Olympic Athletes Share Their Pre-Competition Rituals and Superstitions

Lydia Jacoby: Wearing Her Pink Childhood Goggles

The 17-year-old won the women's 100m breaststroke at the Tokyo Olympics wearing the same goggles she wore as a child.

Prior to the event, former Olympic swimmer Jessica Hardy tweeted about Jacoby's pink goggles, which she gifted to the young swimmer years ago.

"Pink goggle watch!" Hardy wrote. "Help me cheer on Lydia Jacoby in tonight's 100 breaststroke final 7:17PM PST. Met this girl hosting a clinic at her home pool in Alaska 5 years ago & she's still racing in my goggles since. Go get em Lydia proud of you no matter what happens!"

Ariel Torres: Inscribing His Underwear

Both Torres and the sport of karate will make their Olympic debut this summer in Tokyo. This is a longtime dream-come-true for the Miami native, who began karate at age 6. The day that he learned the sport was going to be included in the Olympics, the 23-year-old grabbed a Sharpie and inscribed "Tokyo 2020" on his underwear; he later earned a spot on Team USA while wearing that same pair.

Now, he never competes without his lucky underwear. "Whether I win or I lose, I wear those underwear every time to compete," he told PEOPLE. Another pre-competition ritual? "I always watch anime shows to get my mind off of things," he added.

Crystal Dunn: DJing for the Team

Dunn, 28, helps the entire USWNST team get pumped up by playing music ahead of their games.

The soccer star told PEOPLE that she's "the DJ of the team." She explained, "I'm just trying to get everybody right for the game and just connect with the players through music. And I think that's something we really enjoy, is that time in the locker room to have a bit of a laugh but also kind of refocus and go out to the field and get the job done."

Vashti Cunningham: Watching Kill Bill & Bible Study

The track and field athlete, who is headed to her second Olympics this summer, told PEOPLE that she has a two-part ritual that she relies on before her high jump events in order to get focused.

"The night before the competition, I watch Kill Bill and then the pre-competition is just me and my dad doing a Bible study before I go out and get ready for warm-up and jump," said the 23-year-old.

Melissa Stockwell: Carrying a Lucky Dinosaur

The two-time Paralympic triathlete told PEOPLE that her "pre-competition rituals have kind of progressed as I've gotten older." One major factor? Her kids! (She shares daughter Millie, 3, and son Dallas, 6, with husband Brian Tolsma). "Now I have kids — I bring a little mini dinosaur that my son gave me along to races for good luck." She added, "I'm just thinking about the training, realizing I put in the time and believing in myself and just getting out there on race day and saying, 'All right, here we go.' And just having no doubts and going for it."

Stockwell recently got into a "pretty serious bike crash," the 41-year-old revealed on Instagram on July 8, noting that she broke her back after crashing into a tree. "Can I still compete in Tokyo in 7 weeks? YES! I will be there," she added. "I am missing out on some crucial weeks of training but I should have enough time to get back up to speed before the games once the doctors give me the go to get back to training."

Becky Sauerbrunn: Taking a Nap

"I'm usually very anxious on game days, so, for me, a really important ritual is nap time," the U.S. Women's National Soccer star, 36, told PEOPLE. "Or it's also just kind of like listening to some tunes on the bus rides and doing visualizations, so I'm like replaying plays in my head … and that seems to calm me down a little smidge."

Serena Williams: Lacing Her Shoes

The tennis icon and four-time Olympic gold medalist (who declined to go to Tokyo this year) has a handful of rituals that she performs ahead of every match — too many for her own taste, Williams previously told The Evening Standard.

"I have too many superstitious rituals and it's annoying. It's like I have to do it and if I don't then I'll lose."

The 39-year-old continued, "And I'm not losing because I didn't play well, I lost because I didn't tie my shoe the right way and it's totally ridiculous because I have to use the same shower, I have to use the same sandals, I have to travel with the same bags."

Michael Phelps: Swinging His Arms

Phelps, 36, the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, would repeatedly slap himself on the back by swinging his arms three times ahead of each competition before he retired from the sport after the 2016 Games.

David Boudia: Playing Tetris

The four-time Olympic medalist, who unfortunately didn't make the cut for the Tokyo Olympics this summer, relies on apps to keep his mind busy in between dives.

"When elite athletes compete, they have to figure out what their routine is," the 32-year-old told PEOPLE. "[Sometimes] I'm waiting, you know, 20, 30 minutes in between dives. I have to figure out what my mind is going to be on. So I think the ritual or routine that I have is when I'm not diving, I need to picture that I'm staying focused. And one of the silly ways that I do that is [...] I play Tetris. The boxes are falling down super fast and [I need to] figure out a way to get them, so my mind is still engaged in competition."

Rafael Nadal: Organizing His Water Bottles

Nadal has a handful of rituals — 19, to be exact — that help him get into the zone once he hits the tennis court. The two-time Olympic gold medalist, who announced he will not compete in the Tokyo Games in order to recover from a grueling clay-court season, explains that his rituals are not superstitions.

"It's a way of placing myself in a match, ordering my surroundings to match the order I seek in my head," the 35-year-old told USA Today. One of the most famous is how he lines his water bottle and recovery beverage up beside his chair. "I put the two bottles down at my feet, in front of my chair to my left, one neatly behind the other, diagonally aimed at the court," he explained.

Danell Leyva: Using a Lucky Towel

The former Olympic gymnast's "lucky towel" has its own Twitter account, which caught the attention of fans during his appearances at the 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio Games. He told Yahoo! Sports that he's had the towel since 2007 and "it hasn't left my side since."

The 29-year-old explained to the outlet, "One aunt went to go buy a towel, and the other one went to her house to get a towel for me because I wanted something to wipe my sweat off. And they both came back with the exact same towel. I said, 'OK, this is a coincidence. I'm going to keep these two as my lucky towels.' "

He added that one ripped shortly thereafter, so he's kept the other safe ever since. "I do wash it. It's not all sweaty and nasty," he shared.

Santo Condorelli: Flipping Off His Dad

The Canadian swimmer's pre-race routine of holding up his middle finger on the starting blocks caused quite the stir in the past — but it has a sentimental backstory. Condorelli, 26, explained to CBC that he first began giving his dad the middle finger ahead of the races as an 8-year-old, according to Indy 100.

"'You've got to build your confidence yourself and say eff everybody else that you're racing,'" Condorelli said of his dad's advice. He added that his dad told him, "'Every time you're behind the blocks, give me the finger and I'll give it back to you.'" While the gesture has created some controversy, Condorelli sees nothing wrong. "Athletes always have that one thing that gets them going that they need to do. That happens to be mine and still is."