What makes a champion?

[SydneyRover]

It gets discussed a fair bit so I thought I'd post this myth buster I came across. It's from 2016 just before the Rio Games but still valid.

Senior Lecturer in skill acquisition and sports psychology at the University of Sydney, Dr Steve Cobley, said it can be hard to distinguish fact from fiction when it comes to influences on sporting success.

“Research in the sports sciences is relatively new when considered against the history of sport, but we have come a long way in understanding factors that impact athlete development and elite performance,” said Dr Cobley, author of Talent Identification and Development in Sport.

Myth #1: It’s all in the genes

Myth #2: You need to specialise early

Myth #3: Practice makes perfect

Myth #4: Relative age matters

Myth #5: Failure comes at a price

https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2016/07/28/what-makes-a-champion--busting-5-common-myths.html

Note, I have put the myths up so if you want you can test yourself before you look at what is said about them.

[tyke1962]

Dedication , simple as that .

Steve Redgrave out on the river at 6am every morning very often when the temperature is minus 5 in the middle of winter , straight to the gym to lift weights for two or three hours and then sticking religiously to nutritional diets and liquids .

The hours that Andy Murray put in not only on a tennis court but in the gym and on a running track .

I once watched a documentary where he went over to Miami every January , he ran 10 400 mtrs with a breather in between of one minute and the temperature standing at 80 degrees .

Olympic Gold Medals and Wimbledon titles are earned where nobody is watching you .

[tyke1962]

I once read an interview given by former Arsenal right back Lee Dixon .

The Arsenal players of the late 80's and early 90's absolutely hated George Graham .

That famous Arsenal back four didn't just happen , George Graham had them on that training ground every single day until early evening , in the winter time it was getting dark and they were still out there until Graham was happy with the session .

Repetition , repetition and more repetition until they perfected that back four in to giving absolutely nowt away , it went on for months and months .

Dixon doesn't hate him now of course with the league winners medals and FA cups he won plus the England caps .

You look back at that Arsenal back four of Dixon , Adams , Bould and Winterburn and none of them were really anything special , we aren't talking Maldini and Baresi here .

Just sheer dedication and hard work turned them in to the meanest defence of that era .