How Changing Shoes Got Me Gold! Olympic Champion Denise Lewis

0:02I know I need a good event, so I need to be bigger, stronger, bolder, fearless in this next event. You think you see Denise lose here, but I'm Astrid Cumberness. Welcome to the Essential Habits of High Performance. Hey, I'm Damien Hughes and in this series I love exploring the small shifts and simple habits that help people deliver their very best when it matters them most. Today's story begins in Sydney in the year 2000. The Olympic Stadium in Holmbush, where over 110 ,000 people are watching. and there's one British athlete facing a moment that could have ended her gold medal dreams before they'd really begun.

0:45Her name? Denise Lewis. What she did next wasn't just about her athletic skill, prodigious so it was. It was about a simple ritual that changed everything. And as we're going to discover, the science behind it can help any of us reset when things go wrong.

1:06It's day one of the heptathlon. Denise Lewis is Britain's great hope. She's carrying the weight of a nation on her shoulders. And in the first event, the hurdles, it went fine. Then came the high jump, the second event. As Denise approached the bar, the pressure seemed to hit. She clipped it once, and then she had another go. And missed it again. Every miss was brutal at this level of competition where every point matters in the heptathlon and a stumble here threatened to unravel her entire Olympic dream. Walking away, she began to feel the weight of the doubts begin to crush her. I'd had a crappy event, you know, in the high jump and, you know, that could have really cost me the gold medal at that point even though it was the second event.

1:56And I remember going back to my room, kicking myself and, you know, just having that moment of calm again and getting ready for the shot put, which is the third event of the Heptathlon. The weight of that mistake seemed to press down heavily on her. But this is where something remarkable happened. For some reason, I just thought, I know I need a good event. So I need to be bigger, stronger, bolder, fearless in this next event, which was going to be the shot put. She reached for her shot put shoes. These are flat, sturdy, built for power. and as she laced them up, she didn't just change her footwear, she changed her identity.

2:33She made a conscious decision to be bigger, stronger, bolder and fearless for the shot put. It was like she was borrowing strength from someone else. And in that moment, Denise imagined that she was the German athlete Astrid Kumbanos, the reigning world champion shot putter. I just thought, yeah, you are Astrid. You're going to be Astrid. You're going to be strong and powerful like Astrid. I scraped my hair back. That's my power hair. You know, gel back, strong, ready to get it. I remember my coach was going to come and knock my door at 4pm because we had to take the bus down to the stadium. When a coach knocks on the door, he knew he wasn't just meeting Denise.

3:14He was now meeting Astrid. I opened it with such vigour and he was like, okay. and I'm like, you think you see Denise lose here, but I'm Astrid Cumberness. He burst out laughing, but he also knew exactly what it meant. She was ready. Hours later, Denise strode into the stadium with a new energy source. She hurled the shot with her explosive strength and the poor high jump performance was still part of a score, but emotionally, she put it well behind her. By the time the 800 metres came round, she crossed the line knowing that she'd done enough. Gold, Olympic champion, and all her dreams come true.

3:59Afterwards, Denise described what she called her shoe analogy. Seven events, seven pairs of shoes, and each pair offering the chance for a mental reset. I used to use my shoes. As soon as I put on the next pair of shoes, I become that next individual, mentally, physically. so surrounding myself with the words of that event. So let's say high jump, second event of the heptathlon. As soon as I take off the old shoes, all the baggage, all the positive or negative emotions that were wrapped around the first event of the hurdles become the past. So why are we learning this? Well, changing shoes isn't just practical.

4:44It's a psychological trick. For Denise, it was like drawing a line in the sand, a way of saying, that moment's over, this one is now beginning. And it was a chance to let go of the past and fully step into the present, to be where her feet are. Years later, psychologists would give her ritual a name, enclosed cognition. Let me paint you a picture, right? Imagine walking into a room where a plain white coat hangs on a hook. Now, to you or me, that might not look like much, but to psychologists it became the key to unlocking a remarkable shift in human behaviour. In one famous experiment, researchers handed participants that white coat.

