How athletes deal with ‘noise’ and find their zone
Bindra took a swig of whisky the night before his Olympic final, Bhaker has turned to journaling and Chopra chooses not to be a stickler for pre-event rituals
New Delhi/Paris: It’s a well-worn story but worth a quick retelling. The night before his Olympic final in Beijing, Abhinav Bindra, nervous and unable to sleep, gulped down some whiskey and shot a historic gold the next day.
The Indian contingent officially kick-starts their campaign in Paris on Saturday. All their training, conditioning, pep talks, every insight accrued over the years to shut out the proverbial outside ‘noise’ will be put to the test. While whiskey might sound tempting, it might not be the prescribed solution.
“The best way to deal with the pressure and the outside noise is to stop fighting it. Just accept it and you’ll be fine,” Bindra says.
Manu Bhaker agrees. Three years ago at the Tokyo Games, her dream turned into a nightmare. This time she’s chosen an approach that lets her slip into the zone rather than forcing herself into it.
“Last time, I remember going into a shell before the Olympics. I went silent on social media, avoided people, and blocked out as much outside noise as possible,” she said. “But this time, I have been doing the same things that I do all through the year. I am more relaxed. I am not telling myself, ‘do this, do that,’” she said. It includes playing the violin to relax her mind, writing down her thoughts in a journal, and reading.
Music is fellow pistol shooter Rhythm Sangwan’s favourite ally too. On the range, until she gets to the firing station, Sangwan has Bollywood or Punjabi music playing in her ears, to shut out the noise. “It helps me find my zone. I might even curate a playlist for Paris,” she joked before leaving for the Games.
In March, when HT caught up with boxer Nikhat Zareen at NIS Patiala, the 50kg pugilist spoke of staying off social media until the Paris Games.
“It’s better to avoid distractions. Post Asian Games, I have cut down on my public appearances and I will soon disappear from social media too. Paris is my sole focus,” she had said. In the weeks leading up to the Games, Nikhat switched off her phone. “Closer to Games, it will just be me and my Apple Music. I also play games. Sessions with my psychologist help too,” she said.
Athletes are creatures of habit. Pre-match idiosyncrasies, after years of repetition, become rituals. In his autobiography, Rafael Nadal writes about how his mandatory pre-match cold shower helped him “enter a new space in which I feel my power and resilience grow.”
The “flow state”, where athletes let their skills take over irrespective of the clamour outside and within, helps them stay in the moment.
“Staying in the moment is how you shut out the noise. Embrace the moment rather than succumb to it because a night before the final, all the talk about confidence and technique goes out of the window,” Bindra says.
“South Africa lost the T20 World Cup final after needing 30 runs off 30 balls. Probably they started thinking too far ahead. Had they stayed in the moment and taken one ball at a time, they would have got to the total. In Beijing, my great ability was the ability to stay in the moment. While there was intense pressure on that last shot, I also had a very clear plan because I had rehearsed that last shot a million times in my head.”
Not everyone is a fan of rituals. Reigning Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra has never trained in India since winning his Tokyo gold. While climate and logistics are some of the reasons, cutting the outside noise was a major factor too.
The 26-year-old is not a big believer of rituals being set in stone. His two-member core team — physiotherapist Ishaan Marwaha and coach Klaus Bartonietz — makes sure he stays in the right space before every competition. The trio shifted base from Saarbrucken in Germany to Turkey’s Antalya in the first week of July to stay away from the hordes of athletes who had congregated in the south-western German city for training. Neeraj is learnt to have cut himself off completely as his bid for title defence hits the home stretch.
“Neeraj feels over-reliance on a particular routine can be counterproductive because you won’t find that curated atmosphere all the time. What if you don’t get to do your rituals on the competition day? You’ll be off your rhythm, the outside noise will get louder, and your performance may take a hit,” says Marwaha.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu loved the peace and quiet of Saarbrucken in the weeks leading up to the Olympics. “Prakash (Padukone) sir, and we all discussed and thought, it would be a good place. It is near Paris, in the middle of nowhere. I can focus better,” Sindhu said in a media interaction arranged by SAI in June. Whatever their preferred method, come the big day, athletes’ ability to deal with the ‘noise’ and find their zone will count for everything.
