Kent profile
Decathlete Martin chases
his Olympic dream by Peter Erlam
THE first thing you notice on entering Martin Brockman's flat are his size 14 trainers, lined up near the door, ready for action. At the same time you realise those size 14s could be
carrying the hopes of Kent - and the rest of Great Britain - at the London Olympics in a year's time. Provided Martin can avoid injury and achieve 8,200
points in the decathlon to qualify for the squad, he has a fair chance of repeating the success he achieved at the Commonwealth Games in India last year. He came home with a bronze medal - and the belief that Olympic glory was now a possibility. But the road to
a potential podium position is a long, hard and sometimes unrewarding slog for a decathlete.
First thing: you need to excel in not just one discipline, but in 10. And you need to peak in all of them in the space of two consecutive days - five events on each day. "They say it's the equivalent of running a marathon,
you get the same fatigue and muscle ache. I do four or five decathlons a year. Most people would not want to do four or five marathons!"
4 Mid Kent Living To achieve that level of performance Martin (23) has
had to be a virtual social recluse - no partying or pub sessions for him - and he has struggled to survive financially. In the past five years he has been on one holiday,
for girlfriend Charlotte's 18th birthday. He has made sacrifices few young men would ever
consider making. "I put everything to one side. The friends I still have are the ones who understand what I am doing, and support it. When I was 18 I stopped going out and drinking. I did not want to wake up in the morning with a hangover for training." It was in July 2005 that London won the right to
stage the 2012 Olympics. Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was a "momentous day". Martin was at school in second year 6th. "I had already been discussing with my coach that I might go full-time. This was a perfect chance to have a go. I had always had my eye on the Olympics. But at that stage I was always working towards the Commonwealth Games." Five years ago, he was scoring 5,500 in the decathlon.
"That's pretty poor, nowhere near the international standard. But I won the county championship. I thought if I trained full-time I could score 7,000 in two years time, which is pretty much what I did. I got my full vest (representing Great Britain) and set my sights on the Commonwealth Games." He had a slight setback with a shoulder injury in his
third year but was confident of bouncing back the following season (2010) to reach the 7,400 he needed
Photos: Martin with his Commonwealth Games medal; relaxing with girlfriend Charlotte; and proudly wearing a GB vest.
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