5:27To some, they said, this belongs to a doctor, which is obviously a profession that's associated with precision, care and high standards. To other participants, the researchers said, it's just a painter's coat. The results were striking. Those who wore the doctor's coat suddenly performed better on attention and accuracy tests. They seemed to spot more details. They concentrated just that little bit harder. Now the coat itself is obviously not magical, but what mattered was the meaning that people attached to it and the physical act of actually putting it on. For years, researchers have argued about whether these effects were real or whether they were just a quirk of early studies.

6:11But then in 2025, a sweeping meta-analysis of nearly 4 ,000 people settled the debate for good. The verdict? Well, the core idea stands. What we wear really can change how we think, how we feel and, more importantly, how we perform, especially when it carries a personal significance. Think about it. A lab coat makes us more attentive. A sports jersey primes us for competitiveness. A judge's robe signals authority and shoes? Well, shoes can anchor us to a role, a purpose or a specific mindset. Denise Lewis had been using and clothed cognition years before the psychologists ever gave it a title.

6:54With every fresh pair of shoes, she wasn't just preparing her body for the next event. She was priming her mind. She was drawing on the symbolism and the identity and the energy which those shoes represented. And she's not alone. Serena Williams, the great tennis player, has spoken about how her outfits on court are never just about fashion. In her words, they're battle armour. When she pulls on that distinctive kit, whether it's a bold catsuit or a classic white dress at Wimbledon, she isn't just dressing to play tennis. She's stepping into the mindset of confidence, strength and intimidation.

7:31The same is true in business. Research has shown that people who wear formal business attire before negotiations don't just look more powerful to others. They feel more powerful themselves. They hold the ground longer, they make bolder offers, simply suiting up signals to their brain. I'm in charge here. So whether it's Denise's shot put shoes, Serena's battle armour, or a business leader's sharp suit, the principle's always the same. what you put on the outside can transform what you feel like on the inside this ability to reset is one of the hallmarks of resilience and research is showing us that it's what separates high performers from the rest the great ones aren't those who never make mistakes they're the ones who recover from those mistakes quickly the golfer who can shrug off a bad shot the footballer who can reset after missing a penalty the speaker who can carry on after they forget a line and clove cognition provides us with one tool an extreme trigger to let go of the last chapter and begin writing the next and denise pairs this with acceptance i try not to focus on the negatives too long i recognize them i own them so that acceptance piece is massive when do you accept that okay i feel crap or that didn't go well but what else can i do what else can i own at that moment to make me feel well and better because as soon as you start feeling well about yourself you have better clarity you make better decisions for yourself so what can we take from denise lewis's story then i think there are three essential habits that any of us whether we're olympians or office workers can borrow from her playbook number one use symbols to be set now denise used shoes, seven events, seven pairs, seven fresh starts, where each one drew a psychological line under what had happened, good or bad, and gave her permission to move on.

9:31We could all do the same. For some people listening, it might be changing your clothes when you leave work to signal to your brain that you're now stepping into family mode. For others, it might be closing your laptop lid with intention. It's a small but powerful act that says, that's finished and I'm now present in what I'm doing here. These rituals are like cues for the brain. They act like punctuation marks in your day, separating one role from another. Without them, everything just bleeds together and stress can linger. But with them, you create boundaries and from that, it leads to clarity.

10:09Number two, own then move on. What was interesting in Denise's recounting of that Olympic event wasn't that she denied her disappointment after the high jump. She admitted to us she was kicking herself. But the key bit was she didn't wallow. She recognised it, she accepted it, and then she asked herself, what else can I do now? That habit of acknowledgement followed by release is crucial. Too many of us can spend our time trying to either bury mistakes by pretending they didn't happen, or we obsess over them endlessly. but both responses essentially keep us stuck. High performers seem to do something differently though.

10:50They name the mistake and then they own it and then they can move forward from it. It's not about pretending that everything's fine but it is about refusing to let a single setback define the entire story. And then number three, Boris's strength. This is Denise's Astrid Cumberdust moment. When she slipped her hair back and said, I'm not Denise, I'm Astrid, she was borrowing the qualities she admired in another champion, strength, boldness and fearlessness. Psychologists call this an alter ego effect. By stepping into a different identity, even one that we borrow in temporarily, we often find access to behaviours and mindsets that feel harder to summon up in our everyday life.

