Cate Campbell’s shortcoming in the Rio Olympics 100m freestyle final was disappointing, but still expected.
I have been a clinical psychologist for the last 10 years, and have worked with my fair share of patients suffering from performance-related anxiety. I don’t pretend to be as experienced as the clinicians working on the Australian swim team, so take this with a grain of salt, but if I were to be presented with a client who presented to me with the symptoms mentioned by Cate in her interviews after the races, I’d say it would be very unlikely for them to ever be able to perform to expectations under pressure.
To help a patient like that, cognitive behavioural therapy is recommended, and treatment would focus on challenging the belief that performance was of paramount importance.
Anxiety results from the belief that this is an all-or-nothing proposition – some people perform well under those circumstances, but some don’t. Psychologists understand, unfortunately, that it is impossible to teach someone who doesn’t thrive under pressure to be taught to thrive under pressure.
They can learn to cope. They can learn to perform. They cannot be taught to revel in that pressure, to process it into something transcendent and to use it to help them to surpass their limits. It is always going to be an impediment for them, whereas for certain others it is the exact opposite.
In every sport, there has existed a ‘great’ remembered not just for their ability, but for their ability to produce their absolute best when it really mattered. It is a kind of bottled lightning.
It can’t be reproduced or taught or trained, and it’s equally as important as the more obvious physical gifts which our elite sportspeople possess.
For someone like Cate, the best you can hope for is to help them to be able to feel that there is no pressure.
You can teach someone who suffers from performance anxiety to cope well enough to perform, but you can’t teach them to peak. They are always going to perform better when the stakes aren’t high. Always.
This is important because the whole nature of the Olympics – the public expectation, the spectacle, once every four years, the media scrutiny – would all work against the therapeutic approach.
To cut a long story short, any progress I could make with a client like Cate would be constantly undone by everyone else in her life saying the exact opposite of what she would need to hear to perform to her potential.
The situation – her anxiety standing on the blocks – wasn’t missed. It simply could not be controlled. There was no way of pretending that this one didn’t matter, that everyone wasn’t expecting the gold, that her life wouldn’t completely change based on the result of that one race.
It was do-or-die. It was the Olympics. By the time she got there, it was already too late to do anything for her.
M
Guest
It was even more heartbreaking watching the extended interview video on Weekend Sunrise, than the initial small grab on seven news. Both Bronte and Cate spoke really well, after Cate's initial breakdown / meltdown. https://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/watch/32458706/cates-olympic-heartbreak/#page1 They both seem like really genuinely nice people who appreciated the opportunity to have gone to another Olympics together and to have all the support they have received. It is also writ large that they are both disappointed in how things turned out in their individual events, but as Bronte said that is down to feeling like she has let down the people around her, that there were all these expectations that weren't met. And what has made it so emotional for both of them, other than the lack of sleep for Cate, is that everyone has been so kind and understanding. I am sure Bronte is beating herself up as well, but she is the ever present strong pillar for Cate to lean on throughout the ups and downs. In the difficult moments, we have seen their sisterly bond and best friends for life really shine. Not all people have that kind of bond with their siblings and these two clearly have a lot of love and time for one another, so that's been heartwarming, and the opposite of all the doom and gloom the critics have been dishing out. Cate clearly was suffering from being overwhelmed prior to the start of the 100m, more than anyone else in that final, by the looks of it. She can perform well at the Olympics in individual events, as evident in 2008, where she managed to relax, forget about what everyone else around her was saying about her possibly winning and won a Bronze medal in the 50m individual, so it may not be an entirely lost cause for her, in the battle to control her nerves prior to racing in the Olympics. However, in Rio that pressure seemed to amp up more than 2008 and 2012. She had also been working with a sports psychologist prior to the Rio Olympics to work on breathing techniques to slow her heart rate down before races, so its not that she was unaware her nerves and anxiety was a problem, and I do agree with the author, there wasn't much more anyone could have done to try to calm her down prior to the 100m final. Her coach tried, her sister tried, the sports psychologist all tried to keep her calm prior to the 100m final, and it was to no avail...Cate barely slept the night before and she has admitted she does not perform well, if she does not get a good night's rest. All these little things worked against her, and became a big giant wall of pain, known as "getting ahead" of herself, knowing if she won, it could be the defining moment in her swimming career. It will be interesting to watch how both Cate and Bronte bounce back and get back in the pool to duke it out with the rest of the world again. For Cate she's got to get a hernia operation to get done, and then recuperate before competing again, and maybe the time off might help refresh her mind, like the shoulder surgery did in 2015. Time off, should help Bronte too, her shoulder, hip and immune system needs the rest (after a year of regular injuries and illnesses) and the break will help refresh her mind as well, before getting back into training and competitions. I'm not sure Cate will fully conquer her nerves if she is ever in the same position as favorite to win an Olympic event, and right now that is a big "if". There is plenty of international competitors vying to be the top women's sprinter come Tokyo, and that may play into the hands of both Campbells if the pressure and expectations is not on them. I hope they both do make the Australian Olympic team in 2020 and perform well, to shut the critics up, but more so, so that they feel they have achieved what they wanted out of their swimming careers. Cate and Bronte are only 24 and 22 years old respectively, and I'm sure they will continue on in the sport for some time yet. Hopefully in time, Cate will not feel so negatively about the Rio Olympics, and what happened in the 100m final, and hopefully Bronte will be able to find that balance in her health to maintain her body in peak condition for another Olympics campaign.
