I remember the crushing disappointment myself, of not ‘making it’ to the European Juniors. I use those words deliberately, because at the time, if I’m honest, I probably that that making that team was ‘making it’. Actually, not only is that not true, but ‘not making it’ at 17 also did not mean that that door was closed to later opportunities.

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It’s hard to be rational about something that you’ve put so much time and effort into, but that’s what you have to try to do. Here are some tips to help you to keep perspective and deal with setbacks in your development as a competitive swimmer.

Take the long-term view

Dealing with setbacks often requires a longer-term perspective.  Age group titles, records, selection – none of these are the end game. They are all steps along a path, a path that has no fixed end and no fixed route. There are, as they saying goes, many ways to skin a cat.

Having a long-term perspective may be about having long-term goals or dreams. Knowing that, despite the setback, you are still making progress towards that goal can soften the blow and lessen the anxiety and stress of dealing with something that you can’t control.

It’s not necessary, to have big goals, however. Having a long-term perspective can equally be about saying,  “I don’t know where I’ll end up, but as long as I keep working on the right things and keep getting better. It doesn’t matter”.

Focus on the controllables

Very often the setback is down to something that you can’t control. You’ll gain nothing, and cause yourself stress, by trying to control the things that you can’t. You can’t turn back time. You can’t magic away an injury or an illness.

So what can you do? You can look for other outlets or competitive opportunities, on which to focus your energy. You can make sure that you follow the treatment or rehabilitation. You can make sure that the work that you’ve done so far isn’t wasted. You can control your response.

Treat setbacks as opportunities

This might seem counter-intuitive. How can missing out be an opportunity? Behind the disappointment lies motivation. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t be gutted about losing out. Use the energy that is created by dissatisfaction to refocus on things that will help you to move forward, with even greater determination than before.

Similarly, setbacks are an opportunity to learn. If you take the time to reflect, you can learn about how you’ve handled yourself in response to the setback. Perhaps there’s something that you can do differently in future: Maybe you got ill because you weren’t eating as well as you could. Maybe you got injured because you could have been stronger or more flexible. Maybe you missed out on the team because you could have prepared better. Maybe…

One thing is for sure. At some point in your career as a competitive swimmer things will not go as you’d hoped they would.  Hopefully now you’ll be better equipped to deal with it!

Apparently, Nick Gillingham, a former Olympic medallist for Great Britain said otherwise, that Team GB weren’t emotional enough (not yet verified).

Who’s right?

There are a couple of questions to consider:

What is right for the individual, and what is right for the team.

First, I thought that Team GB’s swimmers went out of their way to stay positive in interviews, at least early in the meet, by focusing on the support of the crowd rather then their own disappointment. There were some particularly teary interviews, notably Adlington and Halsall, but these were late in the week, once all was pretty much done. However, Ryan Lochte was there and perhaps saw things that TV audiences didn’t.

Secondly, in the intensity of the Aquatics centre, it was always going to be difficult to be unemotional, so perhaps it is better to look at what emotional states were in play.

Motivation and Emotion – Mastery and Sympathy

Much of my work uses a particular framework called Reversal Theory (e.g. Apter, 2002) that explains human experience by connecting motivational states with emotions.

Rather than explain the whole theory, because as a ‘general theory’ there is a lot to it, I’d like to focus on one pair of states – mastery and sympathy. In the mastery state we are concerned with power and control (which can be for self or others) and it is where competitiveness, toughness and personal responsibility lie. Emotionally, it is our source of pride (as well as modesty, humiliation and shame).

In the sympathy state we are concerned with care and compassion (again for self or others) and this can extend to self-pity, but it is also the source of social support, which is important in sport.  Emotionally it can include resentment, gratitude, virtue and guilt.

I think that we saw a lot of ‘sympathy state’ responses from Team GB’s swimmers this week. Gratitude from those that did well, but a lot of guilt. “Sorry” has been quite a common word.

The problem is this: Most elite sports performance comes from the mastery state. We all spend time in all states, but at the point of competition, you pretty much want to feel in control, competitive and confident. Perhaps the tone was set a little too ‘sympathetic’. Not too emotional, not too disappointed, but a little sorry for ourselves and for our supporters. I’ll reiterate, that’s based on limited information, but it’s a working hypothesis.

The solution?

If my hypothesis is correct, that Team GB got a little stuck in ‘sympathy’ mode, what would I have done about it?

