Champion athletes strive to attain a personal goal defined by a socially co
nstructed image of psychomotor performance to be accomplished at the moment
of the championship celebration, This intrapsychic process is initiated by
a transformation of the body, programmed and controlled by repeated traini
ng. The athlete's body becomes accustomed to ritualized obsessive movements
, favoring the feeling of self-fulfillment solely during muscular effort (c
ontraction/relaxation, displacement). This social goal of excellence implie
s personal adaptation involving an addictive link to movement: a mechanism
uniquely valid in high level sports. Twelve years experience in psychologic
al support of high-level athletes participating in Olympic sports has led t
o an analysis of this adaptive mechanism and a proposed psychopathological
model of its invasion of the athlete's psychic economy.