jameswm
Roar Guru
It's similar in athletics, in Australia, but not overseas. For the other 3 years, athletes can compete at Diamond League meets and world champs. Athletics is big in the USA and Europe, even outside Olympic years. Not sure if it's the same with swimming.
jameswm
Roar Guru
It's intetesting. I was a good athlete, and I almost always dished out PBs at Nationals. I was pumped - the competition, the level, the travel as a group and different city, chicks there, all of it, I was always on a high and loved it. That's me. You never know until they are put in a tough position. My oldest after winning state the 1st time realised suddennly he was the favourite, the hunted, and stressed about it at one meet. I remember that meet. He still won and performed near his best though. And I guess he was 10 at the time. But the Olympics is a whole different level. You don't know about that one till it happens, I guess.
Let The One King Rule
Guest
It's one thing I honestly have never understood about Australia, that the swimmers can receive such an overwhelming and crushing interest at the Olympics only to be largely ignored outside of them. I don't know how it'd even be possible to mentally prepare someone for that. There's just no precedent, no test run. There's talk and more talk and then there's the actual experience.
Let The One King Rule
Guest
I originally posted this as a reply in another topic, and it was edited into an article by the Roar staff, with a few lines added - the opening statement, for example. The relevant context can be seen here: http://www.theroar.com.au/2016/08/27/cate-campbell-still-champion/ - the article in question identified the nerves Cate felt in the lead up to her actual swim for sapping her energy and leaving her unfit to perform at her best. In response, Sheek posted that: "The swim team is full psychologists & other support staff. Surely, the coaches must have been aware of Cate’s mindset. Put her in a relay team & she acknowledges herself, she’s fine. But when it’s just her on the blocks for herself, she suffers from anxiety. Somehow that was missed. Then again, maybe they were aware of it but were unable to control the situation." I replied with this article because I don't think anything was missed. It's just that there's not much you can really do when you're dealing with someone who is really adverse to pressure. You can help them to still perform, of course, but they're always going to do better when the stakes aren't high and the result doesn't matter quite as much. Regarding your sons, I'd suggest that it's pretty unlikely that they suffer from the same problem. Running a bad national at 11 and then rebounding to run PBs the next 5 years in a row seems to suggest he has a pretty good handle on the nerves, and it's pretty rare to suffer from performance anxiety and not have it manifest in other areas and aspects of your life. I think you'd notice - most people with performance anxiety rely on friends and family to calm them, in small or big ways, on more occasions than just the biggest of events.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
I reckon the big gap between Nationals and the 'lypmics is the heaviest psychological weight on our big guns. The AOC medal predictions are also very unhelpful. My kids were also swimmers, including national open. The sport is a brutally competitive from top to bottom with outrageous expectations. It's also a tiny, jnsular community of those who "make it" and their sleep deprived coaches and parents. They are largely ignored for 3 and 1/2 years, then BAM! They are Australia's great hope. Poor Cate needs to not punish herself. It's only a game and stuff everyone else.
jameswm
Roar Guru
"if I were to be presented with a client who presented to me with the symptoms mentioned by Cate in her interviews after the races, I’d say it would be very unlikely for them to ever be able to perform to expectations under pressure" Can I ask what was it about Cate that suggested she was someone who doesn't thrive under pressure? Something she said? Her demeanour? I've got a 16yo who's an elite athlete. After Rio, my wife and I discussed whether the same thing could happen to him in the same circumstances. So far. most of the time he does PBs at Nationals, which is the highest level for him. He had a bad Nationals meet once, but he was only 11. He'd gone fine when he was 10! (and has since) We decided he is unlikely to suffer the same anxiety because he just doesn't seem to think about it too much. You could call it being a bit vague, but he's switched on when he has to be. He's always slept well at his biggest meet. My youngest does think about things a lot more, but so far normally does his best when he needs to. Release the pressure, and he's not as good. Maybe we will find out with my oldest one day. He may have an overseas world age meet next year, which would be by far the biggest thing he's done.
Let The One King Rule
Guest
I actually posted this as a reply to another article - if I'd known it was going to be used as an article itself, I'd have proofread it a bit more carefully.
Maggie
Guest
Thanks for this article. Watching several interviews with Cate Campbell after her swims in which she effectively berated herself, I felt concerned for her psychological well-being. I hope she is getting professional support for her self esteem right now. She is a wonderful swimmer - but also appears to be a highly admirable person, daughter and sister, far more important than any gold medals.