I’d have looked to break the cycle. I don’t think that it is necessarily inappropriate to respond emotionally to disappointment as an individual, but that’s really something that the team has to decide. Balance is important. It should have its own ground rules, if you like. Do you suck it up and deal with it privately or do you reach out to your team mates for support?

Either way, if I thought that the team was getting a little too stuck in sympathy mode I’d have called a team meeting. I’d brief leaders within the team, such as the head coach and/or captain (I believe we had a number of swimmers in a ‘leadership group’) and try to break the cycle.

Changing focus – Rebelliousness

When you change between two states in pair, it is called a Reversal (hence the name of the theory). So, moving between Mastery and Sympathy would be reversals. However, you can also bring another states altogether into focus. That’s what I would have done, I think, and I would have used the Rebellious state (which is paired with, and oppositional to, the Conformist state – following written and unwritten rules). The Rebellious state is about freedom, but is can, as the name suggest, be a bit more spiky than that an includes defiance and anger. The tone that I would have like to have set is a defiant one of, “we’re not taking this lying down”, because it a) takes our focus away from expectations, which I think were the big issue all along and b) because getting a little bit angry can then help us to reconnect with that competitiveness, that toughness that drives the mastery state.

So there you have it. I don’t disagree entirely with either Ryan Lochte or Nick Gillingham. I think that the ‘tone’ of the team does need to be managed, but I also think there’s room for emotion too.

Reference

Apter, M.J. (Ed) (2002). Motivational Styles in Everyday Life: A Guide to Reversal Theory. American Psychological Association.

I’m going to try to address these questions, but to do so fully at this stage would have required me to have been with the team in the lead up to, and during, the Olympic games. Failing that, being given the opportunity to do a full review with the team would help. So I’m left with partial evidence from watching the swimming on TV, reading tweets and reports from the Games and, of course my experience as a psychologist and organisational change manager (for I think that, for the team to be pretty consistently, albeit only marginally, below their best there must be a cultural element).

Before I do this, let’s just remind ourselves that Team GB haven’t swum badly this week. They just didn’t set the pool on fire. Unfortunately, to hit or exceed their medal target that’s pretty much what they needed to do, such was the quality of competition. We saw some very brave performances and a great deal of effort. We did show signs of progress, at least if our measure is the number of finalists. For some in the team, making a final was a real achievement and let’s not forget that. But for others it really was about medals, and for some it really was about the colour.  The elephant in the room was the pressure of performing at home, which seemed to turn into home disadvantage for Team GB’s swimmers.

Home Disadvantage?

In my daily updates I’d already mentioned that research has shown that home advantage can turn into home disadvantage at crunch moments. Olympic swimming finals are definitely crunch moments. Unlike many sports, there is no room for error. You can’t recover from a bad start or turn at this level. Not if you are in the hunt for medals rather than being ‘nailed on’ for gold. But then wasn’t Michael Phelps nailed on for gold in the 200 fly?

Performing under pressure

There’s no doubt that the intensity of the crown’s support, as it was in London (I couldn’t believe, when I was actually there, the noise for the heats. The finals must have been crazy.) can be a source of support. It doesn’t have to be. It seems to lift some people. Others wilt. Others stand up to it, they cope, but that’s not ideal for optimal performance. I think that most of our swimmers were in the ‘coping’ camp. Michael Jamieson was the obvious exception to that. He looked like he genuinely enjoyed it. I looked on as others (it’s not fair to name names here), that I thought were ‘racers’, showed the pressure.

We’ve got to learn to love performing under pressure

Sport psychology tends to emphasise coping. In swimming I don’t think that’s enough. The water is unforgiving. It’s not our natural environment. A hint of tension is all it takes to take the shine off a performance. To be fair, I think that British Swimming knew that already, which is one of the reasons behind the ‘Duel in the Pool’ meets. It’s no surprise that the Americans excel at the Olympics. The collegiate system is all about racing. It nurtures and rewards racers. These guys love it more than we do.

You can choose to love racing, to love the intensity of competition. It’s not something you can just switch on, but you can literally ‘cultivate’ a performance mindset. I buy fully into the process over outcomes idea. But I think that one of the elements of the process needs to be having an attitude to race hard, to hunt down the places. What’s the difference? I think the difference is between sensing and responding to a personal challenge, and feeling that the place has a higher meaning (success/failure, threat to identify etc). It’s subtle, but it’s there. It’s not about what you’re focused on but what it means.

