'Will doing this help the athletes go faster'?

Sometimes when I stand in a cold, windy field watching our athletes perform I wonder why after all these years I still do it.  Then I witness a performance such as Samantha Murray’s in Budapest two weeks ago and I know exactly why.  She ran and shot brilliantly to move from 20^th place in the world cup event to 4^th, within a whisker of the podium and promptly followed it up a week later by winning bronze at world cup 4 in Rostov, southern Russia.  Samantha has been the story of Olympic qualification so far, having fought her way back into contention with three top six performances at top level competitions in 2012.  Alongside her, Mhairi Spence has also excelled and Olympic silver medallist in Beijing, Heather Fell, has been consistently in the top 8.  It has been really rewarding to see three British men compete consistently at world class level this season.  Picking two from Nick Woodbridge, Sam Weale and Jamie Cooke means the selectors have genuine contenders to choose from.  We meet this week to pick the team for next month’s world championships in Rome which is the next opportunity to qualify a named place for London 2012. 

Around the all-important performances by the athletes, preparation for the Games continue at pace.  I see my role as removing as many distractions as possible from all those responsible for performance on the field of play.  As the Games get bigger cycle by Olympic cycle so do the distractions, and hence my job.  The contracts, sponsor involvement, media interest, friends and family all are important parts of the whole and yet have the potential to impact performance.  Constantly, we ask ourselves ‘will doing this help the athletes go faster’?  If the answer is an emphatic ‘no’ then we don’t do it.  However, if the answer is a qualified ‘no’ such as fulfilling important media interest, then we manage it proactively on terms that have the least impact.  The athletes feel this too.  My advice is always to think of the short term impact of doing something away from training versus the benefits accruing to when they actually perform on the greatest stage of all.  Give your sponsors all the time they want once you have the medal hanging around your neck. That’s when they will most value you!

One of the great variables of the Modern Pentathlon is that our athletes choose their horse by lot and have just 20 minutes to warm up before riding a show-jumping course at a height of 1.20m.  In contrast to more mechanical and repetitive sports, we value adaptability, flexibility and equanimity in our athletes!  Along with pentathletes from Ireland we have assisted LOCOG with the training and selection of horses for London and have been reassured that they are looking at the right type of horse – neither a ‘push button’ operator nor a highly strung prima donna!  With Britain being such a passionate equestrian nation we all want to make sure that the riding event in London is a fair and worthy competition for all.