The success of Team GB out in Beijing has undoubtedly inspired so many people over the past fortnight - and will hopefully keep inspiring us for another four years. I happened to flick the TV on yesterday afternoon just as the team was landing at Heathrow to receive a heroes welcome. With cameras flashing, TV crews jostling to get the best shots and journalists already quizzing our medallists on what it felt like to be back in Blighty, the likes of Chris Hoy and Rebecca Adlington looked completely shocked and surprised. They admitted they’d been in a “bubble” in Beijing and so had no idea just how proud and impassioned the nation had been as they continued to make winning Olympic gold medals look as easy as winning the egg and spoon race at a local school sports day.

I don’t think a day has passed since the Games began when I haven’t been watching the coverage and felt a surge of pride as God Save the Queen rings out again or a rower/sailor/cyclist/swimmer/runner adds to the medal haul. More often than not I’d feel goosebumps on my skin or a lump in my throat as the athletes stand atop the podium to be crowned Olympic champion - because you can see on their faces just how much the medal means to them and what they’ve endured to achieve it.

So when I switched on the telly yesterday and saw Hoy and Adlington being given the sort of greeting usually reserved for superstar ‘athletes’ like David Beckham I couldn’t stop beaming. At that point, I’d been putting off doing a 90-minute turbo for some time. I knew it had to be done at some point, but my turning on the TV had been one of the last-ditch attempts at distraction. Sure, it distracted me - but in such a positive way that by the time the Beeb was showing Gordon Brown chatting away to Tom Daley I already had my turbo gear on and was muttering to myself “gold medals don’t win themselves - I bet Nicole Cooke never slacked off turbo sessions, get on with it Lidbury”. And I have to say, 90 minutes later I’d completed one of the hardest but finest turbo efforts of all my turbo-ing years. I hope Team GB has the same effect on your training.

Enjoy!
EK

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 2:14 pm and is filed under Emma-Kate Lidbury, Athlete Diaries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.