Alan Thompson

Swimming Australia National Head Coach

HAVE NO FEAR – THIS IS A SPECIAL TIME

The Olympic Games are a very special time!

They are special for the athletes, coaches and staff directly involved and they are special for the people that have supported those people throughout their journey to the Olympic Games.

The Games are also special for the host city and host country and the Olympics are special for many, many people throughout the world for many, many reasons.

With Beijing just days away I thought it would be appropriate to share a few of my thoughts about what the Olympic Games mean to me and the fire I have had inside about them for much of my life.

As a kid I had a dream to go to the Olympics as most young sportspeople do at some stage of their lives and the fire started burning then. I wasn’t successful enough as an athlete to reach that level of achievement, my sporting focus went elsewhere and I thought the dream was over. The fire though, never went out.

In 1980 I starting working for the great late swimming personality Terry Buck just after the Olympics in Moscow and he spent hours regaling me with stories about the Games he had attended. He showed me his 1964 Australian Team blazer and his terry towelling robe and I was hooked again. The fire had been stoked and the dream was alive. I clearly remember thinking to myself that maybe I could be involved in the Olympics as a coach and I started working to achieve that goal.

At the 1984 Games I remember watching the 200 metres butterfly on television and seeing Jono Sieben, a 17-year-old Aussie with no fear and no barriers, ranked 32nd in the world, take on and defeat , who was the closest thing to of that era. I still relate what Jono achieved and his attitude towards doing it to some of our team members today. It was a golden Olympic moment that I will never forget.

Duncan Armstrong’s victory in the 200m freestyle in 1988 was a similar situation. An unheralded Aussie up against the best of the best – Gross, and – and coming out on top. We didn’t win a lot of medals in those days and that was a special Olympic moment for me and anyone even remotely involved in swimming in our country.

Now in these days of greater success I hope we never take world records or gold medals for granted because it wasn’t the norm in those days and what Jono and Duncan

achieved deserves to be remembered for the moments they were, just as every success needs to be now.

By 1992 and Barcelona I had become entrenched in swimming as a career and I had come into contact with and seen him swim many times. His success and the way he conducted himself in the Olympic arena threw further fuel on the fire of my own Olympic dream.

In 1993, once Sydney was announced as the host of the 2000 Games I was determined to be involved. Tony Shaw and I decided then and there that we should go to Atlanta in 1996 so we had some Olympic experience before Sydney. We saved and we went over, mainly as interested spectators, although I was fortunate enough to have a home coach’s accreditation because Trent Steed, who was on the team, was a member of the swimming club where I was coaching. It was everything I had thought it would be and the fire of my dream was blazing uncontrollably.

In 2000 I was appointed as the manager of the swimming team and I got my first taste of the Olympics as a member of the Australian Team. My dream had been realised but what I didn’t yet know was that the fire would not be extinguished, rather it would keep burning.

I remember waking up each morning in the village in Sydney and sitting down with a coffee and the newspaper and looking down the hill to see the Olympic Flame burning brightly. At that point I realised the flame was an apt symbol for my personal Olympic fire and the dreams it started burning with. I am sure many an athlete, coach and official has felt the same feeling. It was magic.

The Athens Olympics in 2004 brought with it lots of feelings and emotions. It was my first as a team coach and with that came a different perspective and a real personal level of responsibility to the athletes I was charged with looking after – my own two swimmers, Jim Piper and Felicity Galvez, and two others Shayne Reese and Adam Lucas. Still the fire burned, still the dream kept on.

This time around I am looking forward to the opportunity to taking on a different role and yet another Olympic perspective. In all of my up close Olympic experiences I have been fortunate enough to have been mentored by some great leaders in Don Talbot (1996 and 2000) and Leigh Nugent (2004) and I hope I can provide similar guidance to Our Team.

In closing I would like to take the opportunity to wish Our Swim Team all the best in Beijing, I know you will do yourselves and our country proud. Remember the fire that has burned throughout your dream, remember this opportunity comes once every four years at the very most and remember to have no fear.

On behalf of our swimmers I would also like to offer my best wishes to every other Australian competing at these Games – it will be a time to savour.

And lastly, all the best to our Paralympic swimmers and coaches who are preparing well for their big meet in September. Keep doing a great job.