11:37Think of Beyonce creating Sasha Fierce to overcome stage fright or Kobe Bryant adopting the Black Mamba persona to embody ruthless competition on court. By borrowing strength from an identity bigger than ourselves, we expand the range of who we could be. So next time you face a challenge, ask yourself, who would I need to become to face this will? And then step into that character. you might just be a little bit surprised what you unlock. When Denise Lewis looks back on her Sydney triumph the headlines will always focus on the medal but for her the true gold was in the process the shoes, the resets and the mindset shifts.

12:19It wasn't about never faltering it was always about refusing to let that falter define her. She put it in the box, tied the laces up on her new identity and then stepped forward. Change your shoes, change your mindset was her mantra. And that's how Denise Lewis became an Olympic champion. But that's how each of us in our own arenas can step out of a setback and step forward into strength. I'm now going to be joined by our brilliant producer, Will, who works with us here on the podcast since day one. And we're going to have a listen to some other great lessons that Denise shared with us. These include the power of learning to reach out when we feel a little bit lost, how stillness can be a superpower and why curating an inner circle of trusted people is essential for all of us on our journey to high performance.

13:15We've just announced the latest book from high performance, Micro Habits, which studied the tiny changes that supercharge high performance. Before the book's full release in January, we've got a really special opportunity for our listeners to win a behind-the-scenes experience here at High Performance on an upcoming record day. All you've got to do is submit your proof of pre-order purchase of Micro Habits and submit it via the link in the description. If you do that, you'll also get an extra 20 % off the price of the book too. Try it. We hope to see you joining us here in the studio soon.

13:53Will, you enjoyed this conversation with Denise, didn't you? I loved it. Let's just start by saying, how incredible Denise Lewis looks. I mean, she's radiant. She came in. She got so much confidence and personality with the team. She was wearing a beautiful green kind of suit, but she looked incredible. The word that came to my mind when I met her, and I did say this to her, was she was just elegance personified. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, in terms of the nature, the way she looked, the way she interacted, just the lessons from her book she was sharing with us. I just thought she was elegant. Yeah, she really, really was.

14:30And the astrochumbinous identity shifting, I loved. And it was amazing seeing that in person because she just came alive and you saw her even do the, you know, she even acted it out, which I'll go and watch it if you get a chance. But beyond that, and what we'll get into now, is that she was so open about the problems she also had after she let her, you know, retired as well. And then how she felt a little bit lost, which is pretty common, isn't it? when we've spoken to especially Olympians and it's famous, you know, the Olympian post-gold kind of syndrome, post-game syndrome. But when you reach an unbelievable high and have an unbelievable moment and there isn't many other more watched events than the Olympic Games, what happens afterwards?

15:19Well, I think it's a point that everybody reaches. I think many athletes will get there sooner than the rest of the population. that this idea of a transition, that you were once an athlete and then you're an ex-athlete, and that transition, that ex does a lot of heavy lifting, you know, the ability to say, well, what am I in now that I can't compete any longer, that I don't define myself by who I am? You know, lots of people have it maybe later in life, say, like, your children flee the nest and they go off and pursue their own lives, so you're not defining yourself as a parent as much as you did when they were younger or, you know, you retire from work or you're made redundant and you step away.

16:02And for many of us, learning to assume a new identity can be a real challenge. I think Denise spoke about it really eloquently, but she also spoke about how she got out of what her self-described dark period was. Let's listen to how she explains it. It's reaching out to people. I think when you're in any... having setbacks or you're feeling alone or not just lost as you call it you know you've got to reach out you've got to seek help and those are those first tentative steps of rebuilding confidence and a pathway to being a better version of yourself or at least taking on something new because it is quite scary it is a lonely place when you are sort of in the doldrums and feeling miserable about yourself.

16:54And so I reached out to Baroness Sue Campbell at the time. She was head of Youth Sports Trust, chair at Youth Sports Trust. And she offered me that lifeline to just start working again. You know, something that I hadn't done for many years. I'd been an athlete. I'd been at the top of the world. And in that moment, I felt like I was the bottom of the food chain? Well, firstly, Baroness Sue Campbell, who's been on Jessie's podcast, Goldwine. She's always referenced as being such a pivotal figure in female sport. And, you know, a leader, especially of those athletes of that era. Her name has come up countless times.

