By Glenn Whitney

When you are among the very best in the world at what you do, your emotions matter – a lot.

At the very top of any profession, the technical skill, the knowledge, even the experience levels are widely available from candidates at home and further afield in the global race. The key competitive advantage is being able to stay focused on what really matters and effectively managing your mental state, your “mood” so that every part of yourself is able to perform optimally.

A great illustration of that is British sprint cyclist Chris Hoy. A three-time gold-medal winner at Beijing, Hoy was off to a shaky start earlier this week at the annual World Championships, being held in Denmark.

In the qualifying rounds of the “Keirin” event, after one false start, Hoy was blocked and bumped by Malaysia\'s Josiah Ng Onn Lam before falling and taking out Dutchman Roy van den Berg. The race was stopped and Hoy had to have the cleat on his right shoe repaired.

A delay allowed Hoy and Van den Berg to remount their bikes. Ng was disqualified, having taken too direct a line off the track banking, causing the collision. Third time lucky, Hoy was unflustered when the race finally got off, and qualified with ease ahead of Australia\'s Shane Perkins.

The episode did frustrate the usually placid, gentlemanly Hoy. But after years of “mental toughness” training he controlled his emotions. “I certainly didn\'t enjoy being dumped on my backside in the first round, that was out of order,” Hoy said. “It did make me angry, but that\'s another emotion you try and keep in check – you don\'t want to let the red mist descend and lose the plot. You\'ve got to stay controlled and focused.”

And the next day at the finals? Hoy took the World Champions gold medal – for the 10th time.