Making it to the Olympic Games requires extraordinary physical feats, but for elite athletes, success often hinges on mindset, as evidenced by the stunning comeback of Simone Biles.
Certified mental performance coach Chantell Preston was sitting in a restaurant that had Olympic gymnastics on the TV, and noticed the commentators were focused on Biles, saying she appeared nervous as she approached the beam and asking questions like, “Can you be the best when the world is watching you? Can she handle the pressure?”
Preston, who is also the founder and CEO of a multimillion-dollar healthcare company, the owner of dance studio The Dance Barre HTX, and a softball coach for middle school girls, understands the importance of mental performance mastery and how it can take you from being average to being elite.
“Simone Biles has the physical talent, but had to overcome the mental breakdown in order to make sure she was safe and performing at her highest level,” Preston said, referring to Biles dropping out of the Tokyo Games in 2021 due to a case of the “twisties,” a potentially dangerous loss of spatial awareness in the air.
“She was able to accomplish this by taking a break from the sport to reflect and work through the mental challenges that arose. After her dangerous vault where she was dealing with the twisties, she had to focus on self control and utilized mental imagery, which enabled her to visualize her routines,” Preston said.
“People think elite athletes have natural talents that enable them to be the best. However, elite athletes have to have motivation and discipline to spend the time necessary to develop their skills both physically and mentally,” Preston said. “Simone also leaned on her teammates for support during her difficult time as well as continued to show her own leadership skills by acknowledging her challenges and learning how she could best learn from them.”
Those mindset skills include “mastering self-awareness, recognizing challenges before they happen and developing self-regulation to get back on track,” Preston said. It also helps to have the discipline to focus on what can be controlled, to manage time and focus on tasks that will have the greatest impact, and to utilize the power of visualization to improve performance and self discipline.
Preston also says that if you want to be a champion, it’s important to “focus on process not the outcome.”
“We need to be self-aware to know when we’re at our best and when we’re not so we can stop to reflect on how to get back on track,” Preston said. “It’s OK to take a pause. [Biles] had a setback and she chose to pause to figure out how to move forward, coming back stronger than ever.”
Preston also highlighted the importance of leading by example, noting that “we decide the energy we want to bring into every situation.” She praised Team USA gymnasts Biles and Jordan Chiles for their gesture of respect to Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade on the Olympic podium after she won the gold medal for her floor routine.
“Watching Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles bow down to the Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade on the Olympic podium was an inspiring moment of women supporting and celebrating another woman’s success,” Preston said. “Could you imagine the impact that women could make if they were always supported by other women?”
TMX contributed to this story.