Q. What happened in Mikaela Shiffrin’s brain at the Olympics?

A. This question made me laugh aloud. It’s a great question. However, since no one can read another person’s brain, I cannot answer it. There were quite a few surprises at the Beijing Olympics, and there may have been multiple contributors. For example:

• Travel is exhausting—even more so since the COVID pandemic. There are more than 24 time zones on Planet Earth. It has been said that it may take the brain a day to adjust to each time zone passed through. There are energy and brain-function consequences until this adjustment is made.

• Due to COVID, some athletes were quarantined in a hotel room upon arrival in Beijing because they had been exposed, while others were quarantined because they actually became sick. It can be demoralizing to be virtually alone and sick. Either way, they missed practice time.

• On at least one of the parallel races, the “blue” track seemed to be faster than the “red” track. When winning is calculated in hundredths (if not thousandths) of a second, that can make a difference.

• Family and close friends could not attend many of competitions. For some athletes, the lack of their dedicated support on site, and in most cases no crowds of enthusiastic observers, may have played a part. Remember, the brain is a relational brain and can become energized by “crowd energy.”

• Most brains and bodies have ups and downs in terms not only of hormonal fluctuations but also in terms of available energy. Sometimes you can do no wrong and at other times everything seems to coalesce against you. At one time this was attributed to a biorhythm effect. Others have pooh-poohed that. Nevertheless, something is impacting one’s energy.

In Mikaela’s case, you may recall she herself was puzzled as evidenced by comments made in an interview. She talked about “seeing” the missed gate in her head. Rehearsing the mistake in your mind’s eye—and it is so easy to do—gives the subconscious brain a map to follow. It may even think you want it to help you miss the gate. In addition, did you know that doubt can interfere with cerebellum functions?

The cerebellum is an amazing part of the brain. (Its name means “little brain” in Latin). Located toward the back of the brain near the brainstem, it consists of two lobes. Although the cerebellum accounts for only about ten percent (10%) of the brain’s volume, it contains billions and billions of neurons. It plays a role in:

• Balance and posture
• Learning activities involving muscle movement
• Muscle coordination of voluntary movement
• Vision and some other mental functions

Studies have shown that the cerebellum participates in “fear learning.” When you begin to doubt yourself (doubt is a form of fear), this tends to negatively impact the cerebellum and can interfere with its coordination of voluntary muscle movement. My brain’s opinion is that at the level of Olympic competition, doubting oneself may impact the cerebellum just enough to account for some of the unexplained losses.