I wrote earlier this year about a Swiss study that (with apologies to Yogi Berra) suggested that cycling up a mountain is 77% physical and 23% mental. There are numerous reasons to view those numbers with extreme skepticism, but one in particular stood out to me: there is no consensus on which mental traits or skills contribute to athletic success. The Swiss study assessed five potential psychological factors, including mental toughness and self-compassion, using questionnaires. But what else could they have missed?

This is the underlying question of an ambitious new paper published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology (free to read here). Own the Podium, a Canadian non-profit whose mission is to propel Canadian athletes to Olympic medals, assembled a group of six elite sports psychologists in 2019 to develop "The Gold Medal Profile for Sport Psychology," or GMP-SP. Their mission was to synthesise the vast and expanding literature on sports psychology and create a definitive list of the mental skills that distinguish the good from the great, as well as how to develop them.

The new paper is a condensed version of the report that the group, led by Natalie Durand-Bush of the University of Ottawa, presented to the governing bodies of Canadian sports in 2020. It outlines eleven "mental performance competencies" that contribute to optimising athletic performance and maintaining mental health. It is by no means the first attempt to summarise the psychological components of peak performance, but the field continues to develop: the GMP-SP is the first to include mental health as an explicit objective, and it includes characteristics such as resilience that have received considerable research attention in recent years.

Without further ado, here is the graphical representation of the GMP-SP, depicting the three categories and eleven competencies with numerous arrows and intricate geometric symbolism:

The first category, which is highlighted in gold because it is the most important, consists of the core competencies that underpin all the others:

The significance of motivation is fairly obvious, and studies such as this one have shown that, for example, among fencers and long-distance runners, those who are more highly motivated are willing to train harder and ultimately achieve higher performance levels. But not all types of motivation are equal: in many contexts, intrinsic motivation is more enduring than extrinsic motivation.

I cannot help but recall Eliud Kipchoge's response when asked how he would approach the "impossible" task of running a marathon in under two hours: "Thinking is the only distinction," he said. "You believe it is impossible, but I believe it is possible." Numerous studies have linked what sports psychologists refer to as self-efficacy — the belief that you are capable of achieving a given performance — to athletic success. There is a bit of a chicken-and-egg conundrum here, but it seems clear that greater confidence is a prerequisite for success.

In the 2015 Berlin Marathon, Kipchoge's shoe insoles began to separate before he reached the halfway point. Still, he triumphed, his insoles flapping in the wind like miniature wings, in one of the fastest times ever recorded. In sports, as in life, setbacks are inevitable, and you must be able to recover without hesitation.

Silver represents the second category, self-regulation. Consider sport to be a giant Marshmallow Test, both in the immediate crucible of competition and in the larger context of adhering to a rigorous training regimen as opposed to lazing on the couch. These are the necessary ingredients:

Self-awareness: 

In order to manage stress, regulate emotion, and focus your attention (the other three skills in this category), you must first be able to identify your current psychological state and what it should be when you're in the zone. G.I. Joe was correct: understanding is half the battle.

Managing stress: 

attempting to win the Olympics is stressful. There may be ways to alleviate some of these stresses, such as flying first-class to make frequent travel less burdensome. However, what we're discussing here is how you react to these inevitable stresses. Do you view the butterflies in your stomach prior to a race as a sign of fear or as a sign of excitement?

Regulation of emotion and arousal:

 How many butterflies should you have in your stomach before a race? There is no correct response. Instead, sports psychologists discuss "individual optimal functioning zones." Some individuals perform better at higher arousal levels than others, and the same individual may require different levels in different situations. Regardless of where your sweet spot is, you need tools, such as deep breathing, to adjust the dial up or down.

Attentional control: 

To perform well, you must be able to concentrate on what is important. What are the proper actions? That depends. Focusing on your running form can decrease your running efficiency, and in general, an external focus is preferable when learning and performing physical movements. To run a good marathon, you must pay close attention to your internal state, such as how your breathing feels and how your legs are performing. In other words, you must be able to adjust your focus based on the situation, while filtering out all other potential distractions.

The last (bronze) category is interpersonal competencies, which pertain to your interactions with others. It is obvious in team sports, but it also applies to your interactions with coaches and training partners in individual sports (and, for elite athletes, with therapists and sponsors and administrators and so on). Relationship between athlete and coach, leadership, teamwork, and communication are the four competencies. They are all significant, but there is nothing unexpected to say about them.

Durand-Bush and her colleagues include a simple rubric to assess an athlete's performance in each of these 11 competencies. The athlete assigns a rating from one (novice) to three (advanced) for each competency; the coach or sport psychologist does the same. Then, they include any brief observations, recommended strategies for advancing to the next level, and a priority ranking. Periodically completing this assessment provides insight into where you lack gold-medal qualities and how well you're closing the gaps.

A few interesting omissions exist within the framework. Not included are some of the most common sports psychology techniques, such as goal-setting, imagery, and self-talk. All of these are categorised as "subsidiary competencies" that can be utilised to supplement the 11 chosen competencies. Motivational self-talk ("You can do it!") can increase motivation and self-confidence, while procedural self-talk ("Follow through with your wrist") can direct attentional control. In addition, the authors highlight some sport- or domain-specific skills, including decision-making for team sports, pain management for endurance sports, fear management for speed sports, and creativity for aesthetic sports.

I believe it's safe to say that this is not the final psychological answer to the question of what it takes to own the podium. However, it is an intriguing starting point. Numerous of these characteristics are measurable via validated psychological questionnaires. What happens if you distribute these questionnaires to a group of developing athletes, then wait a few years to determine which ones are successful? What, if anything, is this framework capable of predicting? I don't know the answer, but for the record, Canada matched its best-ever medal haul (excluding the boycotted 1984 Olympics) at the Summer Olympics last year, and its second-best haul at the Winter Olympics this year.