Olympics 2010 Encore: “The Gold Medal Secret Sauce” – Preparation strategies used by Olympic Gold medalists – Part 2
Podium Sports Journal’s Podcast of the Week – An interview with Drs. Noah Gentner and Vanessa Shannon
by Dr. Stephen Walker, CC-AASP
This podcast was the second of a two part podcast with Drs. Noah Gentner and Vanessa Shannon on qualitative research they conducted with Olympic Gold medalists from the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. The interview was given at the Association for Applied Sport Psychology annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky October 2007.
This study evolved over a number of years in a series of interviews focused on identifying and describing the mental techniques and preparation strategies used by world champions.
The key exploration focused on how these premier athletes differed from those less successful athletes in their preparation and mental conditioning. A total of nine male and female athletes from six different sports comprised the sample for this qualitative research effort.
Some of the techniques employed included self-talk, attention cues, process focused physical moves, smart “techniques”, short-term and long-term goals.
Dr. Noah Gentner is a sport psychologist consultant from the Georgia Southern University and Dr. Vanessa Shannon is a coaching education specialist at West Virginia University. Both were students of Dr. Craig Wrisberg and Leslie Fisher Gould at the University of Tennessee.
This is great info for everyone. Glad you posted this. I am subscribing to this blog. Mason
Perfect Blog! Thanks for the great info and motivation.
I came across this when searching info on Google. I will use it to complete my report for this weekend, thanks for the info.
Hi, I just wanted to drop a note to say I enjoyed your blog, and check out mine sometime! Thanks! —Kate
[...] in a qualitative research study conducted by Drs. Noah Gentner and Vanessa Shannon’s. The “Secret Sauce” employed by several Olympic Gold Medalists are revealed in an exclusive interview [...]
Perfect!