Sunday 25th July
The Olympics, Tokyo, Day One
It’s time to gorge on the Olympics. Yesterday was day one. Hockey, football and 3v3 basketball flicked across the screen, the kind of thing that arouses mild interest unless there is GB involvement. Then I landed on the Road Cycling with 30km to go. Perfect to watch over breakfast, the race still unwinding on a hot humid day on the most brutal course ever according to Chris Boardman observing in the studio.
Attack and counter attack, you can see the effort. The Japanese here created a course worthy of one of their extreme games shows. You would not be surprised to see the peloton showered with a plague of locusts or similar. Perhaps they realise that 6 hours in the saddle is torture enough.
A bunched sprint on an uphill finish, the final effort. British rider Adam Yates is in this small bunch. Yates makes the first move and pulls out to the left as we look at the riders coming towards us. The sprint for the line is on. For a moment it looks like he might be in with a shout. Then he is overwhelmed as the other riders sprint past and he crosses the line in ninth position. As a viewer we are disappointed, it looked as though Yates was in with a chance and I probably expect him to be disappointed as well, it would be understandable.
It is a surprise therefore, when a few minutes later Yates still on his bike, still perspiring is interviewed. How was that for you today Adam?
“That was a real tough day. I think we did the best we could,” Yates told the BBC at the finish.
“We rode in manner we wanted to. In the end I didn’t really have the legs there. I was cramping everywhere – first race back in a long time. I just did the best I could. I’m not sure where I finished up but it was a good day.”
“There was a bit of headwind on the final straight. With the guys there, I was never going to win anyway so I tried to go a bit early on the inside, but in the end Van Aert opened up early anyway and took everyone with him. I’m not sure where I finished but couldn’t have done much more, so a good day in the end,” Yates said.
Adam Yates is aware that his chances in the sprint were slim at best. He’s given it his best shot and come up short, without a medal. Still he refers to it as a good day, that is refreshing. Only the athletes themselves really know what a good day looks like. And maybe after 6 hours pedalling you know you can give no more.
I cast my mind back one week, walking off court after 2 insipid county over 60s doubles matches against Wiltshire. Recording scores of 0-6, 2-6 and 0-6, 3-6. Our other pair, won and lost on the match tie break. Clearly we had underperformed. It was hot, someone said 34 degrees C as we finished. It was a day when nothing seemed to go right, probably one of my worst performances in a long time. Credit to Wiltshire, they were solid.
Unlike Yates I did not have the feeling that I had given everything. It was hot but I was not tired. In both first sets it was if we had’n’t competed, each gone in a flash, with minimal resistance. There might have been a deuce game, maybe not. Yes I broke a string in the second game of the first match and my replacement racket is slightly different in weight and balance. It makes a difference but it should not make that much difference.
The opposition are magnanimous as we sit down to eat. A lot closer than the score suggests, they offer. It’s an oft used phrase in tennis. I am not sure we believe it either.
In the car on the way back there is silence, broken only by the soft tones of the golf commentary from the Open Golf. There is a palpable air of disappointment. We lost a match, which on another day we would expect to have a chance in.
As captain I perhaps feel the responsibility more heavily. Maybe not. We have all invested a day of our lives to travel for 6 hours to play a game of tennis. Reflection doesn’t come immediately. Slowly we start to chat and by the time we arrive back in Cornwall refreshed by coffee half way, we are back to our old selves.
The saying goes that we learn the most when things don’t go according to plan. It feels difficult to isolate just one thing. Everything is connected to everything else. It like trying to pick a needle from a haystack, to get to the real reason.
It had been a busy week in the lead up to the match. Long days at the computer, running to 14 hours or so over a number of days, countered by a couple of early nights. A kind of offsetting to recover and I felt physically ok. Maybe it was the mental busyness that was still circulating in my mind. Certainly my performance felt passive, never able to take the match by the scruff of the neck.
If nothing else I know that is the place I want to be. Taking every match by the scruff of the neck from first point to last, being fully engaged in the competition. This was far from this level. Remaining totally static on a number of occasions when lobbed, no anticipation, no chase. Just accepting that it was too good a shot, that is simply not good enough. It is obviously in the mind, why was it not switched on I ask myself again. Possibly distracted by travel, different venue, any number of things. I don’t really know.
Perhaps this is over analysis. Keep it simple. Just make sure next time I am ready to go mentally as well as physically.
I want to be in the position of Adam Yates. When the last ball is hit, to know that I have given it my best effort, to know that I could not have done anything more. A good day.
Next time cannot come soon enough.
