Anyone who has played sport at the highest level knows that sinking nervous, almost fearful feeling before a big event. It is made up of all manner of emotions – the pure nerves associated with any competitive endeavour, the fear of letting your team or country down, the fear of not doing yourself justice in the eyes of others – and the knowledge of the distress, which is extreme in the hardest confrontations, that you know can result as the mind and body are pushed to the limit. Which sportsman – even when he is earning his living by it – has not asked himself the question before the match: Why am I doing this? I could be cosily among the spectators, taking a drink with the boys. Why on earth am I here at all, about to go again under the gun of competition?

Indeed if a sportsman does not have this feeling you can be fairly sure that he is not a really good competitor. The Champion with ice-cold nerves and unshakable super-confidence is a myth. A great champion …..