6 August 2012

So I eventually managed to catch a few hours sleep after the euphoria of day two in the Olympic stadium. I did wake up thinking ‘did all that really happen?’ I also felt really drained and muzzy headed, despite my only involvement in the proceedings being watching the action from the comfort of my living room. It’s an awesome feeling when you have won a major championship medal.  I remember winning my first medal in the World Champs in Berlin and only managing to get 40 minutes sleep throughout the entire night as I continued to relive the events of the evening and the race in my head over and over again.  I really hope Greg in particular experienced a similar feeling, as his performance was totally unexpected.

Trev woke with a massive grin on his face.  Presuming, like me, he was still reliving last night’s action, he went on to tell me how he wouldn’t want to be Andy (Jessica’s finance) right now as, in his words, “he must be thinking how on earth am I supposed to top that and make our wedding day the best day of her life?” Why is it that blokes find great pleasure in other people’s misfortunes?  Not that I am suggesting marrying Jess is a misfortune!  Anyway, male humour aside, there was a lot of expectation on the Team GB athletes today thanks to last night’s heroics.

It was great to see the much-awaited appearance of PSD in the 400mH.  For years many experts within UKA have recognized this girl’s vast potential and since her fantastic performance in the London Diamond League last month the rest of the world are now also aware of it.  She didn’t disappoint either, winning her heat and progressing to the semis.

It was a similar story for Robbie G in the high jump qualifying.  2012 was been an epic year for him thus far and he doesn’t look like he intends it to end here.  Trev and I have a brilliant relationship with Robbie’s coach, Fuzz Ahmed, and Trev and Fuzz can always be found playing pranks and laughing. It’s all harmless fun and really helps the athlete’s around them to relax.  That’s so important to athletes as if we saw our coaches looking nervous and stressed then it sends the wrong message to us and makes us think that we have something to worry about.  Fun and jokes aside, Fuzz is so knowledgeable and passionate about what he is trying to achieve and we are so glad to see all his hard work finally pay off with this talented athlete. 

The sight of Chrissie sat on her lane marker for a few minutes before her 400m final made me realize how many thoughts actually go through an athlete’s head during this time. I found myself wondering what she was thinking but I know many athlete’s think in different ways and different things work for different people. Over the years I have sometimes been totally overwhelmed by the emotion and significance of the event, other times I have focused on key mental parts of the race, and at other times I have tried to distract myself with mundane thoughts in order to take the pressure away from the situation and pretend I am not even there. People just do what it takes for them to cope with the situation in the best way possible. Whatever Chrissie does think during those moments before a championship race certainly does work for her. Her championship record is fantastic and her timing impeccable. I know she will be disappointed not to regain her Olympic title but after a rocky last few years a silver medal is an amazing achievement and another towards the team target.

I have to finish by mentioning Yami in the Triple Jump. Although she has only been cleared to represent Team GB in 2012, most of the team have known her for years as she lives and competes in Great Britain and is coached by a British coach.  Everyone was so pleased for Yami when she won the World Indoor title this winter as she really is a ‘salt of the earth’ type character who works incredibly hard for everything she has achieved. It was not meant to be for Yami in these Games, finishing in fifth position, but I know her presence in the team and hard work rubs off on the other team members. 

So another medal added to the tally. Well done Chrissie O!  I’m off to catch up on some lost hours of sleep!