The Fascinating Psychology of the Olympic Athlete, Fan Rituals

Body paint, uneven socks, hidden trinkets: what do they have in common when they chase fame on the biggest stage?

In the competitive sports world, where every move counts, athletes often turn to rituals and superstitions to find solace and boost their confidence.

These unique habits can also apply to fans.

Some sports fans believe that the success of their team depends on the way they do things, from the food on their plate to the clothes they wear. That is often impossible to explain to anyone else.

With the Olympics underway and these rituals in full view, UKNow tapped two experts to better understand the psychology behind performance.

Marc Cormier, Director of the Sport and Exercise Psychology programme in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion in the Faculty of Education and Director of Counselling and Sport Psychology Services at UK Athletics, discusses how athletes cope with high-pressure situations.

While Jenny Rice, associate professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, helps us explain the seemingly incomprehensible psychology behind superstition.

Athletes

UKNow: Let’s start by explaining: What is sports psychology?

Cormier: Sport and performance psychology (SPP) is a broad term that encompasses two main areas: mental health and mental fitness.

Professionals in sports psychology study the relationship between psychological factors and optimizing human performance. In short, these can be emotional regulation, anxiety, psychological adjustment, concentration, managing expectations, and even team cohesion.

Think about it: most elite athletes have strength and conditioning coaches to train the body and athletic trainers to rehabilitate the body. Professionals in sports psychology strive to do each of these things, but from the mental side of performance.

We also help develop the ‘mental muscles’. By making athletes aware of the importance of mental factors, we can hopefully help them understand that they have control over the way they think and therefore how they perform.

Building on this, let’s take a look at what typically goes through an athlete’s mind in stressful situations, such as the Olympics.

Cormier: Stress and anxiety are common in stressful situations.

Let’s take a step back: imagine a British student preparing for an end-of-semester presentation. They’ve invested dozens of hours, practicing, refining, receiving and implementing feedback. Yet, despite their best efforts, most will experience anxiety or fear. This in turn can have a real impact on their performance. Physical symptoms (muscle tension, sweating, increased heart rate) can make all the difference in the overall performance, enjoyment and outcome of the task.

Now let’s magnify this and imagine what Olympians go through. Not only do they invest more time, effort, and money than our presenter, but they likely identify very strongly with their event/sport. That means they don’t go back to their “normal” routine once they’re done. Their performance likely defines who they are for years after the games.

Ultimately, no matter how physically prepared these athletes are, we have to consider the mental factors involved.

What role do rituals play among athletes competing in the Olympics? These athletes are clearly talented and well-trained, but they are also very ritualistic. Why is that?

Cormier: We often assume that elite athletes exhibit more ritualistic behavior than non-athletes. The data on this is somewhat mixed. In any case, there is no doubt that athletes often exhibit ritualistic behavior before and during competition.

Athletes may develop rituals for a variety of reasons, but the reason I hear most often is the desire to have or maintain control.

One of the most basic concepts in SPP (something we teach our graduate students at UK on day one) is “control the controllables.” In sports (and life), there are controllables (your effort, behavior, attitude, communication patterns, etc.) and uncontrollables (the weather, the time of the game, the skill of the opponent, etc.).

Routines, or process-driven behaviors, can help athletes feel grounded when faced with high-pressure, unpredictability environments. A routine should be a simple pattern of controllable behavior that allows athletes to mentally connect to a desired mindset.

For example, a sprinter might go through his warm-up/stretching/music routine hours before a race. This creates a pattern of behavior that is consistent, predictable, controllable, and comfortable.

As a professional, what do you think is the key to success in finding a balance between mental and physical performance?

Cormier: The answer is actually in your question: balance.

Every athlete has a different formula. The myth that “success is 90% mental” is, you guessed it, a myth. The truth is, we don’t know how much of performance is mental versus physical. It’s different for everyone, because people are different. It’s that simple.

Ultimately, athletes need to meet their performance needs and not be so dependent on what others or competitors are doing. In my experience, athletes naturally imitate those at the top of the performance spectrum without realizing that it probably won’t work for them. In other words, the routines of Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, and Anthony Davis work for them. Over many years, they have evaluated every piece of the performance puzzle to determine the most ideal formula to achieve the best possible experience/result.

Achieving balance has less to do with what others are doing and more to do with asking the right questions. “Is this working for me?” “What do I need most when the pressure is on?” “Who do I trust to be in my inner circle an hour before a game?” “How early do I need to show up for practice to get in the right mindset?”

How can athletes develop effective rituals that improve their performance, without becoming too dependent on them?

Cormier: Self-awareness is the key.

Developing effective rituals to improve performance is all about understanding yourself.

Most routines develop over time, and completely randomly (e.g., “I’m doing this before a game because I did it once and played well, so I’ve been doing it ever since.”). This isn’t a bad strategy, but it’s an inefficient one. When athletes are more intentional, the above statement becomes “I’m doing this before a game because I’ve learned that I need a few extra minutes to myself before I go into the locker room.”

Ultimately, self-awareness is never a bad thing. If it leads to discovering something you don’t like, you can work on mitigating it.

Fans

What is the difference between a ritual and a superstition?

Rice: A superstition can be a ritual that is performed at very specific times, like when you see a shooting star and make a wish. But superstitions also have a certain magic and supernatural element to them. Rituals themselves are just habits that are performed on a regular basis. For example, I brush my teeth every morning, which is a ritual. But superstition assumes that the rituals I perform will have an effect that is beyond my human capabilities.

When it comes to superstitions, we often believe them, knowing that on some level they can’t be true. Why do we believe the seemingly unbelievable?

Rice: One explanation has to do with cognitive dissonance. Our brains have a hard time believing that two contradictory statements are both true. When we are confronted with information that contradicts something we believe, our brain “problem-solves” by providing a rationalization that resolves the conflict.

For example, while most of us know that smoking is dangerous to our health, we might rationalize it by saying, “I only smoke when I’m out with friends, so it’s not like I’m a REAL smoker.” So we might believe that superstitions in general are untrue, but we might also believe that *this* specific ritual is meaningful and important. We tend to see our own actions and beliefs as different from the larger category of things that are untrue, dangerous, unhealthy, etc.

We often see fans “living by” superstitions during competition times. Why do superstitions lend themselves to fan bases and sporting events?

Rice: Because superstition is to some extent about hoping to achieve an outcome that is beyond our own human capabilities, it makes sense that it would be part of fan culture. When we watch basketball, we can’t actually make the shots from the stands, but we might feel like we can “help” by performing a ritual that (hopefully) produces that supernatural effect.

Do superstitions give a false sense of control over an outcome? And if so, is that healthy or unhealthy behavior?

Rice: Strong superstitions revolve around a sense of control over the outcome of a situation. While I wouldn’t necessarily call it unhealthy behavior, there are times when we mistakenly believe that our situations are a matter of pure luck, both good and bad. If I run a marathon and finish with a terrible performance, I might chalk it up to “bad luck.” Maybe I forgot to wear my lucky socks, or maybe I wore unlucky colors. But the truth probably has more to do with my preparation and training (or lack thereof). When we start thinking more in terms of luck than personal responsibility, superstitions can hold us back.

Even if our superstitions fail us, why do we still act on them?

Rice: We may not necessarily see that our superstitions have failed. If I believe that my lucky Wildcats shirt always means a UK win, then I could explain a loss with a different reasoning. Maybe I was wearing the shirt, but I blame the fact that I washed it between games.