41
Bo r l a s i a n 2 0 1 3
In School
yes, and they were £650 each. So much for the myth of
free tickets. Eventually the limit of 3 was relaxed a little
(but not the price!!) So if Rob was selected, at least we
could go and watch (To be fair, the £650 bought you a
package containing a ticket for each day of the rowing.
GB rowing ran an exchange scheme where you were able
leave tickets for days you had less interest in a pool, in
return getting the same number of tickets for the day your
offspring was going to perform)
Eventually the crews for the 2012 World Cup series we
announced, being a good indicator of the likely Olympic
participants, and happily Rob was amongst them. (Being
honest I think it’s fair to say that, based on his physical
and mental capability, Rob stood a very good chance of
selection. However he, like all the other members of the
eventual crew had suffered some not insignificant injury
problems through the winter and spring which could play
a major part in their eligibility)
The BOA workshop to prep us parents was brilliant.
They told us we’d see interest in our offspring, and even
ourselves, develop like never before. We were given an
insight into some of the mental preparations that the
athletes would be going through to enable them to cope
with the pressure. (Rob had already given us a pretty good
view of this), about the protective mental “bubble” each
athlete would create around themselves, and how they
needed to individually decide what they’d let into the
bubble and keep outside.
One particularly interesting aspect involved how we
needed to agree with our own sporting hero how we
would interact with them – Steve Parry, the first Brit to win
an Olympic swimming medal for 8 years – did a hilarious
speech about the impact of a chance meeting with his
Mum just before he went into his Olympic final. Equally
howwe’d need to prepare to deal with the press interest in
us. Step forward Steve again, who told the tale of his poor
Dad, sat at home watching the race surrounded by camera
crews in his living room).
Eventually the wraps came off and the rowing squad for
the Olympic games was announced. Thankfully Rob was
included. Great sigh of relief and yet another burst of
parental pride.
In any athlete’s sporting diary “kit day” holds a special
relevance. Another Steve Parry quote – “it’s all about the
kit” – I don’t think he’s overstating it. We’ve met a lot of
very senior athletes and they’re all extremely proud of
wearing their international colours. When Rob bowled up
with his 60Kg or so of Olympic kit, it was amazing. We too
had been a bit surprised when the styling of the TeamGB
Olympic wear was first shown to the public. But when you
see your own son or daughter in it, I defy anyone not to
think they look fantastic. A few of our friends felt the need
to comment about the (excessive in their view) number
of shirts, shorts, one-piece rowing outfits etc. the athletes
had been given. We developed a stock response, along
the lines of (a) the sponsors pay to be allowed to provide
this stuff, the kit doesn’t cost us anything, and (b) if your
kid was competing, would they perform better if they
spent their time concentrating on their sport, or washing
the kit? Seemed rational to me, but maybe I’m biased.
Come the Olympic Games., you’ll remember the weather
was pretty horrid for many weeks beforehand. The press
was full of horrors of Olympic traffic lanes all round London,
missiles on rooftops, and doubts about the wisdom of, and
our ability to host the games. In the Williams household
none of this seemed too relevant. Our Olympic experience
would be defined by about 18 minutes (assuming they
got through to the final) of sheer terror as the LM4- came
down the course in their 3 races.
Rob’s crew’s first race was on the very first day of
competition. We could barely watch Danny Boyle’s
spectacle on the TV. If we were this nervous, what could
it possibly be like to be an athlete sitting waiting for it all
to start?
The transformation of Dorney was amazing. We’d been
there many times as Rob had competed in domestic races,
but seating for 30,000andawhole seaof gamesmakers and
ambassadors had changed the place beyond recognition.
The wire mounted TV camera, which ran the length of
the lake was a technological marvel. The sheer number
of people was awesome. Holders of the aforementioned
“Friends and Family”tickets were diverted off to a stand on
the south side of the lake, facing across the water to the
27000 or so spectators in the main stand. So when they
cheered, it came straight at us. When racing was taking
place, even on the first day, the noise was unbelievable.
We had no idea of just howoverpowering that noise would
become in later days. The overall atmosphere at the event
was unlike any rowing race we’d ever attended. We put
this down to the unusual mix of attendees. Most regattas
are supported predominantly by friends and family of
competitors, or keen rowers many of whom are personally
interested in one of the athletes. At Dorney, there were
probably 25000 people each day who had come for a very
special day out to see world class athletes perform. Hence
a far smaller proportion of personally invested people.
Which gave the whole thing a far more light hearted,
upbeat atmosphere. It was great.
Press interest ramped up through the week as had been
explained (Alan was very proud to become a regular
contributor on the Al Jazeera TV coverage of the racing.
