The past two weeks of Olympic competition in Paris have brought us amazing stories of athletic skill, speed, triumph and redemption.

Perhaps they’ve left you newly inspired to train for a 10K or win your weekend basketball league.

Even if you’re not destined to compete on a world stage, learning how to fuel your body and mind like some of the country’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes may help you boost your own game.

Frederick Richard helped the U.S. men’s gymnastics team win a bronze medal, their first Olympic hardware in 16 years. San Diegan Tate Carew finished fifth in the men’s skateboard park final, and swimmer Ali Truwit — who lost part of her leg in a shark attack last year — will hit the pool in the coming weeks.

All three told The Times about the habits that earned them their spots on Team USA. Their comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How do you psych yourself up to work out on days when you just aren’t feeling it?

Frederick Richard: I have been in the gym since I was about 4 years old. I’m there because I love it but even so, there are days when I’m a little less inspired. On those days, I try to remember that it is the process that I enjoy and trust, which keeps me focused.

Ali Truwit: Knowing the deeper meaning of what I’m doing and why is my source of mental toughness on the days I’m not feeling like practicing. Right now, that larger purpose for me is turning trauma into hope and showing the world what people with disabilities are capable of. It drives me forward, even when I’m feeling sad or exhausted or in pain.

Is it OK to skip warming up or cooling down if you’re short on time?

Tate Carew: I rarely go into skating without stretching or warming up in some way. I’d rather have a shorter session knowing that I am preventing petty injuries.

FR: The warm-up and cool-down is not something to miss. You have to take care of your body.

What do you eat when you need a quick nutrition boost?

TC: A peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

FR: Celsius is my go-to drink when I need a little boost.

AT: I like to compete with a light stomach, so I like gluten-free pretzels or sometimes an apple. I love some mini Starbursts right before my race — a little sugar kick.

Do you have any tips about how to space out your meals and snacks?

FR: I definitely try not to eat too close to when I am going to bed.

TC: When I’m hungry, there is no such thing as a bad time to eat.

Any tips for staying properly hydrated? If you get sick of drinking water, is there anything you substitute instead?

AT: I carry a water bottle everywhere, all the time and try to just always be drinking. I also love Gatorade Zero!

TC: Watermelon has been a great substitute for me if I don’t feel like drinking water.

How do you get over jet lag when you travel for competitions?

FR: We generally try to get to places a day or two prior to the competition so that we can adjust to the time and the surroundings. For the Olympics we got to France about a week in advance.

AT: The way to handle conditions that aren’t ideal is to have handled them many times before in your practices. Then you know and believe you can do well anyway.

If you have trouble falling asleep the night before a high-stakes competition, what do you do?

AT: I’ve learned to put habits in place — like warm showers, relaxing mantras and funny shows — that take my mind to a more peaceful place.

FR: I try not to get too stressed, which I can do if I keep the big picture in mind. Trusting in the process is the key for me. I did bring my own mattress to Paris though!

Are there any mindfulness or meditation exercises that you find helpful?

TC: Whenever my mind feels extremely cluttered, I ask myself, “What problem do I have at this very moment?” Meaning, even if you are dealing with a lot in your home life, relationships, work, etc., what problems are you dealing with at that very moment?

AT: I love calm.com and Tamara Levitt! She has a very soothing voice, helpful big-picture insights, and breathwork. I also use progressive muscle relaxation as I’m trying to fall asleep, and I think that encourages the mind and body to let go.

How do you filter out distractions when it’s time to compete?

TC: I made my goals this year so clear that nothing would get in the way of me succeeding.

AT: I remind myself that work works and I’ve done the work. That helps a lot. One of the many reasons I train so hard is so that I can say that to myself before races.

I also just love racing so when I’m in a race, it’s often the only time of day for me that my mind is totally clear and focused.

If you make a mistake in the middle of a competition, how do you move forward instead of dwelling on it?

FR: I know that gymnastics is a judged sport so perfection is difficult. I also know that everyone is going to have some mistakes.

