Sports superstitions: Beckham’s OCD, Rebecca Adlington’s even numbers, Nadal’s water bottles and more
Olympic champion swimmer Rebecca Adlington has admitted to having obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to numbers. “I can only set my alarm on two, four or six,” she told The Sun. “I can't even set it on a five or a seven. Otherwise I think the worse [sic] is going to happen. It's the same with the TV volume or radio – I have to have it on an even number.”
Adlington is not alone. “It is rather extraordinary to see in the arena of competitive sport when defeat and victory are measured in such small variables, so many athletes are superstitious,” says sports journalist and former table tennis Commonwealth champion Matthew Syed. “But it's nothing to do with the superstition in some objective, rational way improving performance, it's the way it impacts on the mind. And if the performer believes that it might help them, that actually can help them.”
But where does superstition stop helping performance and become a form of disruptive OCD? talkSPORT looks at some high profile sport stars and their OCD behaviours…
RAFA NADAL'S WATER BOTTLES
Grand slam tennis champion Rafa Nadal has a ritual that he follows every time he enters the court, which involves removing water bottles from his bag, taking a sip from each, then carefully lining
them up so that their labels all face precisely the same way. It doesn't seem to do his results any harm, although that may have something to do with him being a bloody good tennis player.
DAVID BECKHAM'S SOFT DRINK CANS
Beckham admitted that he suffered from OCD back in 2006. “I've got this obsessive compulsive disorder where I have to have everything in a straight line or everything has to be in pairs,” he confessed. “I'll put my Pepsi cans in the fridge and if there's one too many then I'll put it in another cupboard somewhere.” Even with his OCD, Becks still manages to get a plug in for his sponsors – what a pro!
MICHAEL JORDAN'S SHORTS
During his NBA days Michael Jordan wore his old University of North Carolina basketball shorts under his Chicago Bulls kit. This meant his Bull's shorts had to be longer than usual, which led to Jordan starting a trend for long shorts in the NBA. Who'd have thunk it?
GAZZA'S TIDYING OBSESSION
As a player, Paul Gascoigne couldn't relax unless his changing room towel was folded 'just right', but he once took his obsession with tidiness to potentially dangerous levels. While at Rangers, a drunk Gazza broke into team-mate Ally McCoist's house at 2am to make himself a sandwich (as you do), but ended up rearranging McCoist's cupboards. Not surprisingly, McCoist feared he was being burgled and went downstairs armed with a baseball bat, only to find Gazza perched on a chair trying to reach the upper shelves. “I told him I was just tidying his kitchen for him, which of course he couldn’t understand,” Gazza recalled.
DAVID JAMES SPITS ON THE WALL
Former England goalkeeper David James says he once had a match day “ritual so complex it could fill a page. It was made up of things like going into the urinals, waiting until they were empty and spitting on the wall.” Hmm, ok.
MICHAEL SCHUMACHER'S ODD NUMBERS
Michael Schumacher switched race numbers with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in 2010 because, as a team spokesperson put it, “ Michael has a preference for odd numbers.” Schumacher was due to race as no.4, but took Rosberg's no.3 race number instead.
KOLO TOURE GETS BOOKED THANKS TO HIS SUPERSTITION
While at Arsenal, defender Kolo Toure was booked during a Champions League match with Roma because he refused to enter the pitch at the start of the second half. The reason? Toure insists on being the last player on the pitch and his defensive partner that night, William Gallas, was receiving treatment that delayed his entrance to the field. Ivory Coast international Toure waited for Gallas to join the game, then ran on the pitch himself without the referee's permission and was cautioned.
JOHAN CRUYFF'S CHEWING GUM
During his playing days at Ajax, the great Johan Cruyff made a habit of spitting his chewing gum into the opposition's half before kick-off. Prior to Ajax's 1969 European Cup final appearance, Cruyff realised he had forgotten his gum and his team went on to lose 4-1 to AC Milan. Fortunately Cruyff the manager realised that this defeat had nothing to do with chewing gum. "If [superstition] does influence them [the player]," he said during his managerial days, "you can't play them in the next match."?
NEIL MCKENZIE'S TOILET SEAT RITUAL
South African cricketer Neil McKenzie's bizarre rituals included taping his bat to the ceiling and making sure all toilet seats in the changing room were put down before he went out to bat. Fortunately for McKenzie's sanity, he no longer bothers with such things. “I’ve got a wife and child now and don’t have much time to worry about toilet seats and taping bats to the ceiling,” he revealed. Wise words.
GORAN IVANISEVIC'S SAME OLD, SAME OLD
The 2001 Wimbledon champion would let his opponent get up from his chair first at every change-over and, like a child on his way to school, avoided stepping on any lines when he entered the court himself. Ivanisevic also followed the same daily routine, as closely as possible, during tournaments. “I never change anything during the tournament,” he once said. “Maybe afterwards I will shave again. I also have two songs that I listen to every day before I leave the house and we have six showers in the locker room. So each day I pick the same one. If it is occupied, I wait.”
BONUS
OCD has repetitive unwanted thoughts about Chuck Norris.