Pre-competition, teams share advice on bountiful spots.
This is why Bert van Marwijk has carefully nursed Arjen Robben into this tournament following his pre-competition calf injury.
It was the 35-year-old's fourth straight medal at a Paralympic marathon, which he chalks up to hard work and his quirky pre-competition routine.
"People can get wrapped up in the money side of things," Ennis said, speaking at the British athletics team's pre-competition press conference.
These Olympic pre-competition periods have not been kind to Vonn, the most dominant female skier in the world the last two years.
"So we have something like 57 per cent more pre-competition testing than in Vancouver and something like 14, 15 per cent more tests in total.
Before Tatyana Chernova received her reward for dethroning the pre-competition favourite, Jessica Ennis collected the runner-up prize from another great British athlete forged in Sheffield.
"In the context of training and exercise, it might be the rhythmical qualities of music that are most salient," he says, "but in the pre-competition phase, music serves a very different kind of role.
It is psychological discomfort of a rare degree, and may explain why the Azzurri (Blues) have put up lacklustre showings in two pre-competition draws with Switzerland and Ukraine.
Listening to a favourite song, donning your shinpads in a particular order, sneaking off for a crafty cigarette: pre-competition superstitions are a commonplace even on the amateur sporting scene.
The bookies were laying vociferous pre-competition odds, in which Brazil was clearly the favorite at 6 to 4, with Russia, West Germany, England, Italy, and Argentina following, in various orders.
