Bev Wake keeps an eye out for the witty, wild and plain ridiculous.

No pressure: Even the world’s best athletes get nervous when they compete — and sometimes, it can be almost debilitating.

Take Brazilian diver Carlos de Matos, who will compete in the threemetre synchro competition with Luiz Felipe Outerelo. He suffers from severe anxiety, causing him to sabotage himself at times, and sees a therapist once a week.

“We have a very small room for mistakes in diving,” de Matos told the Olympic News Service. “Everyone is wellprepared technically and physically as we train constantly throughout the years. But I would say that 70 per cent is purely mental. The coaches try to get me angry during training sessions so I will prove them wrong. It’s a technique that sometimes works — sometimes I might just quit training on purpose.”

De Matos says he’s managed to keep the anxiety in check so far in Rio.

“I’m still feeling OK, because normally I get the runs when I’m very nervous,” he said. Wouldn’t need to tell us twice: Chinese table tennis player Ma Long also has trouble relaxing — so much so that his coach has encouraged him to drink alcohol.

Asked about the strategy, Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov laughed. Then gave it some sober second thoughts.

“Maybe I should try,” he said. “If it works for the world No. 1, it can’t be too bad. To relax, I prefer music and taking some walks in nature to calm down, but I’m world No. 5 and he’s No. 1, so if it works well for him, we’ll see.” He’s okay, but ...: Blair Tuke and Peter Burling have won four straight 49er world championship titles for New Zealand and are the reigning Olympic silver medallists. The sailors spend a lot of time together and, for the most part, get along.

But when asked by the Olympic News Service to name Burling’s worst habit, Tuke didn’t hesitate.

“Peter knows what it is: it’s scraping the yogurt container with a spoon,” he said. “He must have been brought up to make sure he didn’t leave anything behind. It’s really annoying.”