| Craig
Townsend - Athens Olympics trip 2004
Two
of my strongest impressions from my trip to this Olympics was that of the total
self-belief, and also the individuality possessed by a particular handful of the
'double' Olympic gold winners (from Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004). Some of these
swimmers included Ian Thorpe, Gary Hall Jr, Pieter van Den Hoogenband, Grant Hackett....
but one could not mention the Athens Olympics without a special mention to Michael
Phelps, whose level of self-belief is obviously enormous, and who will undoubtedly
be a major contender to double-up on his numerous Athens gold medals in Beijing
in 2008. What
made Athens really interesting was that several of these brilliant swimmers were
greatly doubted by the press and sections of the swimming fraternity over the
past few years, who questioned some of their decisions and doubted their ability
to deliver in Athens. These
doubts were all due to various different reasons - Thorpe for his controversial
change of coach from childhood coach Doug Frost to the far lesser-experienced
Tracey Menzies a few years ago, Gary Hall Jr for his scant few swimming appearances
since his Sydney gold medal, and Grant Hackett - who has been sick most of the
year with lung and asthma problems. Just as all elite swimmers do, no doubt Pieter
van Den Hoogenband would also have had his share of detractors, as did Phelps
for his decision to try for Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals. Yet
the most important thing for these swimmers was that no-one else's opinion was
more important to these swimmers than their own, and they did it their own way.
As all true champions do, they all delivered when it mattered most, and for me,
it was purely and simply because they believed that no-one knew themselves better
(or what they were truly capable of) than they did. And this turned out to be
true. So one of the great lessons from this is - it doesn't matter how many people
doubt you, as long as you never stop believing in yourself. Here
are a few other interesting mental aspects that I have recently heard about these
particular swimmers, which might be of some interest to you, and which go to show
that champions do not necessarily follow the pack in their methods, but instead,
they blaze their own trail. For
instance, Ian Thorpe began using the mental technique of meditation this year
to get the best out of himself at the 2004 Athens Olympics - as he apparently
needed a technique to free his mind of stress from the intense scrutiny he was
under from the Australian media before the Games. The
pressure was so fierce that Thorpe apparently closed some of his training sessions
to the press (at his pre-Olympic camp in Germany) to avoid having cameras constantly
in his face as he prepared for his second Olympics. He has also introduced some
eastern philosophies into his training, including yoga, as he says the breathing
techniques he's learned have helped him recover quicker between races, and the
techniques allow him to get rid of lactate from his blood more efficiently. I
also hear that when he is training, he sings to himself - usually just whatever
was on the radio in the car on his way to training. Some
other interesting items are that Pieter van Den Hoogenband apparently listens
to tapes of Pearl Jam to psyche himself up for races, although he admittedly still
gets nervous on the blocks awaiting the starter's whistle. Gary Hall Jr is another
unusual individual, who also rarely seems to follow the rest when it comes to
preparation. While all the other sprinters were resting up for their Athens races,
it was rumoured that Gary went off on a tour of the Greek Islands to keep his
mind free of stress. Whatever he did, it worked! Grant
Hackett was on his way to the pool for the 1500m final, and kept repeating an
affirmation (or mantra) over and over to himself - "Whatever it takes, whatever
it takes....". (I have discussed this powerful mental technique a great deal
in various swimtips in the past). Hackett said that he was exhausted by the time
he reached the last 300m or 400m of the race, but that in the last 100m metres,
he thought to himself that he was going to 'give it everything' - even if he had
to pass out! (Now that is determination). Hackett's philosophy is to never let
his victories go to his head or his failures go to his heart. Powerful stuff. Music
is a great motivator and relaxer, and is used by many great swimmers. Michael
Phelps always listens to music before his races, and even wears his headphones
all the way onto the pool deck before he competes. As most top swimmers (and athletes)
have their own various superstitions, Phelps is no different - back in 2000, it
was reported that he kept a can of clam chowder in his hotel room for good luck,
but I'm not sure if he did this in Athens! These
stories show in just a small way how each champion has blazed their own unique
path to the top, using methods which work for them. Like all champions they created,
and use, their own personal success formula - whilst at the same time, constantly
searching for new ways to further improve, such as Thorpe's experimental inclusions
of meditation, yoga, boxing and running up sandhills, which seem to have paid
off for him. Add a burning level of deep inner self-belief to this, and you have
champions! **********************
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