It has been a while since I posted on the blog (apart from the bike trip... for which I supplied the pictures), but today I awoke early with a strange desire to tell the world (or the 5 people who will read this blog anyway) of my heroes. Their performances were so strong yesterday that is spurred me into action this morning. Of course right now everyone is probably expecting me to say Michael Phelps... but as AMAZING as his win was last night - Gold Medal number 7 by .01 of a second... I am inspired by two other olympians.
Michelle Guerette:
http://www.usrowing.com/News_Media/AthleteBios/mguerette.aspx (Bio)
http://www.rowingnews.com/sub.cfm?section=blogs&authorid=2 (blog - albiet out of date)
Michelle is a friend of mine from Radcliffe and I had the honor to watch her train and listen to the frustration and elation that a single sculler must learn to endure while training in this lonely boat. It has been amazing to watch as the seasons passed, some of which were a thrill ride, and some of which brought doubts if is was all worth it. I have seen the effects of training and taper not only on speed, but also on physical and mental state. I was fortunate to be in the office at Radcliffe as Michelle - the single sculler - made us her "team" by leaning on us for support, by sharing her elation as well as her fears. I was mostly a bystander to all of this, but getting to know such an elite athlete and being allowed to share victory and defeat with such an elite athlete certainly changed me as a coach, and - this being the point of this blog - invested me deeply in her success at these Olympic Games. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous through the:
Heats http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/RO/C73/ROW012903.shtml#ROW012903 as she battled long time nemesis and heavily favored Ekaterina Karstens (whom she has not beaten)
Quarter Finals http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/RO/C73/ROW012301.shtml#ROW012301
Semi Finals http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/RO/C73/ROW012201.shtml#ROW012201 as she battled the up and coming Chinese Phemon about whom I have heard amazing physical testing results.
And then came the final. I know Michelle does not have a great start, but she has tremendous power and feel, and when she finds her natural rhythm, she can move as well as anyone. However, she had already lost to Belarus and China. My hope held firm though... It looked as if she was conserving energy in the Semifinal and allowed China to pull through, while Belarus and Bulgaria battled for the win in the other Semi.
The splits in the final can not tell the whole story, but until it goes up on youtube, or the dvd comes out, it will have to do. 4.5 seconds down at the thousand (I am very nervous) then comes one of the best 2nd thousands I have seen outside the french men's pair in Athens. Michelle moves up to 2nd .44 seconds off the Gold medal. http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/RO/C73/ROW012201.shtml#ROW012201
After watching Michelle for those 3 years, watching Charlie Butt help her reshape her stroke, and listening to Cory and Liz help her keep her focus and determination... I am beside myself with excitement for the best female sculler I know... the 2nd fastest one in the world. G'Rette.
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My other hero...
Dara Torres http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=1172/bio/ (bio)
Dara was in her first olympics in 1984 at 17 yrs old. She retired a few times and kept getting drawn back to the pool. She is now 41 and may be a favorite for the Gold in the 50 free. Imagine if she had not retired... She would have competed in 7 olympic games and probably medaled in all of them. In a sport like swimming, that is amazing.
Dara's early career was built on volume and natural skill; those have faded in her later years. She cannot dominate by being the best natural athlete or by working harder than anyone anymore. So, she is an example now of what you can do if you do it "right". For example, we often replace stretching with more volume, or skip it because it is boring... Dara hired full time Stretching coaches and Message Therapists. Since her body cannot recover as quickly on its own as it did in her youth, she needed to cut the volume and do all the little things (diet, stretching, message, etc...) to recover and be ready for another quality workout. She is now only swimming once a day and actively recovering. I would bet that though her swims are less frequent than most elite athletes, they are higher quality because she does the recovery "work" to make sure of it. The other interesting thing that she has changed in her workouts is her weight training. She used to lift heavy weights and increase muscle... she has now shifted her weight training to focus on the core muscles. As a coach, I am always preaching the benefits of core work, and recovery activities (proper eating, sleep, stretching, etc...) but I will be the first to admit that I often take the young Dara approach and focus more on volume and overall strength. Old Dara is a wake-up call to us all. We can no longer dismiss core, diet, stretching, sleep, etc... as low priority. We cannot just say "I know, I should eat better, stretch more, sleep more, get my core work..." We have to DO it. Dara will prove it tomorrow (I really hope she wins the Gold). Dara, at 41, by "doing it right" will show the world that those pieces of the athletes puzzle are not the decoration, but rather the framework of the athlete. I am inspired to change the way I coach by Dara Torres.
The other reason Dara is my hero happened last night in the Semi of the 50 free. As the swimmers were approaching the blocks Dara noticed that the Swedish swimmer was having difficulty with her suit. Dara, showing tremendous sportsmanship, both tried to help her, and then delayed the race and got the officials to hold off long enough for the Swede to get ready. I hope that we all as athletes can embody sportsmanship as well as Dara. At the Olympics, rather than cutting everyone out and bringing all focus internal and hating her competitors, Dara saw a competitor in distress, and broke her normal preparation routine to help her competititor. What an awesome person she is and a great role model for all athletes young and old.