Utah State sports psychologist Rich Gordin says he's "a stretch not a shrink." He likes to think of his job as stretching the abilities of already talented athletes as opposed to shrinking their problems.

"When you're an athlete, you can go to zero from hero real fast," says Gordin, who has taught in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department for 24 years and worked with two Olympic teams. Nothing is more unnerving, or potentially more disastrous, than an uncontrollable case of the shakes as the stadium erupts in cheers of anticipation before the performance has even begun. A severe case of performance anxiety can turn a sports champ into a has-been, a winning team into a humiliated loser.

Gordin has seen everything over the course of his career. He worked with the U.S. women's gymnastics team prior to the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He was the chief sports psychologist for the track and field team that represented the United States during the 2004 Summer Olympics. Even the elite athletes need to talk about their fears. After identifying those fears, Gordin teaches his clients how to calm their nervous systems with deep breathing and visualization exercises. When negative thoughts take over, he teaches them how to "think better."

"I help athletes to think well under pressure so they can perform well under pressure," says Gordin. Sometimes they think too much. This is especially true of professional golfers, who must wait for long periods of time between shots.

While performance anxiety can knock the legs out from under a perfect dismount, a performance plateau can produce the kind of lackluster routine that drops a gold medal favorite to bronze. Just ask two-time Olympian Michelle Kwan. "The symptoms are both physiological and psychological," says Gordin. more