17:38I've been lucky enough to meet her, Will, and she's almost like emblematic of what you'd want of a leader. She's humble. She's constantly giving credit to other people. She's incredibly kind and generous. So that was my experience of her. And then I've heard Jess and obviously Denise speak about her so glowingly. But I think it's really interesting that almost like the bit we haven't included there, but what Denise spoke about on the podcast was just by being willing to say yes to start working again and taking on new opportunities and pushing herself out of her comfort zone while she sought a new identity.

18:13Just what followed from it. Do you remember she spoke to us about how she was asked to do a presentation to the IOC in Singapore that eventually led to London winning the 2012 Games? And she said, last time I stood in front of a Rupert and presented was when I was at junior school. So doing that on a global scale then allowed her to step into this new ambassadorial role that many listeners will know Denise for. to have such an incredible high an incredible moment and the attention and adrenaline that comes from that and then how to then it's almost like a drug that you're never going to get back in some ways adapting to normality must be very difficult for people but there are so many skills that you would have learned along the way do you remember when we spoke to Boris I mean that's an extreme example of how someone went to prison.

19:12But I don't think I would have survived unless I had those skills that I learned as a professional tennis player. Yeah. For me to even get through something like this and adapt to it. And I know that does sound extreme, but you've almost got the yin and the yang of like, I'll always be known for these moments. I'll always be known in everyone's eyes for doing this one thing, which is incredibly fortunate. What do I do after that? How do I get back into normal life? And then Denise, as you say, the nervousness of even presenting to people, of even standing up and talking, which I've never had to do before.

19:50Where do I pull those reserves from? I think you're tapping into something that anyone listening to this could adopt in their own lives, that when you've achieved success, to go and do almost that excavation of it and don't worry about the outcome, but worry about what did I do? What did I bring in that moment? So it might have been, I learned confidence, I learned patience, I learned to lift other people up. Whatever it is, there'll be characteristics and traits that you've learned along the way that you can take into any domain. So in Denise's case, that ability to harness nerves and channel it as excitement, she's taken that from the Olympic stage to now standing behind a podium and presenting.

20:30It's the same feeling of nerves that she'd have got before doing the high jump, but she's learned to channel it. And I think any of us can take our successes or achievements we're proud of and try and extract from them the values, the behaviors, the traits that are part of who we are, because that's what we can take into any domain. There was another clip that I'd like to share, which where Denise spoke about, we assume, like when we think about Denise, we think about action, we think about speed, we think about power. and yet she wanted to talk about the opposite of all those things which is stillness you know we haven't talked about rest and recovery and stillness of the mind stillness of thoughts you know those things are equally important when you're you're making decisions for yourself you've got to find that stillness it's a tool that i i lean and when i'm upset or or uncertain and i can get to to lie down that's what i do just to give myself a moment to feel calm as you said we focus on the action quite a lot but actually in a lot of the high performance chats that we have on this podcast rest comes up quite a lot now recovery strategic rest comes up a lot so we talk about in performance but you know what i loved about how denise talked about it is just that you know that wisdom that she'd learned from her grandmother uh but you know you will find your way yeah and that calmness and that patience actually is such a virtue that you will get there yeah and yeah she spoke really well about that it's almost like the space between the notes is where the music comes alive do you know i mean i think sometimes that i particularly struggle with this this idea of being addicted to busyness.

22:30Addicted to busyness. I'm the same. Yeah, and getting reminders like that from Denise of just sometimes slow down a little bit, just stop, and see it as part of the process, not the opposite of the process. Yeah, I think it's a lesson you tend to only learn later on in your life when maybe your body can't keep up at the same pace it was before. but it's something that I wish that I knew a little bit earlier. Yeah. Well, one of them, like, this will be for boxing aficionados, is a guy called Archie Moore in the 1950s. He was the light heavyweight champion of the world. I was just about to say, was he the light heavyweight champion of the world?

