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At 16:00 Beijing time on August 6, the men's table tennis team 1/8 finals of the Paris Olympics, the Chinese men's table tennis team composed of Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Wang Chuqin, and Liang Jingkun (substitute P card) will take the stage and will face the Indian team in the first round.

According to CCTV5's "Sports Morning Post" program, in preparation for the men's team competition, Wang Chuqin deliberately took out two rackets during training and practiced offense and defense alternately. Qin Zhijian also communicated with Wang Chuqin from time to time.

Wang Chuqin deliberately took out two rackets during training. Video screenshot Source: CCTV5 "Sports Morning Post"

Screenshot of Wang Chuqin's training video Source: CCTV5 "Sports Morning Post"

Earlier, after Wang Chuqin and his partner Sun Yingsha won the mixed doubles championship, his racket was accidentally stepped on by a photographer on the scene, which resulted in him having to use a secondary racket in the men's singles match the next day. In that match, Wang Chuqin lost to Moregard unexpectedly and unfortunately stopped in the top 32. In the end, Fan Zhendong won the gold medal in the men's singles table tennis at the Paris Olympics, and Moregard, who defeated Wang Chuqin, won the silver medal.

In the latest ITTF world rankings updated on August 6, Wang Chuqin still ranks first in the world with 7925 points, Fan Zhendong rose two places to second, and Moregard rose 16 places to tenth.

Wang Chuqin ranked first. Source: @WTT World Table Tennis Federation

Wang Hao, head coach of the Chinese men's table tennis team, talked about the men's team competition and said: "Next is the team competition. Everyone will play and work together to make an effort for the final team. Maybe everyone is a little excited and happy after the singles, but we will soon prepare for the team competition. Everyone is holding back their energy, and I hope everyone can work together."

In addition, in the women's table tennis team event which started on the evening of the 5th, the Chinese team defeated the Egyptian team 3-0 and advanced to the quarterfinals.

Further reading:

Is Wang Chuqin's elimination related to the change of racket? China Association for Science and Technology official microblog

On July 31, Beijing time, in the men's singles table tennis competition at the Paris Olympics, China's "top seed" player Wang Chuqin lost 2-4 to Swedish player Moregaard, and was eliminated unexpectedly, failing to reach the top 16, which sparked heated public discussion.

On July 31, Wang Chuqin served during the match. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Dongzhen

Previously, Wang Chuqin's racket was stepped on and broken in public during the mixed doubles gold medal match live broadcast. This unexpected elimination has caused relevant discussions on various social media.

Screenshot of Weibo hot search

Although Wang Chuqin himself responded that "changing the racket is not a reason for losing",But from a psychologist's point of view, even if the secondary racket and the main racket are physically exactly the same, the psychological impact of changing rackets should not be ignored.

How do psychological factors affect athletes' performance?

American social psychologist Zajonc believes that in social situations, the "presence" of others may arouse individuals' awareness of being evaluated by others.

In other words, when there are many spectators watching the game, athletes will realize that others are scrutinizing them and will unconsciously pay attention to their own behavior and performance, which is manifested in two different effects: one is "social inhibition" and the other is "social facilitation."

1. Distraction is an important cause of social inhibition effect

Distraction, that is, the dispersion of attention, has relatively little impact on short-distance and long-distance running events that rely more on the athlete's physical fitness rather than attention resources. For example, the famous sprinter Bolt can still turn his head to look at others while sprinting.

In the men's 100m final of the Olympics, Bolt created the famous scene of "looking back at the moon". Source: Internet

But table tennis is different. It requires more precise movements and tactical games, and requires quick and accurate judgment and decision-making. In table tennis matches, caring about "spectators" will have a greater negative impact.Because distraction may lead to insufficient cognitive resources, thereby reducing the quality of decision-making. For example, when facing an incoming ball, should you pull the ball or slice the ball, should you play it short or hit it from behind, technical movement deformation may be inevitable.

Let me give you an example that is easy for everyone to relate to. When we take an exam, if the invigilator is standing behind us and watching us, we will feel that our thinking is disturbed, which will affect our answers. Some people can't even write a single word, and the teacher will misunderstand that they are "guilty" and want to cheat. This is actually a typical example of "social inhibition".

Although Olympic-level athletes are accustomed to the attention of the audience, this is probably the first time that an athlete has encountered "the whole world watching their racket being stepped on and broken" - they are not mentally prepared for it.In a sense, the more you think about “I can’t let the racket control my performance” and “I can’t let my opponent feel that I’m being influenced”, the more susceptible you are to the psychological implications of these negative thoughts.

Wang Chuqin's racket was stepped on and he told his coach that he wanted to complain. Source: CCTV Video

When discussing this incident, some people will cite Zhang Yining's case, believing that she could have won the match even though she was forced to change her racket temporarily. However, in terms of "being noticed", the two incidents are completely different: in the previous case, neither Zhang Yining's opponent nor the audience knew about the "racket change". Zhang Yining herself also said, "I can't let my opponent see that I am particularly dissatisfied with this racket."

