British Heptathlete Kelly Sotherton was 100% positive she’d win gold at the Beijing Olympics, so much so she was prepared to take a polygraph test to prove it.

The new campaign by NikeLab sets out to compare her strong stated beliefs with her physiological responses.

Kelly is interviewed on camera by Dr Hilary Witchel, a leading Psycho-Physiologist from Bristol University, while wired to a polygraph machine. Dr Witchel leads Kelly through a series of leading questions to detect how in sync her body and mind actually are.

One of the questions Dr Witchel asks:

Will you win gold?

Kelly’s firm reply:

Yes, I will win gold in Beijing.

The results of the “lie-detector” test show her confidence is absolute and that she’s 100% ready for Beijing.

The study has a mixed ending. Kelly finished 5th overall and not only failed to win the gold medal she boldly predicted, but came home without a silver or bronze too. Her reply to the disappointing outcome? Cancel her retirement and continue with the dream of gold – first up the World Championships next year in Berlin and following that, who knows….

Kelly Sotherton: Going For Gold is a sponsored post.

Same as last week; I managed the 2×20, 2×18 and 2×15 quite comfortably, but lost concentration and for some reason performed two sets of 14 instead of the required one. I only realized as I started my assault on the final 40.

After failing last week at 30, I played a little mind game with myself tonight. I took an extra 15-20 seconds recovery and convinced myself I had 50 push ups to perform for the final set.

At 10 I told myself I was 20% done, at 20 40% done, at 30 60% done and then with only 10 left I knew I could make it….just. I got to 40 and enough was enough – my arms and mind gave way!

Excellent effort though – 174 push ups for the night – a new record.

Time for some abs work now before I catch up on email, blog comments etc.