Kurt Angle has revealed the part hypnotism played in preparing him for the 1996 Olympic Games where he won his gold medal in freestyle wrestling.
Agle was answering questions as part of a Q and A on The Kurt Angle Show[available via AdFreeShows.com]. Co-host Conrad Thompson asked Angle if he had ever met a sports psychologist throughout his career.
Angle responded:
“In my Olympic career, yes I did. I went to a sports psychologist because I wasn’t able to beat a certain amount of individuals on the Olympic team in 1993 and 1994 for the World Championship team. I hit a wall and I actually quit for a few months and thought ‘I can’t beat these guys so why even try?'”
“So taking the few months off I met a sports psychologist and he said ‘hey, let me take care of you, I’ll actually do it for free’. So I started going there and he was giving me you know, certain psychology tips about how to be more confident. How you can succeed in life. He would, what do you call it when they put the voodoo on you? Hypnotise me! Yeah, he would hypnotise me and have me speaking during my hypnotism.”
As for the results, Angle says his sessions with the sports psychologist definitely paid off, and he has the medals to prove it:
“It worked extremely well because when I made the commitment to come back in 1995 and ’96 I was still seeing the sports psychologist. I continued on every week and I didn’t lose a match then from that point on. I won the US Open, the World Team Trials, the World Championships in 1995. Then I won the US Open, the Olympic Trials, and the Olympics in 1996. So it worked extremely well. The crazy thing is I stopped after the Olympics and never went back to him again [laughs]. So I’ve gotta messed up mind now that I gotta try to unravel before I need to go to another sports psychologist.”
During the show Angle also revealed who he says is the greatest wrestler of all time.
Credit: The Kurt Angle Show via AdFreeShows.com