Sport Psychology at the Vancouver Olympic Games 2010
Filed under: Exclusive Articles, Full Podium Archive, News Coverage, What's Out There on Friday, February 26th, 2010 by doc | 1 Comment
by Stephen Walker, PhD, CC-AASP, USOC Registry of Sport Psychologists
In a previous article involving a “From the Field” interview with Dr. Stephen Walker, Podium Sports Journal answered several questions with respect to the mental conditioning these great athletes engage in prior to their competition performance. Those questions focused on preparation under the best conditions. However, the Women’s Giant Slalom event placed these great athletes in extraordinary circumstances. Read on…..
Part 2 – Julia Mancuso’s Giant Slalom
The second run of the Vancouver Olympics Giant Slalom was run yesterday in conditions much improved over Wednesday’s fog, poor visibility and snow flurries. In Part 1 of this article - we featured the trials and tribulations of the event’s defending Champion, Julia Mancuso, whose day included an aborted run, the death of her skiing buddy and friend, and innumerable other distractions that left her in 18th position when the event was suspended by Olympic officials. We outlined WHAT she would need to do to recover from the debacle – and – suggested HOW Mancuso might do just that. Not only did Mancuso recover, but she posted the 3rd best run of the day climbing 10 spots to finish in 8th place.
