For anyone who still believes that issues of mind and body can be separated into distinct “containers” where neither impacts the other, the Olympic games brings a reminder that the physical, mental, and emotional are inextricably linked.
Each Olympics puts a spotlight on at least one athlete who, though incredibly talented and skilled, and favored to win, somehow ends up in a spectacular crash.
In this cycle, that dubious distinction fell on US Figure Skater Ilia Malinin, who had won the last four US Championships, the last 2 world titles, and 11 consecutive international singles competitions across three seasons.
Malinin has pushed the athleticism and difficulty to new levels by stacking his program with quadruple jumps. In December 2025, Malinin became the first skater to land seven quadruple jumps in a single free skate, demonstrating an unparalleled technical skill and athletic ability.
He wasn’t just a favorite to win the gold medal at the Olympics in Milan; his victory was treated as an almost guaranteed certainty. One betting site put his chance of winning at 99 percent.
But Malinin didn’t win the gold medal. He didn’t even win silver or bronze.
Malinin finished 8th place overall after a complete disaster of a free skate in which he fell twice, turned some of his quadruple jumps into singles or doubles, and skipped other elements.
It was the type of complete and total meltdown that is obvious and hard to watch, even if you know nothing about the sport.
And a reminder that peak performance — in any arena — is not just about physical ability, technique, skill, and practice. It’s also about the nervous system.
When the nervous system goes offline, skills and strength go down with it.
What Happens When the System Gets Flooded
In an interview after his skate, Malinin described how, the moment he stepped onto the ice, “all the … traumatic moments of my life really just started flooding my head.”
He described feeling like he had no control over his body.
What happened to Malinin wasn’t an issue of ability or capacity.
It wasn’t an issue of skill or strength.
And it certainly wasn’t an issue of motivation.
It was a nervous system freeze.
When the mind becomes flooded with negative thoughts, the nervous system shuts down to protect itself. This is often known as “fight-flight-freeze,” which are the three main responses to overwhelm.
A freeze response doesn’t just close the mind; it also freezes the body.
Whether it was due to pressure of the big Olympic stage, being the favorite in his Olympic debut, the expectations that come from so much winning and perfection, or something else that we don’t know, doesn’t really matter.
Sometimes negative thoughts simply intrude out of nowhere, and the system shuts down. It can happen at any time for any reason — and it can happen to anyone.
For Ilia Malinin, it happened at the worst possible moment.
You Can’t Just Push Through
Malinin’s meltdown is an echo of Simone Biles’s case of the “twisties” at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. This is no coincidence. Athletes in the sports of figure skating and gymnastics face challenges unique from athletes in other sports.
In a different type of solo sport, such as running or swimming, it can be easier to “push through” by going through the repetitive motions of the movement. An athlete can use their strength to push harder and faster within the rhythm of the movement — which is essentially activating the “flight” response. This mindless rhythmic movement is also a path to regulating the nervous system.
In a team sport context, an athlete has teammates to pick up the slack until they come back online. The presence of teammates also provides a means for co-regulation, which helps the nervous system come back online faster.
A solo athlete in a sport that involves complex movements like jumping and twisting has no quick recourse. The movements involved in these sports are not natural; they require high-level neuromuscular coordination, proprioception, and spacial awareness — all functions that go offline in a nervous system shutdown.
You cannot will a nervous system back online. And, contrary to popular myth, you can’t just override the negative thoughts with “positive thoughts” — the mind cannot correct its own course once its been flooded.
Performance is Holistic
This doesn’t just happen to athletes on the big stage. It can happen to anyone in any type of job or work.
The mind, body, and emotions are not separate compartments that perform separate functions. Performance — whether in athletics or in the workplace, classroom, or boardroom — is holistic. It requires the entire system be online and functioning.
When the load on the system gets too heavy, the system shuts down. That’s a feature, not a bug. It’s a safety mechanism built into the system. It can affect physical function as well as cognitive function.
Malinin’s Olympic performance was a reminder that physical capacity, skills, technique, desire, and motivation are of little help when the nervous system goes offline.
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