Just 5 years ago in the countries of the post-Soviet space it was very rare to hear the phrase “I go to a psychologist” from a colleague or friend. Today, fortunately, this is no longer the case seems crazy, but you can increasingly hear about the importance of taking care of your mental health not only from scientists, but also from popular personalities: actors, musicians, bloggers, etc. What about athletes? But here everything is not so rosy. In the world of Russian sports, there is still a high probability of encountering the impenetrable opinion “a coach is the best psychologist.” Therefore, it seemed important to me to give several examples of famous athletes who openly say that they resort to the help of a psychologist. DANIIL MEDVEDEV The tennis player became known to the general public in 2019, having, to put it mildly, spent a very successful season: the final at the US Open, 2 titles at “Masters” and, as a result, top 4 ratings. Naturally, with this success came the need to participate in numerous programs and interviews. It was then that we learned that Medvedev was working with a psychologist and this work was helping him. Here are a few quotes from Daniil’s interview: “What I try to work on for a long time is so that a piece of temperament remains, which gives the will to win and motivation, but at the same time, so that it does not ruin you at some point in the match, in a difficult moment , where maybe you get angry about something in vain. I have been working for almost three years with a psychologist in Europe. In English it is called mental coach. I believe that this work helps me (sports.ru). “Does working with a psychologist help me? Of course, one hundred percent. Could I have won a major without her? It’s no longer possible to answer” (gotennis.ru) Question from a Eurosport.ru subscriber: “How do you learn to cope with emotions?” D.M.’s answer: “My psychologist helps me with this. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Plus I try to improve To work with yourself. In fact, it is very important to change some approach in life, so that later on the court there will be less emotions. I’m trying to cope with it so far” (Eurosport.ru) OLE EINAR BJORNDALENNorwegian biathlete is a multiple Olympic champion and without a doubt. can bear the title of sports legend. Bjoerndalen is also known for the fact that he was at the top for a long time, being already a very old athlete. Needless to say, he won gold at the Sochi Olympics when he was 40 years old! What helped him for so long and so successfully. perform at the highest level and endure long months of grueling training? One of the components of his success, of course, should be considered long-term work with a psychologist. Bjoerndalen first turned to a psychologist for help back in 1996, working with him since then both in the offseason and in the offseason. during the starts. Oyvind Hammer, a psychologist of the eminent biathlete, not only conducted remote consultations, but also often traveled with him during the season: “We are always in touch with Ole,” Hammer noted. “Even when he leaves for training camp, we communicate on the phone and solve all problems. We're fixing some things and clearing out some space in our heads. The good thing is that negative thoughts can almost be thrown out of your head. What we do now is different from our previous activities in that we work very hard with hard physical training. We are trying to make mental training as close as possible to what actually happens during a race” (Source: sportbox.ru). Interestingly, Bjoerndalen even had to publicly deal with stereotypical thinking regarding the possibility of athletes turning to a psychologist. A Swedish journalist once said to the biathlete that “only losers use the services of psychologists.” To which Bjoerndalen replied: “Since only losers need psychologists, then the Swedes’ results should be better. Still, with the help of a psychologist, I have already won four gold medals. Many people think that psychologists are needed only to provide appropriate assistance. And they are the same.