What elite athletes can teach us about overcoming imposter syndrome
Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo. Aged 14, Lola Anderson (second from left) wrote in her diary that she wanted to win an Olympic gold medal for Team GB. Her dream came true at Paris 2024.
Even the most extraordinary achievers doubt themselves. That’s the surprising truth behind many of the world’s greatest athletic performances: elite competitors stand on podiums, break records, and win titles while secretly wondering if they truly belong.
Imposter syndrome – that nagging feeling that you’re a fraud and your success is just luck or timing – doesn’t discriminate based on talent or achievement. In fact, those at the top of their fields often battle it most fiercely. But if world-class athletes – people whose lives revolve around performance – can navigate self-doubt, maybe their strategies can help the rest of us, too.
Hidden struggle of high achievers
The very nature of elite performance often conceals the emotional toll it takes. Behind the confidence, precision and drive, many top athletes wrestle with the same inner critic familiar to anyone who’s ever felt like they don’t belong.
Tennis champion Serena Williams, who announced her retirement in August 2022 with 23 Grand Slam titles, offered a rare glimpse into this reality in her 2015 essay for Time magazine, I’m Going Back to Indian Wells.
Reflecting on her return to the tournament after a 14-year boycott following a racially charged incident, she acknowledged: “For all their practice, preparation and confidence, even the best competitors in every sport have a voice of doubt inside them that says they are not good enough. I am lucky that whatever fear I have inside me, my desire to win is always stronger.”
Dr. Valerie Young, imposter syndrome expert and author of The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women, explains that the more capable and successful someone is, the more likely they are to feel like an imposter – especially when they set the bar impossibly high.
“For all their practice, preparation and confidence, even the best competitors in every sport have a voice of doubt inside them that says they are not good enough.”
How top athletes turn doubt into drive
What sets elite athletes apart isn’t that they don’t feel imposter syndrome – it’s how they respond to it. They’ve developed mental strategies to flip that doubt on its head and use it as fuel. Some of their go-to moves include:
1. Treating failure like feedback
NBA superstar Michael Jordan famously said: “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
For top athletes, failure is data. It’s purely more information to grow from. Sports psychologist Dr. Jonathan Fader puts it simply: when something goes wrong, great athletes ask “What can I learn?” instead of “What’s wrong with me?”
2. Focusing on the process, not the pressure
In a 2016 interview with TIME, gymnast Simone Biles shared her approach to managing pressure by staying present and avoiding overthinking. She explained, “Most people would focus on concentrating more, and I can’t do that. It almost makes me overthink a lot of my things. I have to focus on not thinking.”
This process-oriented mindset serves as a powerful defence against imposter syndrome. A 2021 study highlighted that athletes who focus on regulating their emotions and controlling the process – rather than fixating on outcomes – experience less anxiety and better performance.
“Most people would focus on concentrating more, and I can’t do that. It almost makes me overthink a lot of my things. I have to focus on not thinking.”
3. Keeping ‘evidence banks’
There’s something special about seeing your dreams written down in black and white. British rower Lola Anderson began her journey by penning a diary entry expressing her ambition to one day represent Team GB in rowing at the Olympics. Embarrassed, she threw the entry in the bin, only for her father to find it and store it for safekeeping.
At just 14 years old, Anderson had written: “My name is Lola Anderson, and I think it would be my biggest dream in life to go to the Olympics and represent Team GB in rowing, and if possible, win a gold medal.” The note has become her most important possession – it motivated her to achieve her goal and now acts as a reminder of her late dad’s belief in her. In 2024, she won gold in the women’s quadruple sculls event at the Paris Olympics.
As turned out to be the case for Anderson, journaling can help athletes create “evidence banks” – a collection of past achievements and key milestones that can be referenced mentally when imposter feelings arise. By looking back at their growth and accomplishments, athletes can counter self-doubt with concrete reminders of their preparation and progress.
4. Reframing nerves as readiness
In his memoir, QB: My Life Behind the Spiral, former NFL quarterback Steve Young revealed that he experienced severe anxiety during his playing career, particularly before games, resulting in sleepless nights and intense stress. He eventually learned to see those nerves not as a sign of weakness, but as his body gearing up for game time.
Studies have shown how reframing the physical manifestations of stress can break the link between negative feelings and harmful reactions. For example, in 2014, Harvard Business School found that when people reinterpret nerves as excitement, they actually perform better. Elite athletes don’t try to “calm down.” They reframe. “This is me getting ready.”
“My name is Lola Anderson, and I think it would be my biggest dream in life to go to the Olympics and represent Team GB in rowing, and if possible, win a gold medal.”
How you can apply these tools
These strategies aren’t just for Olympic champions or professional athletes. The same psychological tools can transform how anyone experiences self-doubt:
Expect it. Feeling like an imposter doesn’t mean you are one – it means you’re human.
Track your wins. Start your own evidence bank: keep a note on your phone or a journal of compliments, milestones, things you’re proud of.
Don’t confuse performance with identity. Say “That didn’t go well” instead of “I’m not good at this.”
Build your support team. Find mentors, friends, or colleagues who remind you of what you’re capable of when you forget.
Vulnerability is a strength
More and more athletes are speaking out about these struggles – not to show weakness, but to show strength. Swimmer Adam Peaty talked candidly about mental health after the Tokyo Olympics. Kevin Love opened up about anxiety in The Players’ Tribune. And gymnast Aly Raisman has said time and again that being honest about her fears has only made her stronger.
The next time imposter syndrome strikes, know that feeling like you don’t belong doesn’t mean you don’t deserve your success. Even the very best sport has seen have questioned themselves. The difference is they learned to acknowledge those doubts without being defined by them – and with a little practice, so can you.
