Say what you want about the athlete in question, but has it not been shown that the power of placebo is a real factor in sports performance even for those with

Say what you want about the athlete in question, but has it not been shown that the power of placebo is a real factor in sports performance even for those with more “normal” beliefs? How many athletes do the silliest rituals or recovery protocols that have no backing by modern day science and yet it works for them. Our beliefs and expectations about the product are what honestly matter here, not the product in question.