Q&A WITH DR. LADY ANN REDGRAVE, GB ROWING TEAM (GBRT) TEAM DOCTOR
I’d probably have to say London 2012. Being involved with the team for such a long time, first as an athlete and then as a doctor, and watching the transition from where we were back in 1984 to where we are now has been a real pleasure to be a part of. For me the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has to be the pinnacle, due to such a wide range of success. I do hope there’s more to come!
I really don’t know because I’ve been a doctor for such a long time now! I became a doctor more because my brother told me I couldn’t do it, so it was initially a challenge. But I love what I do, and I’ve managed to balance my medical career with having a family and essentially leading my own life, in so far as I haven’t been seconded into a hospital.
My brother.
Novak Djokovic.
I think it’s a mixture of all three. I didn’t win any medals, but my introduction into rowing was definitely about being in the right place at the wrong time, and it became my life thereafter. So there was definitely an element of luck. I’m sure if you asked Steve (Sir Steve Redgrave) he’d say the same thing. He had an English teacher who went round the school looking for people with big hands and feet, and then taught them to row. I think once you’ve taken the decision to be part of a sport, then talent obviously helps you; certainly in our sport body physique helps: long levers being a huge advantage. But you have to then work very hard if you’re going to make it to the top of the pile. Definitely a combination of all three; I don’t think you can take one element away.
So far the data analysis hasn’t really hit us, but we have got data which will be analysed. We’ve done screening for a number of years and have got injury risk data, which we’re hoping to have analysed so as we can go back to it in a few years’ time and have a look at it in some detail to see what it’s telling us. Essentially, it’s very much in the pipeline, especially now we have SAS on board to help with all the data analysis.
I’d have to say internet-based medical notes, as we couldn’t function without those. It gives the staff the ability to confidentially see in real time what has been recorded about particular athletes, wherever in the world the medical support staff happen to be. We don’t like to transfer data within systems that are too public. We also use an iPad-based medication dispensing system, which enables me to communicate confidentially with the physios to give a directive on which medicines to hand out to which athletes. Without those two types of technology software, we’d find it much harder to function efficiently.
Keeping fit, cooking, reading and my family.
Track & field.
The passion, dedication and talent of the staff and the rowers.
Sydney, Australia.
iPhone.
Q&A WITH ROZ BRAWN, GBRT PHYSIOTHERAPIST
My career highlight was at London 2012 where I was involved with Olympic athletes, although it wasn’t with rowing, as I was working with the GB gymnastics team. British rowing is a much bigger sport than any that I’ve worked with before, and it’s got such a successful history, so for me I’m looking forward to the fact that my career highlight is still to come.
my slightly obscure answer is that I would have loved to have been a stuntwoman! For me, it’s all about what the human body can do, and being a gymnast, and now a physio, there’s definitely a tenuous synergy between the three.
No one particular person, but with my background being gymnastics, from the age of four I was constantly analysing what the body can do, and thinking to myself how I could turn that into a career. It was a natural progression.
I’m going to go for an off-the-wall one: Valeri Liukin (artistic gymnast from the former Soviet Union, and the first person to ever do a triple back somersault in competition). I also coached his daughter to becoming Olympic individual all-round champion in 2008.
One thing you can never underestimate is the amount of hard work that elite athletes put in to training. One of my outstanding memories of working with the GBRT is when I first started, and seeing how far these athletes would push themselves. If they were doing a 2K ergometer test, they don’t just push themselves at events; the average person doesn’t see the amount of training that they put in to get to that point. But long before that, physiology and talent would have directed you towards the appropriate sport in the first place.
So far the data analysis hasn’t really hit us, but we have got data which will be analysed. We’ve done screening for a number of years and have got injury risk data, which we’re hoping to have analysed so as we can go back to it in a few years’ time and have a look at it in some detail to see what it’s telling us. Essentially, it’s very much in the pipeline.
I’d have to say internet-based medical notes, as we couldn’t function without those. It gives the staff the ability to confidentially see in real time what has been recorded about particular athletes, wherever in the world the medical support staff happen to be. We don’t like to transfer data within systems that are too public. We also use an iPad-based medication dispensing system, which enables me to communicate confidentially with the physios to give a directive on which medicines to hand out to which athletes. Without those two types of technology software, we’d find it much harder to function efficiently.
The first thing I look forward to doing on my day off is sleeping! I try to fit in as much sailing as possible. Other than that, I like to go for a run.
Probably the diving.
All of the athletes will be amazed by this, as it’s such a hard training camp (2,000m above sea level), but Silvretta in the Austrian Alps. That’s one of the joys about rowing being an outdoor sport compared to gymnastics: you visit some absolutely stunning places in the world.
Dr Lady Ann Redgrave and Roz Brawn were speaking on behalf of SAS – the leader in analytics software and services. SAS is the Official Analytics Partner of British Rowing and the GB Rowing Team as www.sas.com<http://www.sas.com
