Muscle Fitness Muscle & Fitness UK - April 2018 | Page 124

S P O RT S
PERFORMANCE
next level until they can do these
drills first”.
All of this effort, dedication and
attention to detail has paid of for the
pair of them as they prepare to travel
to Australia. “At Glasgow 2014 I was
excited, but I was also the most
nervous person to ever step onto the
platform” says Sarah. Having decided
when watching the 2002
Commonwealth Games in Manchester
as a young child that she wanted to
represent Team England she admits
that her performance was affected by
nerves, “I was shitting myself to put
it frankly”. Although she did finish
in 7th place, “which is one place
higher than Jack finished in his first
Commonwealth Games” – a fact
that I am sure poor Jack will be
reminded of for a long time to come
yet…not that they are competitive
or anything. But now her confidence
is sky high and she has learned a lot
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M A RC H I NG ON TO G E T H E R
having since won the U23 European
Championships, “In Glasgow I needed
a perfect day to stand a chance of
getting a medal. This year it will
take a terrible day to put me out
of contention”.
Jack’s confidence is equally as high,
“I came 8th at Delhi 2010 and then
4th at Glasgow 2014 where I missed
out on a medal by just 1kg.
Unfortunately, I missed the Rio
Olympics in 2016 due to injury and
have spent a huge amount of time
doing my rehab over the last 18
months, but I know that if I can get to
my pre-injury weights then I will be
guaranteed a medal in Australia.
Currently I am at about 95% with
eight weeks to go so I am really
pleased with my progress”.
Unlike Sarah, Jack never suffers
with nerves. “I like competitions, all of
my PB’s have come in competitions, in
fact – I am rubbish at training” he
declares, “when you work so hard,
and your preparation is right, a
competition is a chance to show off
and to enjoy yourself ”. The biggest
competition for Jack so far was
undoubtedly his cameo appearance
at the London Olympics in 2012.
“My coach competed in Barcelona in
1992 and always told me that going to
the Olympics is something you can
never understand until you get there,
and he was right. When my name was
announced to the 6,000 people in
the Excel Arena that night the cheer
from the crowd was phenomenal,
I was just grinning to myself and
didn’t know what was going on”.
True to form Oliver ended up with
the obligatory PB and even broke
the British record with his final lift in
front of the vociferous crowd, “I didn’t
want to ever get off the platform”.
But he did get off the platform, just
in time to leave Kate Middleton
speechless after telling her that he was
supposed to be in the ice bath but was
foam rolling until she left the physio
room because “I didn’t want to meet
a Princess in my speedo’s” and to
upset an already emotional Victoria
Pendleton in the lift by announcing
“I’ve seen you on TV” just moments
after she was disqualified from
her event.
His words may not have done him
any favours in th