Seoul, September 1988.
Matt Biondi was six foot seven, he held the world record in the 100 metres freestyle, and the press had been comparing him with Mark Spitz and his seven gold medals.
His first final was the 200 metres freestyle. He finished third. One broadcaster said he had settled for bronze.
His second was the 100 metres butterfly. He turned first. Anthony Nesty of Suriname was fifth at halfway, nearly half a second down, and then came home faster than anyone in the pool. Near the wall Biondi found himself between strokes, and instead of taking one more he glided in. Nesty touched first.
53.00 to 53.01.
One hundredth of a second.
The papers began asking what had gone wrong with Biondi, and whether he could bounce back from a setback on that stage.
A team of researchers back in the United States was not worried. They had already tested him.
The year before, they had studied the Berkeley team he trained with. The swimmers each raced their best event flat out, and the coaches then gave every one of them a false time, slower than the real one by between a second and a half and five seconds, depending on the distance. Half an hour later, they raced it again.
Some swam slower. Others held their time or went faster.
The difference had been measured at the start of the season, on a questionnaire about how each swimmer explained bad events. Biondi had scored in the top quarter of the team for optimism.
He had five races left in Seoul. He won all five.
Every swimmer got the same bad news. What they told themselves about it shaped the next swim.
THE STORY YOU TELL AFTERWARDS
Every setback arrives with an explanation attached. You rarely notice choosing it. It turns up on the drive home, fully formed, sounding like fact.
Researchers who have spent decades on this sort the explanations along three lines.
How long it lasts. "I always choke in finals" against "I misjudged the finish today."
How far it spreads. "Nothing I try works out" against "That was one race, in one stroke."
What it says about you. "I am not a winner" against "I glided when I should have taken another stroke."
PERMANENT. EVERYWHERE. CHARACTER.
The research calls it permanent, pervasive and personal. You know it as the voice on the drive home.
That explanation tells you the second try is pointless, so you give it less, and it goes worse. Then the explanation looks proven.
The other one, temporary, local and fixable, hands you a job for the next swim.
Both describe the same race. One leaves you a verdict. The other leaves you work.
That is why some people get over a bad race in an evening and others carry it into the next one.
In the swimming study, the pessimists' second swims came in about one and a half percent slower. In a race that lasts fifty seconds, that is most of a second. Biondi lost an Olympic final by a hundredth.
This content is only available to subscribers
Subscribe now and have access to all our stories, enjoy exclusive content and stay up to date with constant updates.
Unlock contentAlready have an account? Sign In
