The psychiatrist behind the GB Olympic cycling team will be sharing his secrets of how to perform at the optimum level at the Garden Centre Association’s annual conference in January.

Dr Steve Peters, who is a consultant psychiatrist, bestselling author and head of sports psychology for UK Athletics, will be speaking at the conference on Monday 27 January.

Dr Peters has worked with some of our best-known and most admired athletes, including Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins and Victoria Pendleton.

In his bestselling book, ‘The Chimp Paradox’, Dr Peters explains his method to help us understand and control our ‘inner chimp’ – the irrational, impulsive, seemingly impossible part of our mind that often holds us back.

“By examining motivation, confidence and communication, he will show that competition is as much in the mind as it is in the field or on the  track – or in the garden centre. We can’t wait to hear what he has to say,” said the GCA’s interim chief executive Iain Wylie.

In addition to his extraordinary success with British cycling, Dr Peters has worked on 12 other Olympic disciplines, as well as Premier League  football and English rugby.

He began his career as a maths teacher, before switching to medicine and specialising in patients with severe and dangerous personality disorders.

His focus is now on how the mind can enable people to reach optimum performance in all walks of life. Working with sportspeople at the top  of their game, he gives them the confidence to come back from defeat and out-perform the opposition.

He has been described as a ‘genius’ by Team GB cycling coach Dave Brailsford. Meanwhile, Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Bradley Wiggins have all attributed their success to him.

The GCA conference, which is sponsored by Davidson Richards and Westland Horticulture, takes place at the Hilton Blackpool Hotel in Blackpool from January 26 until 29.  More than 300 delegates are expected to attend.