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Back the Team is a mentorship platform designed to support the next generation of Olympians by connecting them with Olympic and Paralympic role models. As part of that work, CEO and founder Amy Wotovich is on a mission to interview 100% of Team USA athletes competing during the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The interview series is called “Inside the Mental Games of the Games.” Wotovich has connected with over a quarter of the team and found four key insights that Olympic-level athletes share: they love the process, take bets on themselves, build identities outside of sport and have a borderline delusional belief in themselves.
Park City-based freestyle skier and three-time Olympic silver medalist Jaelin Kauf exemplifies the concept of loving the process. Wotovich says Kauf’s mantra is “deliver the love.” She says it before every push out of the start gate to remind herself she skis not to chase medals, but to make herself proud.
“You can really push barriers and do more than you probably ever thought was possible, because what's motivating you at the end of the day isn't the silver medal around your neck,” Wotovich said. “It's the love for the early mornings, the late nights and all of those unseen moments that don't catch the public attention in between Olympic cycles.”
Wotovich said Olympians and Paralympians taking bets on themselves also came up in many of her conversations with athletes. The idea is based on confidence and she said there’s a misconception that taking a bet on oneself requires feeling confident.
But Wotovich has found confidence is less about feeling and more about building a track record.
“The athletes who feel confident have proven to themselves through what they've achieved in the past that they have reason to feel confident,” she said.
She said becoming an Olympian or Paralympian also often requires sacrifices, with many athletes moving to unfamiliar places to continue pursuing their sport at the highest level.
Wotovich said Park City native and Olympic moguls skier Nick Page wears a helmet with a deck of cards on it to remind himself to bet on himself.
Another important aspect of the Olympic and Paralympic mindset is having an identity outside of sport. Wotovich said, especially in the 2026 Olympic cycle, there are many athletes balancing big athletic dreams with other careers and families.
“That's a huge mindset, almost a trick of sorts, because you're no longer over-indexing all of yourself on whether or not you're victorious in a competition on one given day,” she said.
Wotovich’s final takeaway is that holding a borderline delusional belief in one’s future success is the key to becoming an Olympian. That’s because athletes need to believe they can achieve that goal long before it appears rational.
For example, Olympic hockey goalie Ava McNaughton covered her wall with a vision board in eighth grade. The center image was the Olympic rings.
Wotovich also spoke with two-time Olympic curler Tara Peterson, who was told by a sports psychologist that returning to the Games after having a baby was unlikely.
Peterson’s immediate response was: “No. I’ll make it back.” And she did.
“That's the first step to achieving a dream, it's verbalizing it. It should feel delusional,” Wotovich said.
Wotovich said athletes growing up in Park City also have a unique advantage when chasing Olympic dreams. That’s because they’re immersed in an environment where they can see many others making that dream come true.
