The theme of Kim Brackin's lecture at the ASCA World Clinic here in Indianapolis was "Training Kirsty Coventry" for Rome 2009. What the American coach spoke on was something much more focussed, much more fascinating: handling a crisis of confidence in the Rome circus last summer; and handling the pressures that come from representing a country that "hates" what you do but is happy to capitalise on any success.
The shiny suits crisis that witnessed the fall of 43 world records in eight days at world championships in Rome last July "ate away" at the confidence of one of the world's most versatile women athletes. "She didn't feel that the playing field was fair, right or wrong that's how she felt," said Brackin summing up a tumultuous week in the Italian capital to a packed audience of 500 plus coaches.
Offering lessons to her peers on how to handle the stresses that can afflict all athletes, no matter what level they rise to, Brackin, mentor until this year to Coventry in Texas, talked through the first three days of racing in Rome.
Coventry's first final was the 200m medley but events started to play on the reigning Olympic and world backstroke champion's mind the moment she saw where the plastic fantastic was taking the race too in the semis. "She sees Ariana's semi swim and thinks 'what's going on here'," Brackin recalled after Ariana Kukors (USA) shattered the world record with a 2:07.03 blast, with Coventry back in 5th on 2:09.91.
Coventry raced the final, placed fourth in 2:08.94, as Kukors took the event into waters that are likely to remain uncharted in textile suits for many years to come: 2:06.15. Gulp! No-one has won a major crown inside 2:10 so far this year. Coventry emerged from the Rome final furious and frustrated. "She was angry and frustrated. Angry, angry, angry. She sees her time, she sees the winning time and they are worlds apart," said Brackin.
What to do to get her charge off her knees for the rest of the week? In the wake of the medley final and qualifying for the 100m back final, Coventry then considered dumping her 50% poly Speedo LZR Racer for a full shiny suit. She called her agent and an approach was made to Speedo to garner reaction. "They didn't give her a definitive answer," said Brackin. "She comes from a poor country, she relies on her suit contract being renewed, and for that to happen she needs to medal. That's what's going through her mind. She felt powerless."
Worse was to come as the confidence crisis culminated in an uncharacteristically poor swim in the 100m backstroke final: 59.74 for last. Brackin was less concerned by the time and far more concerned with how the swimmer's technical strengths and concentration had deserted her. So out of character was her performance that the man filming the video of the race for Brackin filmed the wrong swimmer, switching away from Coventry at some point in the race because he believed the swimmer in the frame could not be her, so unfamiliar was the stroke in the viewfinder.
"So, she sees the world record (58.12 for champion Gemma Spofforth, in a LZR Racer) and she's devastated and wants to leave the meet. She says that she doesn't feel she's strong enough," said Brackin. Coventry and coach then had a heated discussion, Brackin determined to show the athlete that her problem was not physical, not related to her preparation but had much to do with mental approach.
"We went our separate ways for a few hours," Brackin recalled. "Then when we met up we talked about owning that race, about her owning it. It had nothing to do with her not being fit or ready. We talked about the fact that she's a great athlete. That she'd done the work, that she'd been there before. The final (100m backstroke) was like it was because she swam a horrible race."
"Luckily," added Brackin, " we had two days off them." The 200m backstroke was a wholly different affair. Coventry had gone away and taken responsibility, set aside attempts to find reasons/explanations beyond her own poor performance. The result: 2:06.72; 2:05.86; final - 2:04.81 world record. "The world record was there, but she had won gold and that is what was best for her," said Brackin.
The experience of all the stresses that Coventry has endured and overcome had led to a valuable lesson being learned for London 2012, said Brackin: "To own your own result, deal with it and find a way to improve ... and for that we talked about the mental training that would be needed. The idea is to get away from the the gold medal as the only way to measure success". The coach emphasised that winning was, of course, the idea, but the journey, the process, the successful manifestation of all that a swimmer strives for was more important this side of actually wearing the prize round your neck.
Coventry ended her meet with silver in the 400m medley in 4:32.12. That was the "most disappointing" swim of the week because she was "so far off where we wanted to be", said Brackin. But by then, the coach recognised that her charge was "mentally exhausted".
Brackin then revealed a much greater list of "Stessors" that Coventry had endured in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, not to mention bygone years of success that brought the backstroke and medley ace to international attention, dating back to the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
- Expectations
- Political turmoil and the pressure to speak out about events back home in Zimbabwe
- Dealing with disappointment
- Her mother's fight with breast cancer
- Breaking off an engagement
The suits crisis was last on the list.
Brackin read out a letter to a silent auditorium. It was painful to listen to. It had been penned by a Zimbabwean cabinet minister to the rest of his cabinet colleagues. Before the politicians knew the nature of the news and source of Zimbabwean success, the minister had wanted to praise the athlete to the heavens and break off the silence between his country and the Blair Government in Britain in order to phone the British Prime Minister and "rub salt in his wounds"; but then after it was discovered that the success had come at the hands of a white Zimbabwean, the minister lapses into an explanation about why "we should not recognise any sporting achievement until our land reforms have been completed". Land reforms that turfed white farmers out of their homes and did nothing to relieve a majority black population going hungry.
Coventry has long been at pains to express pride in her country and its people, while steering clear of any political statements or comment. Brackin talked of the great weight that had placed on Coventry's shoulders.
Handling stress in elite athletes came down, said Brackin, to cognitive rationalisation and relaxation. "2009 was not as successful a season as we'd have liked it to be because she was not in her element, said Brackin, who also found herself wading in uncharted waters, she admitted. "2009 was unique and I wasn't prepared for it."
Brackin misses Coventry both as an athlete and a person, the swimmer now training in Johannesburg, South Africa. In training, Coventry had at times been "moody", said the coach, but what she recalled above all was a woman who "tended to push through and find a way to improve", a swimmer who "didn't like to get beat and loved a challenge." Coventry was an example, said Brackin, of the benefits to be had in guiding the athlete to be independent and able to find their own ways of taking on challenging circumstances and emerging ahead.
Coventry is likely to bypass the Commonwealth Games in Delhi this October, Brackin believed, her new programme in South Africa geared towards the Shanghai 2011 world titles.
