Executive coaching lessons from Olympic athletes: How coaches help high performers prepare, perform and recover

The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 are a reminder that elite performance isn’t just physical — it’s deeply mental. A team of 18 psychologists is working with athletes to help them prepare for the demands of competition. It may seem as if business executives face very different challenges, but in fact their coaches often provide very similar kinds of guidance and support. Here are three phases of high performance and how both athletic coaches and executive coaches can help throughout the process. 

Phase 1: Creating the Right Mindset

Preparing for a big event:

• Both executive and athletic coaches offer techniques to help clients manage their nerves before a big challenge.

• Both executive and athletic coaches teach their clients to create scenarios to deal with unexpected problems. For example, what will you do if an unexpected delay throws off your schedule? What if you get horrible personal news just before a big challenging event?

Phase 2: Performing Under Pressure

During the big event:

• The huge pressure to perform flawlessly can lead both athletes and business leaders to make unethical choices in order to win. Coaches help their clients to resist others’ attempts to manipulate them into making the wrong decisions.

• Coaches help high performers trust themselves and their training. As one of my coaches once told me, “Do it the way you rehearsed it.” 

• Coaches help high performers create powerful internal messages to use in the moment, like “I’m ready.”

Phase 3: Reflecting, Recovering and Recalibrating

After the big event:

• Both kinds of coaches emphasize the importance of reflecting on your performance after the fact so you can learn about what you did well and what you need to change.

• These days, being in the public eye means being subjected to merciless online harassment. Coaches help their clients to emotionally defend themselves against these assaults.

• Coaches help both athletes and executives to manage distractions before, during and after a big challenge so they can focus on what is truly important. 

• Coaches help their clients to focus not just on the outcome but also on the process they used, so they can honor the work they did even if they failed to reach their desired goal. 

• Retirement can be very difficult for both athletes and leaders. Coaches help their clients to maintain peak performance even as they begin to detach from their careers. We help clients identify the values and skills that will continue to guide and serve them in the next chapter of their lives. And since both athletes and leaders are deeply identified with their careers, coaches help them craft the new identity for their post-retirement chapter.

Of course, there are differences between athletic coaching and executive coaching. I have rarely yelled at one of my executive clients. I’m not often in the spotlight the way many athletic coaches are. My clients tend to be older than most athletes, so I’m not as much of a parental figure as some athletic coaches are. But on the whole, the work we executive coaches do has much in common with athletic coaches.

I guess that’s why we’re both called coaches.

 If you or your organization are looking for an executive coach to strengthen performance under pressure, I’d love to talk — email me at gail@gailgoldenconsulting.com.