Tag Archive for 'olimpiadi'

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The story of the rivalry between Jesse Owens and Eulace Peacock

They were born a year apart — Owens in 1913, Peacock in 1914 — in opposite corners of rural Alabama. By 1923 their families had left the sharecropping life and moved north — the Owenses to Ohio, the Peacocks to New Jersey. In 1933, in the last meet of his high school career, Peacock set the national scholastic record in the long jump. He went home, clicked on the radio, and learned that a kid in Cleveland had just broken the world record. Name of Owens. It was the first time he’d ever heard of him. Peacock will not qualify for the Olympics in Berlin due to some injuries that slowed the preparation, competed against Owens 10 times, 5 times won and 5 times lost. Read this amazing story on Sport Illustrated.

The sport psychologist role in the national team

It was held at the Sports School of Italian Olympic Committee a workshop about the role of different professionals, who work in the national team before and during major sport events. In relation to the role of the sport psychologist I have highlighted what are the main activities to be carried out:

  • The essential psychological preparation has been carried out previously
  • Do not introduce new strategies and procedures, but to help athletes to follow their habits
  • The psychologist should not be obsessed with “doing”
  • Provide 24 hours of service and availability to advise in any environment
  • The sport psychologist must be prepared to the uniqueness of the Olympic Games
  • Follow the program prepared earlier
  • Being responsive and effective
  • Promote the use of routine and daily plans
  • Help athletes stay focused on the competition without being distracted from the atmosphere of the Olympic village
  • Helping athletes and coaches not to put too much emphasis on race
  • Helping the team to create a positive atmosphere and facilitating effective solutions
  • Being psychologically prepared to support the coaches
  • Develop strategies for the management of interpersonal relationships
  • Check and manage the interpersonal communication between staff members: free time management, relations with the head of team delegation and federal managers, media management

Tokyo 2020

Gracious Hosts

An aerial view shows people in a formation of the words “thank you” and displaying signs that collectively read “Arigato” (Thank You) during an event celebrating Tokyo being chosen to host the 2020 Olympic Games, at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building.

Rio 2016 video

Video

Video

Niccolò Campriani teaches how to forget the fear

Read the book written by Niccolò Campriani “Remember to forget the fear,” the London 2012 shooting Olympic champion. First amazes his ability to talk about his life as an athlete, we will read it like a thriller with … also an happy ending. He speaks of himself as a destined for victory, that of Beijing, which, however, does not succeed, and this loss destroys him as a person and show us the way (exhausting) to achieve success. It ‘s a story that has nothing to envy to the one written by Agassi in “Open.” Its a book for all young people who want to realize themselves through sport but it’s also for coaches and managers who too often have a stereotypical idea of young athletes.

To have the right toughness to start again is not easy

For an athlete who in his career has reached the absolute top, be in a position of having to go back to work on his technique and on a different race management, because the rules of his sport have been changed is not an easy task. Especially if it happens in the post-Olympic period in which the majority of athletes tend to take some time to recover from the Olimpic stress. The combination of these aspects, rules changes and the need to maintain the commitment at the highest level, can lead to a condition of mental stress in which the athlete would not want to be in this stage of his career. In addition, the young athletes of the same sport perceive the post-Olympic period as an opportunity to gain experiences at the international level and therefore they are motivated to make every effort to be noticed by the national coach. There are so many reasons that prevent from living this year so undemanding but instead push in the direction of a fastf adaptation to new technical rules and competition changes.

Yasmina al-Sharshani, the Qatari lady golfer

In Qatar, sport became more and more important not only for men bu also for women. Also in golf the ladies are finding their place. The golfer Yasmina al-Sharshani (26 years old), a young and dynamic Qatari lady with a great personality, graduated from the Sports Science Program at Qatar University, represents the State of Qatar in International Golf Tournaments and she is already training for the Rio Games in 2016. “The 2016 Olympics in Brazil is my ambition because the golf sport will be included after 112 years of absence. So I am preparing myself for the Olympics and I hope to have the chance to represent my country, Qatar,” she said.

Coaches’ competences

In the same survey conducted a few years ago by the U.S. Olympic Committee conducted interviews with the athletes of US Olympic team  in the period 1984-1998, they were asked what were for them  most important coach’s skills.

These athletes ranked at the the top, the ability to teach skills and the ability to motivate and encourage. Following the more typically skills related to the training knowledge  and strategic knowledge of sport. Therefore, given that the coaches must be able to plan and conduct their work technically, however, are their interpersonal and psychological skills  to make effective their work. These data should make used by those who organize training courses for coaches, in which most of the hours are devoted exclusively to the technical component of this work and little time is dedicated to the development of those skills that instead the top athletes  perceive decisive for their success.

To dream is very important for the young athletes

For many athletes the year after the Olympics is a period of transition. Often those who have achieved great successes in the four previous years use this year as a time of recovery, to be ready next year to start a new challenge. For younger athletes, however, can be an important year to prove their value in international competitions in a time when the best are not making pressure. And it is on these that I want to focus, with the question: when does a young athlete (girl or boy) begins to dream that she/he could be part of the Olympic team of her/his country? And then it makes sense to dream?

I found support for this idea in a study conducted some years ago by the U.S. Olympic Committee, it was asked this question to the athletes who have been members of the US Olympic team in the period 1984-1998. These are the results:

  • The athletes began to dream of becoming Olympic athletes in the period in which they obtained their first successes at the local level (between 10, 9 and 18 years).
  • After about 3,5 years they decided to pursue this dream.
  • After about 1,7 years they thought that their dream was realistic at an age between 13,4 and 22,4 years.

The differential of age are due to the fact that gymnastics and swimming are sports earlier specialization compared others such as shooting, rowing and track and field athletes where the athletes reach maturity at an older age.
These findings teach us that boys and girls need to nurture their dreams and that they pass from an initial desire to one in which you decide to commit to make it last that it is considered realistic implementation. Second, another strongest trend to emerge from these data was the short period of time between the decision to become Olympian and the belief that it was possible.

Psychological Support Brings Olympic Success for Korean Athletes

The Republic of Korea has enjoyed its best Olympic Games results since 1988, finishing 5th in the medal table in London, with a total of 28 medals including 13 golds. Two of its most successful teams, archery and shooting, both benefited from psychological support programmes. 

Support for the Korean archery team was provided by Young Sook Kim, from the Korea Institute of Sport Science, during an 11-month period preceding the Games. Support was provided in 1-2 hr sessions, 2-3 times per week, and included psychological profiling and psychological skills training that was progressively individualiszd in training and tailored towards the Olympic competition. The archery team won 3 gold medals and 1 bronze medal in London.

The Korean shooting team was even more successful in London, winning 3 golds and 2 silvers. Support was provided in the two years preceding the Olympic Games by ByungHyun Kim, also from the Korea Institute of Sport Science, an applied practitioner of 20 years’ experience. Support emphasized anxiety control, concentration, confidence, and coping with the high expectations of the Korean public.