ATHLETE’S VIEW
After the Finish Line
Cloud nine
Words: Sholto Carnegie / Photography: Benedict Tufnell
For ten years I’ve dreamt of winning the Olympics. Ten years of willing myself forward with positive affirmations, self-talk and goal setting, not to mention millions of strokes on the water. You’d have thought I’d be ready for the dream to become a reality. I wasn’t. Despite countless hours of physical and mental preparation I’d never given much thought to what it would actually be like to win: I wasn’t ready for the emotional overload that followed. When I won my gold medal in Paris I could barely believe it, I kept pinching myself. Had the nine of us really just become Olympic champions?
It may sound strange but having achieved my dream I was left only in total disbelief. As if my inner child, the skinny 14-year-old kid who first dreamt of gold, refused to accept that it had been done. Fait accompli. Only now, writing this article two months after crossing the finish line, do I begin to notice a growing sense of inner peace. I’m still processing the emotions; it’s been quite the journey.
After years of training the final stint of physical preparation came in the form of two exhausting training camps. The first was at Silvretta in Austria, a high-altitude training camp which the British men have been visiting for the last 25 years. It’s tough but very productive, a work camp with a golden history. This was followed by a warm weather prep camp in Avis, Portugal. My crew, the GB men’s eight, built a lot of momentum on these camps; the guys were gelling well together and we were hitting good speeds. Sure, there were a few bumps along the road such as some last-minute Covid cases, but the team was strong, and we met each challenge head on.