Things are heating up for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.
Randy Starkman had an interesting column in The Star a couple of days ago, in which he says that it's time Canadians differentiated between "medal favourites" and "medal hopefuls."
How right he is.
A good example is the two curling teams. Until the women's team was chosen, and the skip commented on their success, one would have said they were "medal favourites." Same with the men's curling team.
But, both skips have lessened their chances of a gold medal, and possibly any kind of medal. Both skips say that their teams will go to Vancouver ahead of the games "to soak up some of the atmosphere."
If there are two things that sport psychologists agree upon, it is that athletes should not go too far ahead of the start of their event, and definitely should not get involved in the "stuff" of a games.
Going early to see the sights, visit venues, take in the cultural events and get into pin trading are definite NO-NOs.
Let's hope that their psychologists tell them not to be foolish. There are plenty of examples of Canadians faring poorly when they went to "soak up the atmosphere" and enjoy it with their families.
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