There are more than two million people living with an amputation in the United States, with about 400 being added daily. For many of them, prostheses or artificial limbs are a part of their lives, and they need to relearn how their bodies move with their new limbs all over again.
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Whatever you think about the many scandals and controversies swirling around this year s Olympics, one fact remains indisputable: the athletes are awesome. The weather is broiling where I live so I ve been spending hours hiding in the AC watching their incredible feats of physical performance, from jaw-dropping gymnastics tricks to hours-long uphill cycling races in heat would keep me confined to the couch.
These people are superhuman, I think again and again. But while there is a zero percent chance I could ever approach their athletic abilities, according to one sports scientist there is still one important lesson us mere mortals can take from watching the games. Olympians can teach even us normies the secret of not cracking under intense pressure.
 Athletes game-time concentration is legendary â but what should they be focusing on? Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP via Getty Images
How do you get to the Olympics? Practice, practice, practice ⦠but also know what to concentrate on during the heat of competition.
How fast someone runs, swims or rows; how high or long they jump; how accurately they hit a target; how well they balance; or how much weight they can lift depends to a significant extent on where they focus their attention.
Iâm a sport scientist who for decades has studied how people learn motor skills. In the late 1990s I began examining how a performerâs focus of attention influences learning.
Gabriele Wulf theconversation.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theconversation.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.