We did best when expectations were lower

 Jamieson, David Carry making the final of a stacked 400m when he’d only qualified for the games at the second attempt. Craig Benson doing a PB in the 100 breast at 18. Examples of swimmers that outperformed expectations. That’s consistent with the aforementioned research, that suggests that they could enjoy home advantage. Expectations bring pressure. Bring in the intensity of the crowd and those nerves are amplified. Of course, we don’t have to take on that pressure, to internalise it. That comes back to the previous point. We need to learn to love it.

We’ve got to swim for ourselves

The home games were a potential trap. Performing for your team-mates, for friends, for family, for the entire nation – is potentially dangerous.  Again, it’s a source of pressure. As an elite athlete, all you really need to be able to do is look yourself in the mirror and know that you’ve done the best that you possibly could. You might acknowledge the crowd, the public, your family but what I saw in a number of emotional interviews was a swimmer who felt that they’d let people down. That’s a sign that they’d fallen into the trap of swimming for other people, rather for themselves. That might sound selfish, but I think you have to be a little selfish to be an elite athlete in an individual sport. There’s a time and a place for being a good team mate, but when it comes to competition time you need to focus on yourself.

Keeping consistency

This point might seem paradoxical. I think that Team GB’s swimmers need to treat the London Olympics as if it were just another meet. But it isn’t. That’s the paradox. There will never be another meet like it for British Swimmers. (I don’t think that means we sweep it under the carpet, because all it has done is magnify potential issues that we may have). But if you can’t really predict the atmosphere, and certainly can’t recreate it in practice, what do you do? If you take it off the table, make it a less important factor then perhaps (unless you learn to love it) that’s maybe the best that you can do.

Lessons from other sports

Why have swimming not performed like the cyclists, the rowers, or even (after our first night of finals on the track) our track & field athletes (as a sport, one of our perennial underachievers, it might be argued).

Setting the tone – Psychological Momentum

First, looking at last night’s Athletics, I’m not sure that we can learn all that much as a sport. Jessica Ennis put in a great personal performance under pressure, to bring home the gold. I think that Greg Rutherford benefitted from being in between Ennis and Mo Farah, slipping in ‘under the radar’ as it were. (Not that it takes anything from his achievement). Had Ennis not won, I think that Mo Farah would have been under more pressure (though hopefully would still have delivered). Similarly, if Hannah Miley had won a medal it might have set the tone for the swimmers and taken some pressure off. Likewise, if Mark Cavendish had won Team GB’s first gold medal on day one, Hanny Miley might have performed differently. Ifs and buts. None of this speculation changes the reality, but psychological momentum is a genuine phenomenon. Remember, it took a few days for us to get our fist gold medal and only a few days ago, the Sun newspaper ran the headline, “Wanted Gold Medal… please can we have just one gold. Any sport. We’re not bothered.”

The Cycling Machine

Cycling is the role model for all of our sports. Of that there is no doubt. I agree with Becky Adlington that some of our more successful sports are also more shallow sports in terms of competition, but whether that is true or not (maybe we all just think our own sport is special) Cycling have set out to, and succeeded in, creating the ultimate performance organisation. The strategy, planning, and attention to detail helps to create a collective belief that seems to transcend the individual riders. New athletes come into the team (OK, so not many have left and that will be interesting) and appear to fit in seamlessly. That’s a performance culture. The confidence that brings creates a level of protection from the expectations and pressure that mean that the athletes can genuinely enjoy the experience. Which, of course, going back to the start of this (now lengthly – sorry) post creates a virtuous cycle.

Rowing – Only Gold is Good Enough

I know that this isn’t true of all boats in the squad, but I like the honesty of the crews that didn’t get what they expected and were unafraid to express their disappointment. The message is that “we’re here to deliver”. This is about personal responsibility. A few people have said to me that they wanted to see more disappointment from our swimmers; that there was a sense that they were happy with their lot. I don’t think that’s true. I think (I don’t know for sure) that there was quite a bit of sticking to the script in post race interviews. I can understand why that might be the case – trying, perhaps, to keep an upbeat mood in the team. But who’s script was it? I think that later in the week there was more honesty, but who says that if someone says “I’m not happy with that, it wasn’t good enough” that it would ‘infect’ the team?

One thing that’s certainly true about rowing is that in most events the responsibility is shared. That does make it easier. In swimming (just as in athletics, it has to be said) it is down to you. But sometimes it is easier to work as a team than as an individual.

