Athletes' game-time concentration is legendary â but what should they be focusing on? Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP via Getty Images
How do you get to the Olympics? Practice, practice, practice ⦠but also know what to concentrate on during the heat of competition.
How fast someone runs, swims or rows; how high or long they jump; how accurately they hit a target; how well they balance; or how much weight they can lift depends to a significant extent on where they focus their attention.
Iâm a sport scientist who for decades has studied how people learn motor skills. In the late 1990s I began examining how a performerâs focus of attention influences learning.