_Strapinhere


ith six months still to go before the start of the Rio Olympics on 5 August, Karl Cooke’s enthusiasm for


the challenge ahead is palpable. Since 2013, he’s focused on analysing and improving every aspect of the squad’s performance – and now the time has come for them to shine. ‘We’ve got some real stars on the team,’ he says, ‘and we’re coming off the back of our best ever performance in the World Championships. So we’re in a strong position to perform well.’ The Games mark the culmination of three


years’ hard work by Karl and his team of 16 practitioners and around 30 individual coaches across the country and – he hopes – a significant shift in the fortunes of the British swimmers. Post-London 2012, British Swimming was at a low ebb following disappointing results. Karl, who came to swimming from the LTA where he worked with the likes of Dan Evans, James Ward,


26_South Bank | Spring 2016


Kyle Edmund and a certain Andy Murray, formed part of an influx of fresh expertise. ‘A lot of effort was put into understanding what happened in London,’ he says. ‘Those lessons have provided the basis for what we’ve been doing ever since.’


Building resilience One of the key findings was that athletes felt unprepared for the environment in which they would be competing and, in particular, for the level of scrutiny they would be under and the intensity of the support from the home crowd. Clearly, the challenge is not quite the same in Rio – ‘with the time difference, you’ll have to set your alarm to catch the swimming this time around,’ Karl laughs – but nevertheless building resilience among both athletes and coaches has been a top priority. ‘Pressure affects everyone,’ says Karl, ‘including members of the support team. If the people around the athlete are having


EXCELLENCE IN ACTION Karl Cooke completed his PhD in applied physiology at LSBU’s Sport and Exercise Science Research Centre (SESRC). The Centre offers a range of research-led taught programmes at under- and postgraduate level, and works in close partnership with the healthcare industry and the local and sporting communities. Teaching and learning consistently rate above average, and the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) rated the SESRC’s research as excellent, ranking it seventh nationally for research excellence and intensity – the highest of all the modern universities. A problem-solving approach to research, allied with strong


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