An intense learning experience?

So there are my ramblings. I’m not close enough to the team to really know what happened this week. I have to mix speculation with the limited evidence that I have and my professional experience. I wonder what will happen following these Olympics for British Swimming. There may be a reduction in funding. That might not be a terrible thing. That might focus us more on creating the culture and ethos than on the technical support. It might mean that there is real change. We’ll see. The London 2012 Olympic experience will never be repeated for our swimmers. In that sense it might be treated as anomaly. I hope that it’s treated as a unique experience to learn something about our national swimming programme, with the harsh spotlight of the home games highlighting thing that we might not have otherwise learned.

Gyuarta’s performance was incredible. He went out after it and held on well, normally (like Jamieson) more of a back end swimmer. That it took a world record to beat Jamieson says everything about his performance. He appeared confident at all stages and really seemed to enjoy the environment and atmosphere.

Perhaps this explains why Jamieson is currently only one of few Team GB swimmers to do personal bests at the London Olympics. The atmosphere is intense, incredible for spectators but is it really helping the swimmers?

Research by Desmond McEwan, Kathleen Martin Ginis and Stephen Bray, conducted in the NHL, suggested that in higher stakes situations home advantage can turn to disadvantage.

It may be misinterpretation on my part, but the words and actions of many of our swimmers seem to be in conflict. The words thank the public for their support, say how helpful it is and how enjoyable it is, but when you look into their eyes, when you see them come out and when you see some of the performances – either a little timid or falling away towards the end of the race (possibly a sign of swimming tense) you have to wonder. You can’t fault anyone for their effort. It’s the Olympics after all, but somewhere, somehow, it’s just a little flat and that’s a sign of nerves – of being very aware of the expectations and consequences of their swims.

Phelps beats Olympic record but suffers from poor execution

Ok, let’s first congratulate Michael Phelps for becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time. But I don’t think Phelps felt that great after his 200 ‘fly last night. Not only did he drift in to his finish, losing out

on a nailed on gold medal to Chad le Clos of SouthAfrica, but he got his timing wrong into one of his turns. It’s imaginable that Michael Phelps might not be in the condition that he’s been in before, but I never thought he would lose out on race execution. It may be that he’s simply not used to tiring that much in a 200 ‘fly, but that doesn’t explain the turn. That, and his pre-race demeanour (he just didn’t look like his confident self) suggest that Michael Phelps head isn’t in the right place to perform at his best at London 2012. I don’t know why – it might be because his physical prep hasn’t gone to plan, or it might be that Ryan Lochte has punctured the feeling of invincibility that he appeared to have in the past. You’d have to ask him, and once the games are over we might hear more from him.

Jamieson and Willis Qualify 1 & 3 in the 200 Breast

I have to mention Michael Jamieson and Andrew Willis because I have an undeniable bias towards a) breastroke and b) Team GB. However, what I’d like to point out is that the way in which Jamieson in particular has approached the event so far. He’s been confidence, assertive and bold. In Scotland, we have a word, “gallus”, which means a bit cheeky and bold. He has a touch of that. Not too much – not arrogant, not flashy, but he seems to be revelling in the environment. That’s going to be more important tonight, because I’ve talked about expectations so much, but Britain’s history in breaststroke is well-known and people will start to look to Jamieson to live up to the legacy of Wilkie, Goodhew, Moorhouse and Gillingham among others, as well as potentially delivering Tam GB’s first gold medal in the pool. I have to say, though, I still don’t think he’s favourite. Jamieson will know that Gyurta is the man to beat, and that he’s still the slight underdog. I think, and hope, that he’ll enjoy that…

Oh, and kudos to Le Clos for letting it all out on the podium, and to his dad for being the proudest man alive!

Day 3 in the Aquatics Centre was all about Ruta Meilutyte for me. In the heats she shocked herself and the world with an outstanding swim and backed that up in the semi-final with a European record. She endeared herself to many with her genuinely humble response and will have had all neutrals behind her for the final, in which she would go up against the great Rebecca Soni.

When that final finally started, it was after a starter error and a delay, after Breeja Larson went into the pool and was given the opportunity to dry of and recompose. We all wondered if that would phase the inexperienced Lithuanian, but it apparently did not, as she again took the race by the scruff of the neck and hung on for gold. An honourable mention must also go to Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson who, I noticed, wasn’t even in a seeded heat but worked her way up to 4th by the end of the final. It does happen, and for all the excellent performances that Team GB have, mostly in picking up more final places than in recent Olympics, wouldn’t it be great for us to have a real breakthrough performance?

