Sports superstition. What omens do champions believe in

Unfortunately, not always the result of a match, fight or ice skating depends only on the physical and moral preparation of the athlete. Sometimes it is luck that decides the outcome of the competition. Therefore, almost every athlete has his own talisman or omen in which he believes. To turn fortune to themselves and achieve the desired result, champions are ready to resort to the most sophisticated and incomprehensible to us methods. On Friday the 13th we remember the strangest sports superstitions.

Secret message: Yelena Isinbayeva, Alexander Ovechkin and Patrick Roy

Two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva used to say the same words before every jump. However, the athlete never revealed her secret. Even lip-reading experts tried to figure out what she was saying, but their attempts were unsuccessful.

One of the best hockey players of our time talks to his stick before every game. What exactly the captain of the Washington Capitals says to her before he goes out on the ice is unknown. But these conversations definitely have a positive effect on Ovechkin’s play on the court.

Famous ex-NHL goalkeeper Patrick Roy before every game, he used to drive around his wicket on a special trajectory. And during the game, the hockey player talked to the frame and thanked the crossbar for help in deflecting opponents’ shots.

Symbolism of numbers: Michael Jordan and Irina Slutskaya

Michael Jordan attached great importance to his number – 23. When the athlete studied in the last grades of school, he was admitted to the basketball team. His older brother Larry played in it under the number 45. The future star of world sports decided to play in a jersey with the number 23, to at least half as good a player as his brother. Under this number Jordan went on the court throughout almost his entire career.

Irina Slutskaya believed in omens only as a child. With age, the famous figure skater stopped taking superstitions seriously and began to rely more on skill. But everything changed the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City in 2002. The athlete was assigned the 13th number: it was with this number that she managed to win silver at the Games. After that, as Slutskaya herself admitted, all the best news and events happened to her on the 13th number.

Dutch team in 1974 shocked the world with a spectacular game at the World Cup in Germany. Despite the loss of the wards of Rinus Michels in the final match, the team was welcomed as winners at home. Those closest to the national team knew that the secret of the players’ success was hidden not only in the brilliant game on the field. Throughout the tournament, the Dutch team listened to the songs of the rock band The Cats on the bus.

The Power of Literature: Tim Green, Andre Agassi and Gennaro Gattuso

The famous American soccer player Tim Green attracted fortune by memorizing articles of the penal code on the eve of important matches. The athlete believed that this gave him confidence in his own abilities. Observance of the ritual was useful not only on the soccer field: after the end of his professional career, Green graduated from law school.

Tennis player Andre Agassi is the winner of four Grand Slam tournaments and an Olympic gold medalist. Before important matches, the athlete rereads philosophical works. He even memorized some of his sayings and whispered them while serving.

Gennaro Gattuso, ex-footballer of the Italian national team and Milan, before matches turned to classic Russian literature. He was particularly fond of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novels.

A kiss for good luck: Laurent Blanc

French captain Laurent Blanc always kissed goalkeeper Fabien Barthez on his bald head before the match. Perhaps this is what helped the French to win the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. Interestingly, after Blanc left the sport, Barthez did not allow anyone to kiss himself on the top of his head.

Belief in horoscope: Raymond Domenech

The coach of the French national team was also superstitious. Raymond Domenech, determining the composition of the game, was guided not only by the physical and moral preparation of athletes, but also by the sign of the zodiac under which his charges were born.

Red-haired footballer and taboo on women: Valeriy Lobanovskyi

Dynamo coach Valeriy Lobanovsky had a lot of omens that he believed in. So many that you can write a whole book. For example, the man always got off the bus last, and on the way from the locker room to the field tried not to step on cracks in the roads and markings on the playing field. Lobanovsky also believed that the team would be more successful if there was at least one red-haired player.

Also, the leadership of Dynamo tried to keep girls away from the club, because he believed that a woman – to trouble. The base of the footballers also underwent changes because of the signs. There are only 12 rooms on each floor of the building, the room numbered 13 is not there at all.

Headwear: Andy Roddick, Lev Yashin and Amadeo Carrizo

American Andy Roddick always walks onto the court wearing a baseball cap with the visor facing forward. When he realizes that things are going badly in a match, he flips his cap backwards.

Lev Yashin, a legend of national sports, for many years went to the field wearing the same lucky cap. The footballer was given it in Czechoslovakia during a tour with Dynamo in 1953. This cap became a real talisman of the goalkeeper. Yashin probably wore it on the field for practical purposes. After all, the visor perfectly protected from sun rays, and the cap itself – from rain, cold and wind.

The famous Argentine goalkeeper Amadeo Carrizo, who defended the gates of “River Plate” more than 500 times between 1945 and 1968, did not take off the baseball cap day and night – even while sleeping! Only twice did he forget to wear the cap, and both times River Plate lost.