Therefore, in terms of mentality and momentum, Zhang Yining was not "overwhelmed". But Wang Chuqin's racket was broken during a live broadcast to the world, which is impossible to disguise, and it is difficult to guarantee that his mentality will not be affected by it.

2. “Caring about winning” and “worrying about losing” are also more likely to lead to the “social inhibition” effect

In 2019, several sports scientists from Ukraine interviewed high-level athletes and found that the primary factors affecting athletes' performance include motivation and willpower.

The figure shows the comprehensive index of the main psychological factors that affect athletes' competitive activities. Source: Reference [1]

Motivation is easy to understand, whether you have a strong desire to win. Willpower represents whether an individual can break through himself, overcome difficulties, control emotions, etc.

Athletes must have a desire to win, otherwise what is the point of competing. However, if you have an overly strong mentality of "wanting to win but afraid of losing", it actually takes up a lot of cognitive resources and psychological energy.

American psychologists Robert M. Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson proposed the Yerkes-Dodson curve in 1908. The curve states that people perform best under moderate levels of stress or excitement, and as stress or excitement levels increase, performance will first improve, reach an optimal point, and then gradually decline.

in other words,To achieve good results, there should be no pressure at all, i.e. the motivation to win is impossible, but if the motivation level is too strong, it can also hinder behavior and performance.

The figure shows the pressure response curve. Source: Reference [2]

The most classic example of poor performance due to excessive motivation levels in sports is the "Jansen effect." Athlete Dan Jansen performed very well in normal training, but frequently failed in important competitions - this was because of high pressure and high expectations that led to poor performance.

We must have experienced this in our lives. When faced with a major event, we want to perform well and repeatedly remind ourselves not to be disturbed by external factors, but our minds go blank, our thoughts become confused, and our hands and hands shake. In fact, this is a physiological change caused by emotions - stress causes the HPA axis to be overactivated, blood flows to the limbs, the muscle tension of the limbs increases, and the brain is deprived of blood.

This is why the national shooting team now has to do mindfulness training to regulate emotions before and during the game. Because of the high requirements for fine movements, the hand state cannot be affected by emotions and mentality, such as hand tremors.

Speaking of this, do you think of the phenomenon that many table tennis players will blow air at the ping-pong ball, go to the corner to touch the table, and turn the racket before serving?

Many netizens joked that "this is blowing fairy air" and "laying a magic barrier", but in fact,From a psychological perspective, this is also a form of mindfulness training, pulling thoughts back from the perspective of a "spectator" to the present and immersing oneself in the flow state of playing basketball.

Fan Zhendong blows air into the racket. Source: Internet

In competitions between high-level athletes, psychological factors are the key to victory

Many times we always linearly link competition results with strength (competitive level, ability, etc.), but in major competitions we have seen too many "dark horses" emerge, and some of the top ranked teams in the world have stumbled - in psychology, this is called the "choking phenomenon."

Among them, the most impressive is the American star Emmons, who missed the Olympic shooting gold medal twice. The reason behind this is actually psychological factors.

On August 14, 2016, Emmons ranked 19th in the men's 50m rifle three-position shooting preliminaries at the Rio Olympics and missed the final. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cao Can

As early as the 1970s, management psychologists realized the difference between "Can do" and "Will do" in employee performance - "Can do" is a question of ability, "Will do" is a question of attitude, and thus proposed a formula:

Performance = ability x motivation。

That is, the work performance of employees is related to their actual ability and work attitude (motivation). This formula is still valid in sports scenarios. Competitive sports are not only a competition of ability, but also a competition of mentality, especially for high-level athletes.

American psychologist Korari also pointed out that the success of junior athletes in competitions depends 80% on physiological factors and 20% on psychological factors. However, it is just the opposite for senior athletes.When athletes' training levels, physical fitness and other physiological conditions are very close, psychological factors become the key to victory.

Those who can participate in the Olympics must be the best in different sports fields of various countries. Most of their abilities are on par with each other (except for Bolt's cliff-like lead). What they really compete in the arena may be attitude, motivation, and emotional stability, such as how to deal with anxiety, worry, anger, despair, etc.

Orlick's (2002) study of Canadian Olympic athletes showed that the differences in technical and physical factors among athletes in the Olympic finals did not reach a significant level, but there were significant differences in psychological state, which would have an important impact on the athletes' participation.

In a table tennis match, the number of balls in each game is different, and the score changes are very complicated. For example, there may be a big lead, a big deficit, consecutive scores, consecutive losses, consecutive losses after a big lead, consecutive scores after a big deficit, etc., which poses a more severe challenge to the athletes' mentality.

Summarize

As the highest honor in competitive sports, the gold medal has great symbolic significance and motivational effect for athletes, but for competitive sports, uncertainty is an important part of its charm.

It is this uncertainty in the game results, game process, athlete status, and even referee decisions, weather, venue and audience status that not only increases the viewing and attractiveness of the game, but also promotes the all-round development of athletes and the improvement of their competitive level.

We hope that Wang Chuqin can quickly adjust to his state and devote himself to the next game. We also hope that every athlete facing the dilemma of "being watched" can adjust to their state and perform at their best.