Controversy out of the pool

There’s been a load of controversy over Ye Shiwen’s swim in the 400 IM. Why not over Meilutyte’s performance? Well, a provocative view would be that she’s not Chinese – she trains in England (and we’re clean, right?) – but she’s also an endearing character. Her openly emotional response drew us in. We want to believe in her. Maybe that’s the only difference between her an Ye Shiwen (though I’m aware that it wasn’t the improvement of Ye but the the nature of her swim that has drawn most comment).

Jon Rudd, Meilutyte’s coach in Plymouth summed up the qualities that made the young Olympic champion:

I saw her swim about three years ago. She came as a freestyler but we saw what else she could do. She’s a great talent but she has always been an extremely vigilant worker. Everything about her is pretty much how we would want it. She works well in the pool, well in the gym, she is very conscientious about her eating and does everything right.

Now that’s a performance mindset!

Other mentions to…

Oh, there were some other swims last night too. For Team GB Liam Tancock put in a great effort but literally fell a little short of a medal, and Gemma Spofforth put in a solid 5th, but more importantly seems to be a happy person once again. Hannah Miley put the 400 IM behind her and seemed more relaxed as she qualified for the 200 IM final. Yannick Agnel follwed up his great relay performance with a commanding win in the 200 freestyle. Oh, and some Americans won gold medals. But that’s more predictable territory!

Rather than speculate further as to the guilt or not of Ye Shiwen, which I guess is likely to be presumed one way or the other anyway, I’d like to consider another question: Why is  Ye Shiwen’s swim disturbing? Let’s face it, whether you believe it to be artificially enhanced or not, ‘disturbing’ pretty much sums up it’s effect on the swimming world.

SCARF – The Emotional Brain

One model that helps us to understand our reaction events at a Neuropsychological level, is SCARF (Rock, 2008). This model helps us to understand the ways in which social stimuli (such as Ye Shiwen’s world record swim) are either threatening or rewarding to us. SCARF stands for Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness.

Status

In terms of status, there is the threat of the ‘world order’ being upset, which means the United States not dominating in the pool to the extent that they would like. On a basic level, even to non-American’s that can be disturbing. Where is the power going in the world, not just in swimming? Well, East

Certainty

Ye Shiwen’s swim is highly disturbing, for so many people, in terms of what the future holds. Commentators have already started saying “so, are there any 16 year old Chinese girls in this event?”. Think of it like this. You’ve put years of work in. You’ve gotten yourself into a position where you think you know what you need to do to win, get a medal, get in a final and BOOM! All of your plans are thrown into uncertainty. The result? Anxiety.

Autonomy

Autonomy is about how much control you perceive that you have over your environment. Imagine being the best in the world and then just being blown away. Elite swimmers do try to focus on the things that they can control, but still, when a female finishes a 400 IM faster than the winner of the men’s event, Ryan Lochte, there really isn’t much you can do about it.

Relatedness

This is where we start to get into difficult territory. The Chinese do not appear to be out to build relationships at the games, and they don’t really show a human side. That might be a really unfair statement. It might be simply down to language, and it might appear to us Westerners that they do not express themselves openly, but in the end, how many of our swimmers and coaches would say that they can relate to the Chinese swimmers? How many of them do they consider to be friends? The fact is, this has an impact in our emotional brain and means that we are more likely to react negatively to Chinese success, compared to people that we might related to – whatever their Nationality.

Fairness

And finally, when we perceive something as unfair it provokes a negative response. That’s obvious, but it’s also deeply engrained. Just watch the Monkey Grap Cucumber Experiment to see how deeply rooted it is – even young monkeys have a sense of fairness. This is where the doping side comes in most. Of course, if we believe someone may be doping it may also have an impact in other ways, such as reducing our sense of control (autonomy) or alienating us from the perpetrator (relatedness), but at the most basic level, it’s not fair. No-one knows if Ye Shiwen or any other Chinese swimmers have been involved in doping, but because of China’s history and the nature of the swim, the suspicion is there. This is unfortunate.

Is it all about doping?