23:12Exactly. Yeah. His nickname was the Mongoose. And he used to practice a technique called relaxology and he used to do it in the ring. He'd say, just relax. So when everything feels like it's fast and furious, he would just deliberately train himself to relax. So he could almost parry the punches. He could see them in slow motion and be able to respond rather than react. And I've often thought I'd like to channel a bit of Archie Moore's relaxology into my own life. I'm still learning how to do it. So Denise offers a reminder for all of us. Yeah, it's that contrast with modern hustle culture. I hate it.

23:54I hate this hustle culture, constantly got to be on 24-7, you never rest and all of that. I think it's a sickness in our society and we put people up on platforms that champion that kind of thing. I think it's dangerous and it really sort of leaves a sour taste in my mouth. So again, I always find it reassuring that you've got these people that have scaled the heights that are telling you, you don't have to be constantly hustling. Being patient, being still, just being silent is a superpower. Shall we listen to one more clip? I was particularly taken by Denise's story. You know, her mother is the real heroine in her story, and I think Denise acknowledged that.

24:42of she gave she came over from the Caribbean as a young girl herself and got pregnant and ended up sort of being thrown out of her family home and having to sort of raise Denise as a single mother when she was almost learning how to grow up herself but that obviously meant that Denise because her mum was working so incredibly hard to provide for her she had to learn to make friends and I think she was really insightful on how do you curate an inner circle that can enrich you. Let's listen to her explain that. Some people you let in and they actually don't have your best interests at heart so you've got to lean into your gut feelings and how you feel around certain individuals.

25:31I have a very hardcore nucleus of really good girlfriends, really good male friends that they just keep showing up for me when I need it. And it's the ability to give advice and not catastrophize situations. They make me think differently. It's so important to have the right people around you. This repeatedly comes up as well. Having the right circle of people around you that you could really lean on who will tell you maybe what you need to hear sometimes. will make you think a little bit differently, but be there no matter what. Yeah. And I think you know, right, if I said to you now, if it's something like, you know, there are a couple of numbers in your phone, potentially outside of your partner, who you go to.

26:25100 % the 3am club that, who would you phone up at 3am and say, I'm in trouble here? And you know that they would come running for you. There's not many people in your life, and nor should they be. but you need to acknowledge them, recognize them and make sure you're taking care of them because they're the ones, like you say, who tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. They're the ones that'll have you back when you make a mistake. They're the ones that see you for who you are, not who you sometimes the world is convinced. And I think Denise was forced to curate a group like that through to being a single child and growing up and having to be quite independent, you know, pursuing her academic studies as well as her athletics career.

27:10She had to seek out people like that. But what is interesting is how she's maintained those relationships and fostered them over the course of her lifetime. Listening back to it now and how thoughtful she was in those answers and she really kind of paused in between that. You could tell it was kind of like it was an important part of her life. And now looking through the lens of her partner and her not really been together anymore and that had been potentially for a while it maybe rings a little bit more true that those people around her were really, really important. Yeah, I mean, again, if you think of Denise's story that she shared with us, she's a mother herself now but she spoke quite powerfully about how one of her children is neurodiverse and how she's had to call on the support of her friendship group to help her be able to navigate some of the challenges that that inevitably brings so you start to see that this isn't just the domain of elite athletes that are trying to create their inner circle or their entourage we all need it we're all social creatures that needs our people that we feel safe secure and that we know have got our back yeah and i i love the bit when she's just you know when she You just say those people, those friends that do make you think differently versus the people that amplify the drama of the situation.

28:35Because that rings true to certain people. Does it? Yeah, a little bit. You know, there's certain people you agree, like they'll amplify the drama of it and make it feel... Said what? Yeah, massive deal. Really big. Yeah. And then the people are like, you know, there's another side to that. Absolutely. And like you say, Willie, it's a common thread that we see from so many of the guests that we're lucky enough to spend our time with. And I think it's a lesson that we should never tire of reminding ourselves of to make sure we're taking care of the people that truly matter. Thank you for joining us here on the latest episode of the Essential Habits of High Performance.

29:12If there's something in your life that you know could benefit from picking up on Denise's incredible wisdom, why not consider passing it on to them? Because understanding that changing your shoes can change your mind and changing your mind can ultimately change your life. Listen, thank you for being a part of our journey. Thanks for being part of our life. Until next time, I'm Damien Hughes. Look forward to seeing you soon.