Olympic Features: Mind Games

The winning mindset

Two decades later sports psychologists and techniques to manage pressure and adversity are very much a part of the regime for any elite athlete.

Last Updated: Thursday, January 7, 2010 | 5:19 PM ET

Nancy Wilson, CBC Sports

Team Canada sports psychologist Peter Jensen. Frank Gunn/Canadian Press

"Mind Games" is a special series of interviews done by Nancy Wilson of CBC News Network. You can watch them every Saturday morning. She talks to past and current athletes, coaches & sports psychologists to explore the heart and head of a champion.

What's not to like about Olympians? They're talented, they're accomplished, they're driven by their passion. What's more, they have dreams, struggles, day jobs. In short, they're real and they're interesting.

My interest in Oympic athletes really began 20 years ago, when I was covering the Calgary Olympics.

About a month before the games, I interviewed one of Canada's brightest medal hopes, Brian Orser. He talked candidly about the pressure and how a sports psychologist was helping him deal with pre-Olympic nerves through visualization and other techniques. Wow! This was a complete revelation to me. I'd never really thought about the importance of mental fitness and 20 years ago, not a lot of people were talking about it publicly. Two decades later, sports psychologists, and techniques to manage pressure and adversity are very much a part of the regime for any elite athlete.

Braun and brainpower go hand in hand, to be a world-class athlete. With Canada hosting the Winter Games for a second time, I wanted to explore what we've learned about the winning mindset.

"Mind Games" is all about that: we talk to past and current athletes, coaches & sports psychologists, to explore the heart and head of a champion.

The exploration starts with the sports psychologist who worked with Brian Orser back in 1988. Peter Jensen has spent more than two decades working with Olympians. This will be his seventh Olympic games and right now, he's working with the Canadian women's hockey team.

What constitutes the winning mindset? According to Jensen, it comes down to four basic things: imagery, perspective, time management and focus. It's that simple and it's that complicated.