Physical strength is very important in sport indeed, other way the athlete won’t have the physical resources to be competitive. In sport there will be moments when the athlete struggles, depending the sport if he or she is losing or winning those are the important moments to identify, if it is not well read that will lead to crisis o relax of the athlete, so mental strength can be the key factor when the competition is really tight.
In my opinion the ultimate athlete is the one that can mix both of the scenarios physical and mental strength, in this specific topic the athlete must have a minimum competitive physical strength with a very strong mind to be superior of an athlete that has better physical strength.
For example in football, the 2009-2011 FC Barcelona had a lot of small players compared to other teams across Europe, Puyol the center back was around 176 cm, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro, Dani Alves didn’t surpass the 175 cm, but that didn’t stop them to dominate Spain and Europe, winning everything in those 2 years, even though teams like Real Madrid, Chelsea, etc. based their football in a more physical way couldn’t even compare to the style of play and achievements of the Spaniards.
As a result talking about mental strength is not only about being able to stay calm and focused in the hardest times, but also having clear ideas, style of play printed in their brain after practising it till perfection was and most of the times is the difference between an athlete achieving his goals or not.
