Last week the Edge Grove Society organised the first in the series of “An Audience with…” and kicked things off with Olympic gold medal rower Ben Hunt-Davis. His audience was made up of current parents and pupils and past alumni who had plenty to quiz Ben on.
Ben had the audience immediately captivated with his accounts of the lead up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics where, along with eight others in the boat, he rowed to a gripping finish of the men’s 8’s winning his much-loved gold medal which he displayed for all to see.
He shared tales of consuming 7000 calories a day (mainly carbohydrate) to fuel his 6ft 6 frame, training 19 to 20 times a week morning noon and night, having a support team of 60 others for that one crew, learning to control the controllable and to focus on what he could do to improve himself and leaving others to do the same.
Having not placed in the races in Barcelona (1992) or Atlanta (1996) the team focused on one thing…What would make the boat go faster? For two years leading up to the Sydney Olympics that was the only focus, even missing the opening ceremony athletes’ parade because “it would not make the boat go faster”. It all paid off because, despite being the youngest, least experienced crew, and certainly not the strongest crew they rowed as if their lives depended on it for 5 ½ minutes and much to many people’s disbelief, raced to victory and won by half a length.
A truly inspiring man who having attended Edge Grove between 1980 and 1985, hating cricket, was ok at rugby and liked swimming, moved to Shiplake College where he took up rowing. During his time training and competing he made personal and social sacrifices; friends’ weddings and his brother’s stag do, missed out on the regular university social life but just wanted to improve and continue to evaluate every performance good or bad in order to continue to improve to reach his ultimate goal.
During the Q&A we learned about the dedication required to be an elite athlete, not least eating eight Weetabix every morning and how early habits learned at Edge Grove, to not give up and keep trying, contributed to his ultimate success. It really was a fascinating and inspirational insight into the world of elite sport.
Sue Maughan Alumni and Development Manager