Even before the start of their competition routines, Olympic gymnasts are under the scrutinizing eyes of the judges — and any mistake, even in warm-ups, could count against them.
"These judges who are on the Olympic floor are also showing up to your training," five-time Olympic medalist and gymnast Nastia Liukin said. "They sit there and they memorize your routines, they actually put them down on paper."
Liukin competed for Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where she was crowned the individual all-around champion. The retired athlete said judges seem to project mistakes gymnasts make during training onto their actual competition performance, even if the move was executed flawlessly in the Olympics arena.
That's why it's so important to "train as if you're competing," according to Liukin, who spoke with Dr. Michael Gervais on the podcast "Finding Mastery."
"I remember talking about this and someone said, 'But that's not fair,'" she said. "'How are they getting to judge you before the competition?'"
"When you step foot into the competition, the Village, the arena, the training hall — it's game on," Liukin added. "It's a competition every time that you step onto the floor."
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