mind." As one athlete said, "I can get very focused. It is almost like where you get so focused that time stands still." Similarly, a significant other described his athlete's ability to focus, "She had the ability to, no matter what the situation is, to...focus in on the task at hand."

Finally, the ability to automate skills, focus on what one can control and one's self, not others, were characteristics of these Olympians.

The Ability to Handle Stress and Cope With Adversity

Having the ability to handle stress and cope with adversity allowed these athletes the capacity to deal with the routine setbacks and anxiety associated with training and competing in developmental and elite levels of competition. They are low trait anxious (personalities that predisposed them to view evaluations and competition as less threatening), have high levels of emotional control and the ability to peak under pressure. One coach described his athlete's ability to handle pressure, "He was good under pressure you know. It almost seemed like the more pressure he hand on him the better he did."

Mentally Tough

Mental toughness was another important characteristic of these outstanding performers. While the parents, significant others and coaches in this study were certainly not uniform in their views of mental toughness some of the more common components of mental toughness focused on resilience, perseverance and the ability to successfully deal with adversity.

Sport Intelligence

Finally, sport intelligence was an interesting new psychological characteristic identified in this study. It consisted of such themes as the ability to analyze performance, being innovative relative to one's sport technique, being a student of the sport, making good sport related decisions, understanding the nature of elite sport and being a quick learner. One coach commented on his athlete's ability to learn by filtering poor information and focusing on useful information, "The greatest thing about her was she could refilter out what would work for her and what would not. So, she could take input from everybody, an would only take five percent from one person and 95 percent from another."

Implication for Guiding Practice

Knowledge of the psychological characteristics of these outstanding Olympians may be used in several ways:

Value in talent development - search for athletes with these characteristics and look for opportunities to further develop them athletically.
More importantaly, a form similar to the one listed below could be developed and used to rate your current athlete's development on these key psychological attributes.
The results profile could then be used to identify athlete's attributes or characteristics for futher development. For example, if an athlete scores low on concentration/focus or motivation and commitment, this athlete could take part in psychological training to improve their competence in this area. Results have shown that these attributes are not always fixed, rather they can be developed over time. Futhermore, research shows that many psychological skills can be improved with practice.

Conclusion

While this group of Olympians was characterized by the particular psychological characteristics discussed in this article, it is important to remember that this report presented summary results. No one Olympian fully characterized by all the factors and factor subcomponents identified by this study.

While these athletes as a group are amazing psychologically in many ways, they are not superhuman. We don't want to imply that they didn't have negative thoughts or struggles. Not withstanding these facts, knowledge of these characteristics can provide an important glimpse into the components of the psychology of excellence and help us facilitate their development in other athletes.

Components of Champions Rating Form

Psychological Characteristic Athlete Rating Plan for Improvement (10 = strength; 5 = okay/average; 0 = weak)

Motivation and Commitment ___ 7. There are times when I lose focus and don't see the forest for the trees. Overall I think I motivate myself and work hard to achieve goals. My biggest motivator is the refusal to lose -- or the need to win (depending whether your glass is half full or half empty).

Optimistic and Positive __4. This is an area where I need work. I often have negative thoughts when things do not go right. I often remind myself that it is the participation in the game rather than the outcome which should be treasured.

Postive Perfectionism ___ 7. I think I am good at breaking my sailing into different elements and perfecting them.... whethere it is leeward mark roundings, or the ability to plan a week long regatta and be prepared off the water.

Ability to Focus ___ 9. When the time comes to focus 100%, I find it easy. One instance jumps out -- During the start of a 40 boat fleet race day at MIT a teammate saw me for the first time in a while and yelled over to me. It was during the last 30 seconds of a packed line start where I was trying to work my hole to leeward. I was trying to get all of the input I could which would influence the next 2 minutes of the race (looking upwind and managing the fleet). After the race the friend came up again, this time a little preterbed that I didn't acknowledge her. I did hear my name being called, but it was washed away as white noise, because I was focused -- in the zone.

Ability to Manage Stress/Cope with Adversity ___3. Relaxation and coping with stress are a point I try to work very hard at during competition. The ability to be in the moment and forget about the past is an extremely valuable trait.

Mental Toughness ___6. I believe I am resilient, but it is an area that I do need work in.

Sports Intelligence ___ 10. This is by far my strongest trait. I pride myself in being a student of the game and using my experiences to my advantage. There is alwasy so much more to learn... every bit of knowledge you can gain makes you that much stronger. I feel I can learn from a lot of different sources, often when others cannot. My filter is very strong -- so I can find lessons when others have stopped paying attention.