Olympic hopeful uses Street Fighter IV to train

Increases attention span, depth perception and hand eye co-ordination, apparently

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25 February 2009 11:12 GMT / By Verity Burns

One of Britain's 2012 Olympic gold hopefuls has said he uses beat-em-up favourite Street Fighter IV to prepare and rehearse for fights.

Tyrone Robinson is a British International Championship gold medallist and European Championship Bronze medallist in Taekwondo.

Robinson said he used the game to mentally rehearse moves, sharpen coordination, speed up reflexes and for advance fight planning.

"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 22 year old Tyrone.

Apparently his coaches agree, and think the "complex tactical forethought" required in Street Fighter IV will bring him real benefits inside the ring. Lets hope he's not just a button basher then.

Des Blackburn, performance analyst for Great Britain Taekwondo, added his support for games like Street Fighter, saying: "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".

Kids everywhere are scribbling that down as the perfect excuse to give their parents of why they simply must play another level before dinner. Genius.