What the Olympic Games Teach Us About Performing Under Pressure

Every time the Olympics arrive, we witness something extraordinary.

Athletes who have spent decades refining their craft step into an environment where the margins are microscopic and the consequences feel immense. We see brilliance, heartbreak, resilience, and moments that seem almost impossible to explain.

From the outside, it can look like magic or tragedy.

From the inside, it is often something more precise.

It is a question of access.

Because at the Olympic level, ability is not in doubt. Strength has been built. Technique has been rehearsed thousands of times. Strategy is known. Preparation has occurred.

Yet when pressure, uncertainty, and expectation rise, something subtle but powerful can shift.

The athlete may still possess every ounce of their capability — but their ability to reach it can change.

When the Moment Gets Loud

Large competitive environments alter human systems.

Heart rate climbs. Breathing patterns adjust. Muscle tone increases. Vision and attention reorganize themselves in response to perceived importance and potential threat.

None of this is wrong. In fact, it is the body doing exactly what it was designed to do.

But these changes can influence timing, feel, and decision-making. Movements that were fluid can become effortful. Awareness can either narrow too tightly or drift too wide. Choices that were instinctive may begin to feel delayed.

To the viewer, it appears that performance disappeared.

In reality, availability did.

Pressure Functions Like Load

In training, athletes understand progressive overload. Add more weight than the system can currently manage and technique breaks down.

Pressure works the same way.

The Olympic stage introduces layers of load: visibility, finality, identity, history, expectation from others, expectation from self.

If an athlete has not practiced functioning with that amount of intensity in their system, access to skill can erode.

Not because they are weak.

Because they are human.

What You’re Really Seeing When Someone Looks Calm

We often label certain competitors as mentally strong or naturally composed.

But calm is rarely accidental.

More often, it reflects an athlete who has gradually expanded how much activation they can feel without losing coordination, awareness, or trust in their training.

They still experience nerves. Their heart still races. The moment still matters.

What’s different is that those sensations no longer push them outside their ability to function.

The Layer Beneath Outcome

Mental performance training focuses on the mechanisms underneath execution.

We look at how attention behaves when intensity rises. How physiology escalates and recovers. How perception interprets what is happening. How decisions are made in motion.

These are not personality traits.

They are trainable patterns.

As they stabilize, performance becomes more repeatable. And when repeatability grows, something important begins to appear on its own.

Confidence.

Not as a slogan or a demand, but as the natural result of knowing your skills remain available in difficult moments.

The Question the Olympics Quietly Ask

The Games are not simply asking who is talented.

They are asking:

Can you still access your talent here?

Inside this noise. Under this expectation. With everything that feels attached to the outcome.

Ability is built.

Availability is trained.

We build the skill and train it to hold when the moment gets loud.

When athletes prepare this way, the stage becomes a place of expression rather than survival.

If you’re interested in developing that kind of preparation, that is the work we do every day inside our private coaching programs and The Athlete Within app.

Stay steady.

Kate

About: Kate Allgood is educated in the field of applied sport psychology. She holds two Masters degrees in psychology where she graduated with distinction. After a very successful hockey career, she has spent the past 14 years working one on one with high school, college, Olympic, and professional athletes to help them with their mindset, mental performance and mental skills training. Kate has also been a consultant for professional teams, including the Anaheim Ducks primary minor league affiliate the San Diego Gulls, to help the team and players develop their mental game. It is important to note that while Kate has graduate school training in applied sport psychology and general psychology, she does not diagnose or treat clinical disorders, and is not a licensed psychologist. 

**The information provided is not to dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique, either directly or indirectly, as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems, without the advice of a physician. The information provided is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for high performance. If you know or suspect you have a health problem, it is recommended you seek your physician's advice.

Frequently Asked Questions About Performing Under Pressure

Why do elite athletes struggle under pressure?

At the highest levels of sport, ability is rarely the issue. What changes is access. When pressure, uncertainty, and expectation rise, the nervous system reorganizes. Attention can narrow, muscles can tighten, and decision timing can shift. If those reactions exceed what the athlete has practiced managing, performance may temporarily degrade even though skill remains intact.

Can mental performance really be trained?

Yes. Attention control, physiological regulation, perception, and decision habits are patterns. Patterns can be practiced, measured, and improved. Over time, athletes increase the amount of intensity they can experience without losing connection to their training.

Is this the same as building confidence?

Not exactly. Confidence is usually the result of something more fundamental: reliable access to skill. When athletes repeatedly experience themselves staying functional in difficult environments, belief grows naturally. We focus on building the reliability first.

Why do some athletes seem naturally calm?

What appears natural is often developed.

Many composed competitors have gradually expanded their tolerance for activation. They still feel nerves and importance, but those sensations no longer push them outside their ability to execute.

What happens in the body when pressure increases?

Arousal rises. Heart rate and breathing change. Muscles prepare for action. Attention reorganizes toward potential threat or error. These responses are normal and useful — unless they become so strong that coordination and judgment are disrupted.

How do you train access to hold under pressure?

We help athletes understand how their individual system reacts. From there we train faster recovery, steadier attention, clearer perception, and stronger decision, trust. The goal is not to eliminate intensity. It is to function effectively inside it.

Who is this training for?

Some athletes already have strong capacity but lose availability in big moments. Others need to develop deeper skill foundations. The work we do supports both — building ability and protecting access as demand rises.