TC: Everything happens for a reason. In a way, it’s motivating for me.

Are there any other tips you’d like to share?

AT: Focus on what you love about competing — the people, the places, the habits you’ve ingrained in yourself, the joys of the process — and the rewards will be there no matter what.

These comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

It sounds like the plot to a cheesy black-and-white movie from the 1940s.

A lunk of a guy goes out to the barn behind his house every night and tosses a metal ball as far as he can. Over and over. He tries shifting his feet, turning his body in different directions, tinkering.

And, just like that, he revolutionizes the sport of shot put.

But this isn’t a Hollywood story. Ryan Crouser used his innovative “Crouser Slide” to make history at the 2024 Paris Olympics this weekend, joining a select group of athletes who have dominated their event thoroughly enough to win gold at three consecutive Games.

The 31-year-old native of Boring, Ore., called it “kind of a testament to the total dedication and hard work that has gone into it … it’s a 365-day a year job.”

With all the superstars competing here in the last few days — gymnast Simone Biles, swimmer Katie Ledecky, sprinter Noah Lyles — it might be easy to overlook Crouser. It would also be a mistake.

His story exemplifies the best aspect of the Olympics: The range of obscure and semi-obscure sports filled with athletes who devote their lives to something with no guarantee of fortune or fame.

To fully appreciate what Crouser accomplished, it helps to know more about the shot put.

The only way to heave a 16-pound ball more than 70 feet is to generate momentum by spinning your way to the release, which can be especially tricky for very large people trapped inside a seven-foot ring.

So it makes sense that, despite all their girth and grunting, shot putters tend to be science geeks.

Rather than focus on brute force, they obsess over the physics of lateral velocity, rotational radius and acceleration paths. The biomechanically optimal angle of release — 36 degrees? 38 degrees? — can be a topic for debate.

“So it’s constantly changing and evolving,” Crouser says. “Kind of under the assumption of how do we maximize potential energy creation while minimizing room for error.”

American Ryan Crouser competes in the men’s shot put final at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.

(Matthias Schrader / Associated Press)

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Throwing runs in his blood. His father, Mitch, was an alternate on the 1984 U.S. Olympic discus team and uncle Brian threw javelin at two Games. After excelling at shot put in high school, Crouser won four NCAA championships for the University of Texas.

His first gold at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games came shortly after graduation.

In a sport where many top athletes stand about 6 feet tall, Crouser uses his 6-foot-7 frame for more leverage and force on throws. But height also makes him vulnerable to committing a foul by stepping outside of that claustrophobic ring.

In his early years at the international level, he employed a fairly standard technique, working to control his body by moving precisely. In 2021, he broke Randy Barnes’ 31-year-old record with a throw of more than 76 feet at the U.S. Olympic trials, then won his second gold at the Tokyo Games.

Still, he wasn’t content.

“I feel like I experimented for a number of years just with different techniques,” he recalls. “I try to think of a rational explanation for why it would help my throw and then I’ll implement it.”

The “Fosbury Flop,” the back-roll technique made famous by Dick Fosbury at the 1968 Summer Olympics, forever changing the high jump, ranks as track’s best-known stylistic breakthrough. Though subtler, the “Crouser Slide” has been revolutionary.

Restless for something better, the self-coached Crouser searched the internet for information and applied concepts from upper-level engineering courses he took in college before switching his major to economics.

All his tinkering, spread across thousands of practice throws, led to a “light bulb moment” in that Arkansas barn in December 2022. It was about 8 p.m. and he recalls thinking “Yeah, let’s try something new just to engage myself because shot put can be extremely monotonous.”

He focused on altering the conventional starting point, which has shot putters standing at the back of the ring, facing away from the field. Crouser shifted over to the right side of the circle, creating room to his left.

The adjustment allowed him to start his motion with a quick “slide step” to the left. It made his spin a little faster and gave his right leg more space to swing around. As he explained: “Speed is king in the shot put.”

