With the Beijing Olympics hitting the headlines and occupying screen time, it is beginning to focus minds on what kind of performance we can put in when the whole Olympics industry finally hits our shores. Will it be an embarrassment, with athletes failing to even get into the finals, or will we be able to pull the rabbit out of the hat and produce some genuine home champions?

One such home-grown athlete who is beginning to raise British hopes is Tyrone Swaray. He is a sprinter – something of a rarity in this country – and he is already doing times that reflect his ability and dedication. He is not training for the Chinese Olympics in 2008, but has his eyes set on the London Olympics in 2012.
I asked him why he did not have a crack at the Beijing Olympics in order to get some experience.
‘I want to just carry on with my training and get some really good times under my belt,’ he said with characteristic modesty. At the present time, his personal best for 60 metres is 6.63 seconds and for the 100 metres 9.98 seconds (not ratified), and he is looking to improve on these in the next year or so.
‘Training is the key,’ he said. ‘You can’t go anywhere with out good training.’
Tyrone has a number of trainers but the key one is Peter Le Baige. ‘He is the coach who inspires me most,’ he said. ‘If there are any problems or any research that needs to be done, he is the person who will do it.’
He gives great attention to his diet. ‘A diet is a way of life – it’s not something you pick up and put down’. He never eats junk food and has his five portions of fruit as recommended by most dieticians.

We met in the High Tech clinic in Wimbledon Park. He told me that his therapist, Sally Hunt, has really helped him. ‘I never realised before I came here that the way I put my foot down when running (or walking) has such an effect on my performance,’ he said. ‘They showed me how my foot was slightly skewed to the right – I had an uneven plant. Now I am very conscious of how I place my feet and it has improved my times.’
Sally told me, ‘We were able to help Tyrone by correcting the misalignment of the foot and lower limb using functional foot orthoses worn in his running shoes. It is quite common for people to suffer from pain in their feet, ankles, knees, hips and lower back, potentially caused by bad foot alignment. Our clinicians are able to assess the skeletal make-up, or biomechanics, of your feet and, if correction is required, formulate a prescription for a ‘foot orthotic’ suited to your condition and activities.’

Tyrone has a very disciplined training programme. He trains five days a week, which includes a lot of track and weight work in the gym. Tyrone also plays his part in developing young people – especially boys. He goes into schools for a motivational visit, which can last several days, with a follow-up months later. He explains to the pupils that if they want to succeed – in sport or academic studies – they must have a programme and work at it.

‘I can talk to them at their level,’ he explained. ‘One of my greatest thrills was when a mother came to me and said that her son had thought about what I said to him in school and decided to put some discipline into his life and concentrate on athletics and also his schoolwork. Often, pupils reject advice from their mums and dads or teachers, but they’ll take it from me.’

I asked him why we seemed to have such limited athletics success in this country compared to other countries of a similar size?

‘I think the light has a lot to do with it,’ he said. He mentioned SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). ‘The winters in this country have an emotional and physical effect on athletes.’

He also felt that too many athletes seemed to have a no-nonsense attitude to training and gave scant attention to the developments in their sport. ‘We live in 2008,’ he said. ‘We all have to make use of all the scientific and technical discoveries that are being used all over the world.’

Let’s hope that between now and 2012, more athletes can ‘see the light’ and catch up with these discoveries that can help them reach the finishing post ahead of the others. Then they’ll give us a Games we can be proud of.