Michael Phelps has had a remarkable series of performances at the Rio Olympics. He is obviously a tremendously gifted athlete who trains incredibly hard. At the same time, as this video describes, Phelps commits a ton of time and energy to his mental preparation.

And here’s another video that describes how Michael Phelps the athlete is inseparable from Michael Phelps the person and that even arguably the greatest athlete in history is a complex individual with many challenges in his past. It highlights the need to address the whole person, not just the athlete or the athletic performance.

And don’t forget the Michael Phelps “death stare!” Not only is it a remarkable expression of Phelps’s pre-race intensity, but also seeing his rival, Chad le Clos, preparing for his race in an entirely different way demonstrates the wide range of approaches in which athletes get mentally prepared to perform their best.