This quick analysis suggests that there are more reasons that Ye Shiwen’s world record swim was disturbing than the simple question of whether or not her performance was enhanced by doping. There appears to be a slight shift in power from the traditional swimming power base of the USA (and Australia); the unexpected nature of her swim creates uncertainty;  the sheer force undermines the sense of control that elite swimmers and coaches need; we’re dealing with Nation that is perceived as closed and unemotional; and they have history, which raises the suspicion further that something ‘unfair’ may be going on.

Yes, Ye Shiwen’s swim was disturbing. Not just to those directly impacted but to many of us watching. But it’s not all about doping.
Reference:

Rock, D. (2008). SCARF: a brain-based model for collaborating with and influencing others.  http://www.your-brain-at-work.com/files/NLJ_SCARFUS.pdf

Yesterday, the Australians were expected to win and win well. Their own media (not themselves) had labelled them the ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ as they included the fastest man in the world this year, James ‘the Missile’ Magnussen, and the second, James ‘ the Rocket’ Roberts. In the end, the Australians misfired but it was the relatively unfancied French (I say relatively, as they were still one of the big 4 teams) who won, with Yannick Agnel overhauling Ryan Lochte in the final leg.

Did the Australians, and James Magnussen in particular, choke? Well, collectively it’s fair to say that they underperformed. It’s also true that they carried  a lot of expectation on their shoulders. Perhaps it was just too much pressure for the young, relatively inexperienced stars of the team to handle.  I did notice a bit of ‘sledging’ in the heats, which suggests that the Aussies may have taken their eye off the process, off their own performances, and focused on the Americans and the result.

Meanwhile, Team GB had a defending champion in the pool for the first time in twenty years. Rebecca Adlington was not favourite to win this time, at least among the swimming community, but the British media had her down as one of our hopes for a first gold of the games. Qualifying in eighth from the morning heats, Becky was clearly aware of the expectations as she felt the need to tweet “Just sneaked into tonights final in 8th place! Not expecting anything tonight, all I can do is my best thank you for all the support x”.

Still, Becky is a racer and performed brilliantly to pick up a bronze medal from lane 8, and Team GB have their first medal in the pool (after Lizzie Armitstead won our first medal of the games in the women’s road race). Phew!

It is worth noting that expectations are not all bad. Look at Camille Muffat. She has led the way all year in the 400m freestyle and met expectations in winning, with the apparent confidence of someone who knows they have done what they need to do, and just needs to execute the plan. An approach, perhaps, the Aussie men might have benefited from.

I was one of many who anticipated gold for Mark Cavendish in the cycling road race and watched in horror as it became apparent that the medal was not going to materialise. I turned my attention to the pool, and to Hannah Miley, as Team GB’s first medal chance in swimming.

It’s fair to say that things didn’t go to plan. Miley was 5th in a 400 IM that saw Ye Shiwen blow away the world record and, indeed, finish faster (over the last 50) than Ryan Lochte in the men’s equivalent.

Hannah is one of those swimmers that is exceptionally well drilled and prepared, not least mentally, and she always emphasises the need to focus on her own race, her own performance, and the things that she can control. However, as gracious as she was in her post-race interview one could see that the expectations where there, and that she was aware of them. As a breaststroker myself, I couldn’t help notice that her strong stroke didn’t look so strong – a little snatchier and less smooth than normal – and her split showed that she didn’t make up the ground that she normally might have. These are the subtle influences that the weight of expectation can exert, and the pressure that that it can create.

Compare that with David Carry. He didn’t qualify for the team at the first time of asking. Going into the heat no-one really expected him to make a final. But he wanted it, and he swam bravely and took his chance. In the final he was always going to be off the pace of the leaders but he acquitted himself well.

Of the other competitors, one need only mention Lochte and Phelps. Lochte carried expectations into his final, but also the supreme confidence of an athlete at his best. Phelps, well, again expectations were there, but perhaps not the confidence. I suspect that Phelps is better prepared for his shorter events this time around and sincerely hope that he bounces back.

I also hope that Team GB, from somewhere, pick up their first medal soon, so that home advantage and the expectations of the nation don’t become a monkey on their backs and turn into home disadvantage.

It’s good, then, to see swimmers like Rebecca Adlington openly talking about retirement and what she’d like to do. Many of the problems associated with retirement stem from being unprepared and not having planned for life after sport. Of course, the lottery funded set up in the UK is designed to support preparation not only for the Olympics but for real life, which can hit with a bang.

Read the full article at swimnews.com.