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Mental readiness key to Olympic success

Though the 2018 Winter Olympics are winding down, how athletes respond to their performance will be crucial in influencing their next performance, one sports psychologist says.

As the 2018 Winter Olympics wind down, Olympians will be evaluating their performances and tuning their training programs before their next big events.

"Adjustments are part of high performance sport. Whether it's game to game, or week to week or Olympics to Olympics," Dr. Craig Wrisberg said.

Wrisberg is Professor Emeritus at the University of Tennessee's Department of Kinesiology, Recreation and Sports Studies. For more than 25 years, he trained UT's top athletes in performing under pressure.

"Adjustments presume that something needs to be adjusted. So one of the things that these athletes do while it's fresh in their memory is to put down as many different things as they can think of, what went right, what could I do better, what do I need to take care of now in the period between now and the next time I complete," Wrisberg said.

However, some athletes, like skier Lindsey Vonn, have announced they will not compete in the next Olympics.

For those leaving the sport, Wrisberg says the key to a good transition is having an identity outside of the elite sports.

"Transitioning out of sport can be challenging for athletes, particularly high profile athletes who have a reputation and some considerable notoriety, and it becomes a problem as they define themselves entirely as an athlete," Wrisberg said.

But, they're more than that.

"If I knew Lindsey or worked with Lindsey I would want to encourage her to consider other dimensions of herself, what other things attract her, what other things does she have passion for so that she can kind of segue into some of those areas with maybe not the same passion as skiing that has been such a big part of her life, but with some purpose," he said.

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