Now’s the time to tap that Olympic potential

9:19am Tuesday 19th August 2008

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Sarah Claxton and Usain Bolt have shown they have a lot in common.

It isn’t anything to do with athletics; not in that way. This is to do with the right attitude, and John Hyland reckons both Claxton and Bolt have got it in spades.

“This is Sarah’s second Olympic Games and, this time, she looks as though she is really enjoying herself,” said Mr Hyland, coach with Colchester and Tendring Athletic Club.

He has known the Colchester hurdler since her junior days, and he doesn’t think he has ever seen her hurdle better than in the 110m hurdles qualifying rounds.

“Just look how relaxed she is – and how relaxed Bolt is, too.”

As everyone must know by now, Bolt set a new world and Olympic record in the 100m final. But it was how he set it – yards ahead of the silver medallist, with his arms outstretched and a big, big smile on his face.

When Claxton qualified in her semi-final to make today’s final, no-one made it out of the blocks quicker. But it was the look of pure rapture in her eyes and that great smile on her lips during the post-race interview which got you right there – and that joy, insisted Mr Hyland, is essential to the future of British sport.

“They are relishing their sport, and getting that across to young people watching,” he said.

“That will encourage more young people to join not just athletics clubs but every kind of sport club.”

There are currently 120 under-16s who are members of Colchester and Tendring Athletic Club. Even though many will never reach Claxton’s standard, they have all been awed by Team GB’s gold medal haul in Beijing.

Mr Hyland thinks the triumphs of swimmer Rebecca Adlington, cyclists Rebecca Romero, Bradley Wiggins and Chris Hoy, and rowers and sailors too numerous to mention have given the UK a boost for 2012. Even more than that, it is making children not just think about sport, but taking part.

“Yes, that will happen,” declared Tim Warner, vice-chairman and secretary of the Harwich, Dovercourt and Parkeston Swimming Club, “although I suspect that will be similar to the Wimbledon effect – people picking up tennis rackets at the end of the Wimbledon fortnight and putting them back in the closet at the end of the summer.”

But some – especially young people – will keep playing.

“And the more who do begin to play a sport, the more will stick to it,” said Mr Warner.

“That is what many of us believe will be the aftermath of the Beijing Olympics.”

The club has 200 members. Most are juniors and under 18. The phenomenon that is Rebecca Adlington left many of them open-mouthed.

“To begin with, we swim in a 25-metre pool while the Olympic events are in a 50-metre pool. This highights their speed and shows the difference between club swimmers and the elite of the sport,” explained Mr Warner.

“Our members can see just how fast Olympic swimmers are and how much they have had to train to reach that level.”

Errol Baker said he doesn’t need to wait until the dust settles on Beijing 2008 to see whether or not there has been an impact on more young people getting into sport. In cycling, it is happening already.

“I’m sure we will see an upsurge in children and teenagers taking up sport because it happened for cycling after the Cycling World Championships earlier this year,” pointed out Mr Baker, vice-chairman of the 160-member north Essex cycling club Colchester Rovers.

“Britain’s cyclists picked up nine titles at those world championships, and that was enough to encourage about 40 teenagers to take part in grass track racing, which the club set up in May at Shrub End sports ground.”

With Olympic champions Bradley Wiggins and Chris Hoy set to become household names, Mr Baker is confident more people will take up cycle racing.

“Beijing is bound to arouse interest in all sports – and our cycling club is an open house!”

But, as Tim Warner stressed, there is a big difference between club members and the sporting elite. Turning them into potential Olympians takes a lot of time, a huge amount of effort and self-sacrifice and, not least, money.

“We are performing well at these Olympics and one of the reasons is access to lottery money,” he said.

British sporting bodies have had access to £280 million in lottery cash in the build-up to Beijing 2008, which was filtered to those athletes most likely to reach the podium.

“But what we need to do now is ensure more money is available for London 2012,” he stressed, “and available to many more athletes.”

There are other things, too. Apart from talent, John Hyland said there had to be complete family support, an unerring belief in yourself and a willingness to train, train, train.

“But, above all, enjoy yourself,” he added. “Love doing what you are doing.”

Just like Sarah Claxton and Usain Bolt.