Matthew was the British table tennis number one for almost a decade, won the men’s singles at the Commonwealth Championships three times, and competed for Great Britain in the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 and Sydney in 2000.
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He was not always successful. He admitted to choking at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, falling apart under the pressure of the biggest competition on the planet. The experience provided the impetus for trying to understand how the mind responds under conditions of stress – and to develop techniques to perform without inhibition. In 2015, he made a programme on the subject for Radio 4 called The Choke.
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Matthew is a columnist and feature writer for The Times. He writes regularly on football and other sports, as well as on culture, media and politics.
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Matthew speaks to companies, sports teams and other organisations on psychology, performance and continuous improvement. He delivered keynotes to pioneering organisations around the world including - Harvard University, the commanders and admirals of the British surface fleet, Britain’s chief constables, the Presidents of the medical Royal Colleges, the General Staff of the British Army, the global partners of Goldman Sachs, as well as the Arsenal first team and other top sports organisations.
He also provides tailored events for businesses and a learning course on the principles of high performance.