Scientists around the world strive to increase athletic performance through brain manipulation. An Arte documentation on the topic before the Olympics. The TV review.
Over the years, new records have been set in top-class sport time and again. At some point, however, human capabilities will be exhausted. A question of physique, provided that the use of bioelectronics and genetic engineering is excluded. Neuroscientists, however, still see potential. Not in further muscle building or the like, but in stimulating the brain.
The authors Jean-Marc Sigot and Jean-Yves Cauchard have visited training and research facilities around the world to document the current state of knowledge. Your film begins in Paris at the Institut National du Sport, de l’Expertise et de la Performance (INSEP), the scene of the French preparations for the Olympic Games. Not only do supervisors, sports attendants and physiotherapists work here, there is also a department for digital development and innovation that deals with mental training, among other things.
“Think Gold – Mental Training in Top Sport” on Arte: Feelings are no longer forbidden
A role model can be found in Marseille in the swimming club Cercle des Nageurs de Marseille, which has been employing a mental trainer with Thomas Sammut for more than ten years. A personality that has paid off in the form of over thirty Olympic medals. Sammut describes the change of heart in top-class sport. In the past, everything was aimed at suppressing emotions – which is not without reason reminiscent of military drill. The Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault is a representative of this old Darwinian school. His view: “The champion is a tiger. The others are sheep. They are there to be eaten. “
“Think Gold – Mental Training in Top Sport”
Arte, Saturday, July 17th, at 9.45 p.m. Alternative available in the Arte media library.
Sammut, on the other hand, says: “Feelings are important.” If you can control them in the desired sense. Using the example of the successful swimmer Florent Manaudou – among other things, winner of a gold medal at the Olympic Games in London – Sammut’s mental training method is illustrated.
The Arte report “Think Gold – Mental Training in Top Sport” shows the fight against pain
The filmmakers also worked in Los Angeles, Lyon, Montreal, Boston, Potsdam and San Francisco. In these cities, neurological interrelationships are examined at universities or other institutes, experiments are carried out and the relevant results are tested. In Boston, for example, it was recognized that regular meditation can change brain structures in such a way that athletic performance improves. In Rennes, on the other hand, efforts are made to reduce the sensitivity to pain that arises from physical exertion. So coping with pain instead of preventing pain. A more critical approach would have been desired on this point. Because pain is a signal that the body sends out for a reason.
An excursion into history jumps back to the beginnings of the modern Olympic Games. Its founder, Baron de Coubertin, had already written an article on the psychology of sport. A few decades later, Bud Winter trained track and field athletes in the United States using modern methods – and then the US Air Force pilots.
Arte report “Think Gold – Mental Training in Top Sport”: Stimulation from headphones
The authors brought futuristic images with them from San Francisco. Here Dr. Daniel Chao developed headphones with built-in electrodes that are positioned precisely over the area of the brain that controls movements.
The fifty-minute overview of international events is informative, even for amateur athletes who receive one or two suggestions, especially when meditation and yoga are discussed. The bottom line, however, is that the film leaves the impression of a performance exhibition. The scientists proudly present their results and achievements, athletes report on their successes. There are no critical voices, although one or the other aspect can certainly be questioned. The way the film is made is conventional, almost a little monotonous due to the recurring sequence of location, sport and interview.
Arte will show “Think Gold – Mental Training in Top Sport” on Saturday, July 17th, at 9.45 pm as part of a themed evening about the Olympic Games. The contribution is framed by the documentaries “Japan – Land of the Five Elements” (8:15 pm) and “The true champion – Siegen mit Hightech” (10:40 pm). “Think Gold – Mental Training in Top Sport” is available in the Arte media library until January 12, 2022. (Harald Keller)
