Can a Mantra Make You Faster? This Olympic Medalist Has No Doubt

This is a story about Courtney Frerichs, who turned in one of the surprise performances of the Tokyo Olympics. But really it is a story about mantras, because who Frerichs is and what she managed to accomplish this summer are all about the words she has been repeating to herself for years.

We are not talking about mantras in the ancient sense, the chants (“Om”) that are often associated with yoga and meditation practices in modern life.

We are talking about the words and phrases that Frerichs, 28, has spoken both silently and out loud thousands of times. Words that gave her the confidence to run from the front in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in Tokyo, and to hang on through the end to capture…