Speed can also be unwieldy, so there were problems with consistency. But within a few months, at a springtime meet in Los Angeles, he became the first man to throw beyond 77 feet.

“It’s good for the sport,” rival Tom Walsh told reporters in his home country of New Zealand. “But we’ve got to keep our end of the bar up and keep pushing him, keep challenging him, because when someone is too dominant, the sport gets a bit dull.”

During the past 10 or so years, Crouser has amassed five of the top six — and 14 of the top 25 — throws ever.

As important as technique and mental approach can be, the shot put remains — at its core — physical and brutal.

“Throwing a 16-pound ball for a living beats you up,” Crouser said.

Doctors found two blood clots in his leg last summer. Cleared to fly at the last moment, he traveled to Budapest to defend his world championship.

Since then, a torn pectoral muscle and nagging elbow injury have forced him to adjust his practice routine. Sometimes he throws hard and takes a few days off, other times he strings together light workouts.

“I have had a bit of difficulty recognizing that I am getting older,” he says. “It makes me cherish this Olympic experience even more because I can see that I cannot do this forever.”

2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games

Heading into Saturday night’s final in Paris, it wasn’t clear if the elbow could hold up for six rounds. Rather than build his distances gradually, Crouser chased big throws early — a gamble — hoping his opponents might tighten up if they fell behind.

Throwing 74 feet 3 inches on his first attempt, he raised his arms and worked the crowd. His lead had widened by the third round, at which point nature intervened.

A storm blew in, drenching the stadium and making the shot put ring treacherously slippery. One after another, competitors started attempts only to have their feet slip and their throws fall harmlessly. U.S. teammate and longtime rival Joe Kovacs unleashed a gutty try in the final round but, for a third consecutive Olympics, finished with silver.

Speaking in the mixed zone, Crouser reflected on years of eating right, getting nine hours of sleep each night and forgoing alcohol except for a 10-day vacation at the end of each track season. He mused about winning a fourth gold at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

If his body lasts. If he can keep thinking up improvements for his technique.

A reporter asked him about a moment from earlier in the evening. Before the finals, the shot putters emerged from a tunnel, one by one, pausing in front of a television camera. Crouser dropped to one knee in an homage to French sculpture.

His pose? The Thinker.

In a matter of days, the easygoing vibe of summer break will be replaced with the rigid schedules of a new school year.

The transition isn’t always easy, even for kids who are eager to return to the classroom. And if children are nervous about a new teacher, new school, or the prospect of making new friends, things can be even more fraught.

With summer break drawing to a close, The Times spoke with psychologists about how parents can help their children embrace a back-to-school mindset. Here’s their advice:

Don’t wait until the last minute to talk about the new school year.

Instead of having one big conversation, make the transition a little at a time in the final week or two of summer break, said Samantha Sweeney, a licensed psychologist in Washington, D.C. You might spend a few hours gathering school supplies; another day, you can plot out what to pack for lunches. Activities like these provide opportunities for kids to talk about how they’re feeling about the upcoming year.

“If you bring it up all at once, you get freaked out all at once,” she said. “Doing it gradually is usually easier for kids.”

If your child is anxious about going back to school, don’t try to talk them out of it.

It’s important to acknowledge their feelings and make them feel heard, experts say.

“If you say, ‘No no no, school is great and it’s going to be wonderful,’ they’ll say, ‘You don’t get it,’ or ‘You don’t understand,’” said Sweeney, co-author of “Working With Worry: A Workbook for Parents on How to Support Anxious Children.”

Trying to convince a kid to feel a certain way is likely to backfire, said Eileen Kennedy-Moore, a clinical psychologist in Princeton, N.J., who specializes in parenting and child development. “The harder we argue, ‘It’s going to be great!’ the harder they’ll insist, ‘It’s going to be terrible!’”

Don’t give false assurances.

It’s risky to tell your child that everything will be just fine, or that school will be the same as it was last year, because that might not turn out to be true, Sweeney said.

