Duncan Goodhew is urging GB swimmers to stay cool

Published on Sunday 1 May 2011 21:50

Olympian Duncan Goodhew has urged Britain's swimmers not to become lost in the occasion when they step up on the blocks aiming for gold at London 2012.

Britain recovered from the worst possible performance in Sydney eight years ago to claim six medals at the Beijing games, including two golds for Rebecca Adlington.

With the eyes of the world soon to turn to London, the opportunity to cement a place in British sporting folklore is there for the taking.

However, Goodhew - who claimed a famous 100 metres breaststroke gold at the boycotted Moscow Games in 1980 - knows all too well mental focus must go hand-in-hand with physical prowess if Team GB are to make the most of home advantage and stand proud on top of the podium again.

"When I was at my first Olympics in Montreal (1976], it was like a lamb to the slaughter, I was not ready for the intense, almost claustrophobic, feeling which you get in those moments before going out onto the pooldeck for the final," Goodhew said at the opening of the Everyone Active Basildon Sporting Village, an official training venue for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

"The second time in Moscow, I just sat down and read a book. The rest of the world's best swimmers were all asking: 'What is he doing? Doesn't he know it is the Olympic finals?'

"It was my way of keeping calm and getting the edge, rather than just staring people out."

Goodhew added: "Winning is a real struggle - it is a personal one, you think 'I am just a normal bloke, so why out of the 6.5 billion people on the planet should I be the best?'

"In answering that question, which you have to do to win Olympic gold, it is a process that is intellectual, physical, and about integrity - not only of your training programme, but also your thought process.

"You are justifying why you can stand with the eight fastest people in the world, there with the most profound silence you have ever heard, the monitor showing you gold medals being won and lost.

"You have to really know you are meant to be there and know you are going to win, because in those moments before the race, that is when the gold medal is won and lost."

Goodhew, 53, is "trembling" at the prospect of seeing every one of Britain's athletes inspired to reach the medal podium across all sports.

"It's our games," he said. "And over the years there seems to be a home advantage for Olympians. In Barcelona, the Spanish won far more gold medals than they won before, in Athens.

"So hopefully Britain will respond in a similar way with that home team advantage and get more medals across the field."