Street Fighter IV Training British Olympians

25 Feb 2009 at 13:16:34 by

British gold medal hopeful, Tyrone Robinson, has been using Street Fighter IV as part of his daily Taekwondo training regime in the run up to the 2012 Olympics.

22 year-old Robinson, already a British International Championship gold medalist and European Championship bronze medalist, has been studying martial art forms from the game and been using it to mentally rehearse moves, sharpen coordination and plan moves.

"I'm  never  going  to  be  able  to  throw  fireballs  in  the  ring  like  the characters in Street Fighter IV, but I can still try some of the crazy kicks they do.  It's a good way to relax at the end of a hard day's training and great to have a tournament with friends" says Robinson.

Street Fighter IV not only offers a wild and wonderful set of moves, it also offers fiercely competitive gameplay.  Psychologists and trainers alike believe games like Street Fighter IV could encourage forward thinking and enhanced perception of the opponent's next move, helping to potentially win battles.

"To complement their physical training our athletes are also encouraged, in their spare time, to play this type of game, as it is known that doing so can increase their attention span, depth perception and hand-eye co-ordination; though this is always recommended as an addition to their physical training and never as a replacement," said Des Blackburn, performance analyst for Great Britian Taekwondo.

We'll be keeping an eye on Robinson, and if he does end up winning a gold medal, we'll know we have Ryu, Ken and the gang to thank.

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