Instead, boost their confidence by reminding them of past successes, like their track record of making new friends. You can also tell them you’ll be there to support them if they need help.

Try to pinpoint the source of their concern.

Are they nervous because they don’t know what to expect from a new teacher? Will they be using a locker for the first time and they’re worried about forgetting the combination for their lock?

Once you have a better idea of what you’re dealing with, you and your child can work together to brainstorm a solution, experts said. Get the ideas flowing by reminding them of times they’ve overcome similar problems in the past.

“You’re guiding them but you’re not giving them all the answers,” said Mary Alvord, a cognitive behavioral psychologist in Rockville, Md., and co-author of “The Action Mindset Workbook for Teens.” “My goal with parents is to teach kids how to be more proactive, how to take initiative. It builds resilience.”

Consider a dress rehearsal of the first day of school.

This isn’t necessary for everyone, but if a child is worried about how they’ll get to campus or where to find a bathroom, a dry run may allay their concerns.

“Knowing what to do can help kids feel more confident that they can cope,” said Kennedy-Moore, creator of the Kids Ask Dr. Friendtastic podcast.

The school may even allow your child to meet their teacher while they’re setting up their classroom, said Sweeney, who has worked as a school psychologist.

“When they walk in the door on the first day and see a familiar face, that can make a big difference,” she said.

Talk through worrisome scenarios.

“It’s impossible to anticipate every possible problem, so an important question to have your child consider is, ‘Who could help you if you need help?’ Kennedy-Moore said.

You might be able to solve some problems in advance. For instance, if your child is concerned about having someone to sit with at lunch, encourage them to make a plan with a friend.

A conversation may also help your child realize that the things they’re afraid of are very unlikely to happen. If they’re scared that no one will pick them up and they’ll have to spend the night at school, ask if that’s ever happened to them, or to anyone they know personally.

Encourage kids to reconnect with their friends.

Kids may be nervous about seeing some of their classmates for the first time in months. Smooth the way by arranging a playdate or two before school starts. Older kids might prefer to break the ice by reaching out with a text or via a social media app, Sweeney said.

Another way to help settle a child’s nerves is having them practice what they’ll do when they see their peers at school. Kennedy-Moore suggests they look the friend in the eye, smile and say “Hi,” along with the friend’s name. Follow up with a sincere compliment — “Cool backpack!” — or a question that starts with “how” or “what.”

To further put a child at ease, rehearse how they’d respond to a likely question. If asked, “How was your summer?” a child can reply “Great,” followed by a fact like “We went to the beach with my cousins,” Kennedy-Moore said.

Give your kids time to adjust their sleep schedule.

Moving it gradually will make for an easier transition, experts say. Wake them up 15 or 30 minutes earlier each morning and encourage them to get dressed and eat breakfast to establish a routine. If the earlier start makes them tired, that will help them fall asleep earlier too.

Getting enough rest is an important factor in school success, said Alvord, adjunct professor at George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

“A lack of sleep interferes with emotion regulation and with clarity of thought,” she said. “When you’re tired, everything seems much worse.”

But if the new sleep schedule doesn’t stick before school starts, don’t panic. Just keep their after-school schedules open to facilitate earlier bedtimes.

“Your kids will get over the jet lag from the schedule shift in a few days,” Kennedy-Moore said.

Don’t pass your own anxieties on to your kids.

Children often look to adults for cues about how to respond in unfamiliar or unusual situations, Kennedy-Moore said.

“If we, as parents, are calm and generally positive about school, it makes it easier for kids to have positive expectations,” she said.

That may be easier said than done. When it comes to their children, parents tend to worry about the worst-case scenario and see things in all-or-nothing terms, Alvord said. If they can learn to recognize and adjust their thinking patterns, they can help their children to do the same, she said.

Focus on the positive.

If the first day of school puts your child through the wringer, praise them for sticking it out.

“Say, I’m so proud of you, we’re getting ice cream,’” Sweeney said. “I have a personal philosophy that ice cream fixes everything.”