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Anyone with Olympic ambition who says they aren’t allowing for the extra dimension brought by the prospect of Paris is a liar, writes Katharine Merry
With athletes now well into winter training, I’ve been watching a few updates on social media recently which have made me smile. I sent a message offering my thoughts and prayers to Andrew Pozzi after I saw a picture of him doubled over after a session. He’s being coached by Colin Jackson now and had clearly been put through his paces. I do not miss that!
I always found it horrible coming back after my end-of-season break. It was the recurring realisation of how long something takes to achieve and how quick it is to lose. As soon as you take two to three weeks off, your fitness just goes out the window.
What happens is that you are tapering and maintaining for the whole of June, July and August and all of your sessions are completely different but then you completely change everything up and go back to donkey work. That’s the killer.
You’ve taken a bit of time off – during which you might have enjoyed your life – but then you’re going back into a completely different regime and your body goes: “What the hell is going on here?”
The positive is that you always felt like you started with a blank canvas every winter and you were motivated to get back. If you’d had a bad season, been injured or hadn’t really achieved what you’d wanted to, then this was a reset button. That was a nice feeling because it was a case of: “Right, what’s happened before doesn’t matter.”
On the flipside, if you’ve done well then you’re trying to cling on to that momentum and keep it going.
Something that makes a huge difference, regardless of what your form has been like, is going into the winter right before an Olympics. If you’re fully focused, every winter should be a big one but going into Olympic year heightens the senses. There’s more tension, greater expectation of what’s to come, you’re very, very aware of what’s on the horizon and you look at things a little bit more intensely in terms of your preparation.
We’ve even seen it already over the course of 2023, with some athletes making decisions – with Paris in mind – about whether or not to compete in the summer just gone. Jake Wightman, for example, could have raced in the latter part of the summer after his injury troubles but he knew he wasn’t quite where he needed to be so he called it quits for the season.
Through those early months of winter training, you’re very much aware of playing it a little bit more carefully. We never needed the Olympics as an extra motivation – it was more of an awareness in terms of decision-making and fitness. You try not to let it seep in but anyone who says they’re not catering for it (if you are of that level) is a liar!
That extra tension will have been amplified, too, for those British athletes waiting to hear if they had made it on to the Lottery funding lists for the year ahead. As we all know, the sport is not awash with money and the funding is such a big deal to so many people. For many it’s a game changer and can be the difference as to whether they can stay in the sport full-time or not.
Every year it’s the same and it’s no surprise when some people are left upset or unhappy at being excluded. It’s completely understandable when so much is riding on a decision which is so subjective. There’s always some controversy over some names included or missing from the list.
But, if there’s a better way of allocating the money then I’d like to hear it – and I certainly don’t know it.
Would you like to be the one sitting down to make the decisions across all of these athletics disciplines? In a sport like ours which is so varied, you cannot compare apples and pears. It’s so difficult when you have to compare the potential from event to event. I think the majority of people would like things to be more black and white, but athletics just isn’t like that.
Another matter that grabbed the attention of competitors on these shores was the surprise departure of Stephen Maguire as UK Athletics Performance Director, to be replaced by Paula Dunn.
Dina Asher-Smith was quick to point out the contribution he has made to the team and the set-up which this summer enjoyed the most successful World Championships since 1993.
Paula Dunn (Mark Shearman)
Yes, it’s a big move. Yes, it’s a bold move from UKA chief executive Jack Buckner, given how successful Budapest was, but they have their reasons and I am delighted Paula has been given this opportunity and I think the athletes will respond well to her.
Regardless of who is in the role, in all honesty it shouldn’t make too much difference to the day-to-day lives of those who have Paris very much on their minds. The immediate concerns will be taken care of by their own individual coaches.
No one wants to see the boat rocked too much, and ideally it would be plain sailing towards Paris, but it wouldn’t be Olympic year without a few waves being made along the way.
» This article first appeared in the November issue of AW magazine, which you can read here
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