Fergus Mainland, host of The End of the Island and British Rowing’s Olympic Debriefs, reflects on a difficult regatta for Team GB and why he believes there is more to be optimistic about than immediately apparent.
Sport is one of life’s greatest inventions. It has the ability to bring nations together, to inspire and to escape from the mundane normal. Sport allows a person to dream, to feel a part of something bigger than themselves and to feel connected to others across the globe.
For many sports winning the Olympic games is the greatest sporting achievement. Success at the games can define an individual for life and cement their place in the history books.
But what is success?
Over 12 hours on from the conclusion of the Olympic regatta I have found myself continually asking this question around the permeameters of the Great Britain team that raced at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo. The measurement of success is something that varies from person to person and sport to sport. In the context of rowing ‘success’ can be defined across a variety of different ways.
The first is the black and white data. Great Britain won two medals, a silver in the Men’s Quad and a Bronze in the Men’s Eight. This resulted in a 14th place finish on the rowing medal table. It was a step down from London’s nine medals, including four Gold and it was a step down from Rio’s five medals, including three Gold. Going of this data alone, Tokyo would be classed as an Olympic campaign that fell short of success.
When taking wider data into consideration perhaps these games were a success? GB had 80% of its crews reaching A Finals, the best of any nation with five or more entries. Going off the World Cup points system, similar to the VL at BUCS Regatta, then GB place second with 37 points, behind The Netherlands on 39. By comparison, New Zealand brought nine crews to Tokyo with 5 of them making A Finals. However. All five of those boats won medals, three Gold and two Silver.
It’s worth noting that off the eight crews that made A Finals, no one placed lower than fourth and all six 4th placed crews were less than 3s off the medal podium:
- LW2x 0.01s
- W1x 0.67s
- W4- 1.06s
- M4- 2.18s
- M2x 2.85
- W2- 2.86
While crunching numbers and analysing results one thing is consistent from sport to sport. As a coach, you can never ask more of what your athlete is capable of. You can only ask them to go and lay down their best possible performance. If the crew comes off the water and they can honestly look each other in their eyes and say we had our best possible performance and gave It our all, then that is a successful race. In the early hours of the mornings, we saw bravery, fearlessness and just downright inspirational performances that saw British athletes lay it all out there. To question an athlete’s commitment, intensity or desire during an Olympic final is flat out disrespectful given their intent to achieve their dreams and bring fulfilment to the previous Olympiad’s training.
It’s a statement that is used so often but I feel undervalued: “Control the controllables.” In other words, don’t try and influence other boats in the regatta or determine what their boat speed is. As a rower, the only thing you can do is impact how quickly your boat will travel from A to B. So, if you come off the water, look each other in their eyes and say we had our best possible performance and gave it our all which resulted in a 6th place finish then so be it. Some days, the Kiwis and the Aussies will be the better crew.
Success becomes more about the journey, about the everyday goals and creating an environment that creates opportunities to beat the world
In parallel to this though, the questions must therefore be asked as to why this was the best the crews could have done. What more could the coaching staff and support team have done to ensure that British crews ended up on the podium rather than just outside in 4th position. Various factors have come to fruition and have already been debated; COVID-19, a young squad and the departure of Jurgen Grobler amongst others have all been raised.
The nature of sport is that there are winners and there are losers. Not every can stand on top of the medal podium as Olympic Champion for life and that is the cutthroat beauty of it. As a result, success becomes more about the journey, about the everyday goals and creating an environment that creates opportunities to beat the world.
Anyone who knows me will understand that I’m a big American Football fan. I follow the Seattle Seahawks closely and the coaching philosophy of their Head Coach, Pete Carroll is one that I am fascinating. Labelled as Carroll’s ‘Win Forever’ philosophy, it’s about being the very best you can be. Nothing else matters as long as you’re working and striving to be your best. Always compete. Carroll has created an environment in Seattle that puts athletes first an execution second. By this he means creating the type of atmosphere that drives athletes to want to win every day, together. Coach Carroll asks them to think of bigger goals and less immediate returns as they strive together for greatness as a team.
Our rowing idols are still on a journey to greatness, striving to be their best at every opportunity
So why this trip across the pond and what has it got to do with the British Rowing team? Well, it all comes back to how we define success. In terms of those less immediate returns, many wisely set their sights on Paris in 2024. Therefore, we arrive at this idea of success being about a journey, a transformation of an individual or a crew into the best version of themselves, and the process of success becomes more important than the result itself. So, if we examine this journey that GBRT has been on since the commencement of this Olympiad then we can say that this was a successful journey. With only 20% of Rio Olympians returning to the squad, the transformation from raw talent into Olympians for so many in the squad is admirable in the highest regard. At the 2017 World Champs, GBRT won five medals, however none of them gold and the Men’s Eight and Double were in the B Final. Therefore, it is hard to call this Olympics unsuccessful given this is the sort of performance we should have expected, despite the golden flourishes we have seen earlier this year.
As a result, this journey of success is still ongoing. As Paris looms just three years away, the next 36 months presents a phenomenal opportunity to bleed into the squad some of the outstanding U23 talent we have as well as some of the athletes that are a part of #ProjectParis. Greatness as a team could not be epitomised more than in the sport of rowing and our rowing idols are still on that journey, striving to be their best at every opportunity.
As I now try to conclude this, I’ll start by asking you to spare a thought for countries such as The United States. They will most definitely be leaving the land of the rising sun with their tails between their legs – 9 crews, 5 finals, no medals and a knockout blow for the Women’s Eight at an Olympic Regatta. But as my attention returns to GB, I’m filled with heartache but also with optimism about this time three years down the line.
Of course, there will be questions about this year’s medal haul. There is no doubt it is lower than previous years and serious questions will be asked about the lottery funding that has gone into British Rowing and the funds that will continue to flow up to and beyond Paris. That’s the nature of elite sport, performance and success in those in charge of the money is measured in medals. Whether that’s right or wrong, is for another article but what I will say is that the GBRT put itself in a position to win eight medals, imagine the conversations we would be having with those 15 athletes had gone less than three seconds quicker. Lottery funding is so much more than winning. It creates opportunities for dreams to be realised and reached for, memories to be made. Lottery funding generates medals but it is also an investment into our nation’s proud sporting culture, an invest in the future and in the journey of success.
“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction that comes from knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.”
John Wooden
To the crews that raced and represented Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympic Games I say thank you. Thank you for bringing this country together after the hardship we have all faced. The next three years are one hell of an exciting prospect, and I can’t wait to see what we’ll be discussing after the regatta in Paris.
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