The article reveals in detail more than 50 years of scientific and practical experience of Russian sports psychologists in the training of elite athletes members of national sports teams. The works of well-known scientists who were employees of the Saint-Petersburg Scientific-Research Institute for Physical Culture describe the sequence of development of the psychophysiological approach. A description of the psychophysiological methods developed at the Institute, their capabilities and results of practical use in the scientific and methodological support of sports training of elite athletes is given. Authors provide a scientific justification for the fact that the use of a psychophysiological approach, bases on I. Pavlov’s ideas, to determine current psychophysiological conditions and innate individual characteristics, including talents and giftedness, is an indispensable tool for a sports psychologist in the practice of training and developing the potential of athletes to achieve excellence in sport performance.