Grounds for concern

ELITE athletes, we are led to believe, have the best of everything. The right conditions, the right equipment, the best of surroundings and the finest management back-up money can buy.

But even the most perfectly-honed athlete can be dragged down to the level of mere mortal by a simple change in the weather. Even they, those perfectly-drilled sporting machines, cannot legislate for the sort of day that hundreds of squats, pull-ups, bench presses or rowing machines cannot prepare you for.

Here are just a few tales of the days when even a sports psychologist could not help.