It takes four years to prepare for a single moment but only a few seconds to ruin a lifelong dream. That's the kind of pressure athletes carry with them to the most revered sports competition in the world -- the Olympic Games.
That's why Olympic committees around the world are employing sports psychology consultants to help their athletes cope with the gruelling stress that comes with performing on the world stage.
Penny Werthner, a former Olympian and a sports psychology consultant for Team Canada said being mentally prepared for competition is just as important as being physically ready.
Speaking to Canada AM in the weeks leading up to the 2008 Beijing Games, Werthner said her job is to keep athletes focused on what's important.
"There are really two key parts to being well-prepared psychologically and the first is knowing what those factors are," she said. "(They need to know) what they need to attend to, what they need to think of, what they need to focus on."
She said it's also equally important for athletes going into the Olympics to "physiologically relax" and keep calm.
"Athletes at this level know what these factors are but the key part is that they can manage themselves physiologically to allow that to happen," she said.
'So much hype'
Cindy Klassen, an Olympic speedskater and a record-setting athlete, said the hardest thing to deal with is the outside pressure.
"There is so much hype leading up to the Olympics, there are medal expectations and you can't block it all off completely," she said in an interview with CTV.ca.
Even some of the most promising athletes at the Olympics have faltered under pressure while others seemed to gain incredible strength from the spotlight.
Dr. Gordon Bloom, an associate professor with McGill's kinesiology and physical education department, said he can think of a number of athletes who have let the pressure get the best of them.
He pointed to Canadian speedskaters Jeremy Wotherspoon and Klassen as contrasting examples of dealing with pressure.
Wotherspoon was accused of choking at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 after he stumbled in the first few minutes of the 500-metre race that he was favoured to win.
In interviews he granted to the media in the years that followed the upset, Wotherspoon said he received dozens of emails from fellow Canadians insulting his performance and his talents. He managed to shrug it off but four years later at the Turin Olympics, Wotherspoon failed to place yet again.
Wotherspoon is undeniably a world-class competitor on the international stage. He is the most successful male skater in World Cup history, winning more World Cup titles than any other male skater.
"Some people really handle the spotlight well and others don't," said Bloom in a telephone interview with CTV.ca. "A sign of a true champion is one that excels when the lights are the strongest."
In contrast, Klassen, an athletic force in a number of different sports, wowed her country when she became the first Canadian Olympian to win five medals in one Olympic Games and the only Canadian to win six Olympic medals.
Bloom said she is a perfect example of someone who can overcome the pressure.
"When everyone's rooting for you and you still do well? That shows some very, very strong mental will," he said.
Klassen says it's more than just her mental will that has gotten her by. She said having a great coach and sports psychologist was a huge help before the Olympics but it is her strong faith in God and herself that makes her a winner.
"The race is in His hands, that takes a huge pressure off," she said in a telephone interview from Calgary. "I'll go out there and give it 100 per cent but if I come third or tenth or if I trip and fall, it's in His hands."
She said the best advice she has ever received has been simply, that win or lose, everything would be okay in the end. She said she tries to remember that and tries to remember that having fun is her ultimate goal.
"When I'm having fun, that's when I race the best," she said.
Pressure more intense today
Werthner works closely with Canada's canoe and kayak team, including the country's chosen flag-bearer at the Beijing Games, Adam van Koeverden.
She said van Koeverden was delighted at the honour of representing his country at the opening ceremonies but that it only added to the pressure.
"It's something we discussed to see if it was a good idea or not for him to carry the flag and of course he wanted to do that," she said. "So then we created a plan about how to manage that effectively. It's really thinking about how to be a professional going into the games."
The most challenging part of the Games for any athlete is fighting the thought that they just might not win the competion. Werthner said the most important thing is teaching athletes to shift their focus from negativity to what it is they need to do to accomplish their goals.
Werthner, who competed in track and field during the Montreal Olympics in 1976, said the mental pressure is more intense these days because of an increase in media attention.
"I think the pressure of competing in the Olympics has always been the same but there's way more media now watching the Olympics so there's probably more pressure from that perspective," she said.
Bloom, who also works with a number of athletes who have headed to the Olympics, said it's extremely important to remind athletes that the competition, though overwhelming, is familiar territory.
"They are competing against the some of the best players in the world, are running the same distance," he said. "We remind them their opponents are just as nervous as they are."
While athletes concentrate on game day, Bloom and Werthner said they take that day off.
"Often we'll have meetings the night before to go over and remind them of what they want to be thinking of and the kind of emotional level they want to have," Werthner said.
But for Bloom, the end of the competition doesn't mean the end of his support. Bloom said he always has a post-Olympics meeting with his clients, whether they win or lose the competition.
"During the competition, I have them write in their journals everyday, their thoughts, how they felt..." he said. "It's important so that they can understand all of their highs and lows."
Now that the hype has settled around Klassen's record-winning feat, she is concentrating on training for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. But she's not sure yet if she feels more or less pressure to perform after her 2006 performance.
"I will know closer to the Olympics. I don't feel much pressure now but it will be interesting to see," she said with a chuckle.
