One year to Rio: Darren Campbell on how Olympic pain drove him to glory
By Mark Ashenden
Last Updated: 06/08/15 10:19am
After dreaming of being at an Olympics for 10 years, dropping the baton in your very first Games and being laughed at by athletes, the public and media would be devastating.
In 1996 that's exactly what happened to Darren Campbell. It almost forced him to quit the sport he loved. Eight years later the British sprinter, now mentor to two Sky Academy Scholars, had the last laugh. A very loud golden laugh.
With a year to go until the Rio Games, Darren reveals how he turned his life around, how the Scholars should deal with the build-up to Brazil and offers some tips on dealing with mental demons inside a packed Olympic stadium...
Like most of the Scholars, I had dreamed since the age of 12 about being at an Olympics. My first was in Atlanta. It was a dream come true but I don’t think I fully understood or appreciated what it was all about.
I messed up when it came to competing rather than being focused on what I should have been doing. There was the Olympic village and there were so many people there and Olympic superstars. I was probably overwhelmed.
I got a knock on the door the night before my first race in the relay and I was so nervous. I didn’t sleep at all well. I walked into the Olympic stadium for the first time in front of a packed crowd. The gun went off and in the race I dropped the baton.
My first experiences of the Olympics were horrific. It taught me a lot on how professional I had to be to get on the podium. I was inspired by Carl Lewis in 1984 and I always dreamed of standing on the podium with a medal round my neck. My first Olympics was the total opposite of that.
It taught me about myself and adversity and the sacrifices you have to make. People were laughing at what I did, but you have to be strong. The decision I was left with was do I turn and run away or do I show people I’m not a disgrace and come back stronger.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics I made the 100m final. I was nervous for that one! Come the final I had realised what it was all about. It is important to remember why you do sport. You do it because you love it and I decided to go out in the final and enjoy it. I did and I won Olympic silver.
At Athens in 2004 I was desperate for gold. I tore my hamstring and wasn’t able to run in the 100m or 200m. There was still the 4 x 100m relay and I knew it was my last chance at an Olympics. And we won gold!
The team spirit was right. It’s so important never to give up and we became Olympic champions. I had gone full circle. I had got my gold in the relay – the actual event that could have ended my career eight years before.
Year to go
Part of the Scholars' minds will be on Rio but their main focus will be qualifying at the World Championships. They have to learn how to handle being on that world stage. I will tell them to be first focused on making that final.
It’s a big year for these guys but my advice is try not to be worried about selection until you're on the line
Darren Campbell
If they do that they’ll be coming up against the same people in Rio – it’s important to understand what it’s like going up against the best. Mark English may have made the qualifying time but the Olympics is totally different to anything else.
After qualifying it will be all about getting everything right in the lead-up to Brazil and end the season physically in a good shape. You can then go into the winter period physically in good shape and be focused and determined.
Once you make a final anything’s possible. Then it’s all down to physical and mental. If you’re in a final then you’ve put yourself into a very special club. An Olympic final is all about how you control your nerves. All athletes have those.
Overall, the next year will be totally different to the one that’s just gone. All the Scholars are dealing with different scenarios and levels of adversity. They have to keep their minds on track.
But they mustn’t worry about what’s happened this past year. If I said this year you would fail and won’t do well and then next year you make the Olympic final you’d take it. Nothing is given out right now.
Everybody’s different though. It is so important to have a balance. Sport can easily consume you and it can feel like nothing else matters. The reality is something else. There are things that happen in life that show you exactly that.
Look at Mark English and what’s happened to him. (Mark recently lost two medical school classmates in California) Things happen in life. I’ve shared a few things that have happened in my life with the Scholars but you can only control the controllables.
It’s strange because it's hard to enjoy an Olympic year because of the pressure and you want to be on the plane so much. I got very nervous around the trials for the major championships. They just have to get into that final.
The pressure was qualifying for me. It’s a big year for these guys but my advice is try not to be worried about selection until you're on the line! Don't think too hard and just make sure that in everything you do, the attention to detail is crucial.
If you don’t focus on that you starting think about the big prize and the Olympics. That can be dangerous!
If I got nervous I’d ask myself why. Sometimes I’d think my spikes might slip or I’d slip out of the blocks. They are all silly thoughts. You just have to tell yourself you won't slip so don’t think about it! Your imagination can run riot.
You just have to embrace the thoughts and then get rid and move on! It’s part of sport though. You don’t let it consume you. Embrace it, accept that’s how you feel and let it go. Understand how you feel and then you’ll realise what you’re thinking is silly.
The Scholars I mentor are 800m runner Mark English, BMX rider Quillan Isidore and pole-vaulter Holly Bradshaw. I prefer to phone or text them - not email. You use a lot of words in an email and they tell you what they want. Speaking to them helps you understand their tone and form.
I try to be flexible and always make sure I am available no matter when. Last year Quillan contacted me while I was working at the Commonwealth Games. I told him what he needed to hear and to go out and perform in a relaxed way and that’s my role.
It was the same for Mark English ahead of the Anniversary Games. After all the things he’s been through he was needing a good time and was going up against a quality field inside the Olympic Stadium! You don’t want that kind of race to be your first but he was running out of time and he had to go there.
You may think about missing all that training, and think this and think that, but nothing is given before a race. I told him to get every thought out of his head, go out and run and that he’d know where he was at. He did brilliantly and finished fourth.
If you have negative thoughts and you think you’ll be fourth then you won’t believe you deserve to be there and then you probably won't take advantage. I never ran a sub 10 or sub 20 but if any of the other guys under-performed I was on it.
For any sports person, they have to put their mind in a position where they can take advantage of any situation. They may not be the fastest in the field but you need to have positive thoughts.
