The final mind over matter story that I recall, shows the limits of it...there was a Russian guy who thought he could manipulate matter...so he stood in front of a bicyclist, and *willed* the bicyclist to stop before crashing into him. This worked, so he decided to see if he could up the ante a bit, so he jumped in front of a car, *willing* him to stop, also...again, the car stopped. Then he wanted to see how strong his mind's abilities were, so he decided to try and stop a freight train....the train *willed* otherwise. (True story).
He's been offered millions of dollars if he could prove that it was real, and not a stage trick. (And I worked with David Copperfield, it's cool how he makes a Winnebago or 727 disappear, but it's a stage trick - a real cool stage trick, NASA level science and technology at work, but a trick in the end) That money is still there.
What you give examples of is mind over mind, not mind over matter. They are not 'meditating' they are 'visualizing' (you can see pro skiers doing it before their runs too) it's a form of practice and of memorizing the right moves so they are instinct and not 'thought out' because at world class downhill level - or Blue Angel flying level - if you have to think first, you've lost.
