As it was, our two women
selected themselves with their podium finishes at May’s World Championships and
Nick Woodbridge’s consistently strong season made him the strongest of our
three top class men. Beijing Olympian
Sam Weale took the second of the men’s selections ahead of Jamie Cooke who had
done so well to reach the qualifying standard last season as well as win the world
junior title in the autumn. Tough on him
as it was, I feel very confident that his time will come.
There is no question that
the hype surrounding a home Games has the potential to distract us in the final
lead into London. To mitigate this, we will
go abroad. The first of two overseas
preparation camps started this week, and after a 10 day interlude at Bath we
will be back out to France for the final run in. With two new Olympians in the team, I am
conscious that they will not get to experience the magic of the Opening Ceremony,
but we will do our best to mark it in style nonetheless. Competing on the last two days of the Games
means that the experience they will have of the Olympics will be condensed and
tightly managed. The skill is to tap into
the inspiration of being part of a home Games whilst re-focusing on the job in
hand. So much was there to take in, that
I remember my first visit to the Olympic village restaurant as an athlete in
1988 lasted 3 hours - and I only went in for a snack!
After the team
announcement the next big moment for the athletes will be the Team GB kitting
out at Loughborough University, site of the official final preparation camp. There are more than 80 items to be collected
and I have warned the team to have no more than two people per car – otherwise
something will have to be left behind. Being
inducted into the team is always a special moment, and I am glad it is
happening at one the UK’s finest sporting institutions with a rich heritage of
producing Olympians.