THE SECRETS OF THEIR SUCCESS

Lewis Hamilton once said of team mate Nico Rossberg: “We are not friends. We are colleagues.” That might have come during one of the more fractious points of their delicate working relationship, but without a doubt, for two sportsmen locked in competition day in, day out, maintaining a workable bond has proven as precipitous as any of the hairpin bends they must negotiate come race day.

In her book On The Line, Serena Williams says of playing against her sister, “I had to come up with something new, that, right now, we’re competitors, but the moment we shake hands and we’re done with this match, we’re sisters.”

Hamilton and Rossberg are members of a very defined team. They are partners. They have a responsibility to their team, under whose authority they must yet go head to head on the track. For Serena and Venus the competition is more straightforward, and perhaps easier to deal with as a result. There’s no one else when they meet on the court – they must simply battle each other until there is one winner, one loser. It’s so brutal that they have been forced to find the solution Serena talks of.

For a track relay team, on the surface, the issue of competition appears succinct: you want your team mates to be the best they can be because that’s how your team wins. And that’s how you end up with an Olympic medal round your neck. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here, because more than a year ahead of the pomp and splendour of the opening ceremony in Brazil, the competition is already under way. This is the fight for a place, a time when the word team is still very much a fluid concept. You train with them, travel with them, live and eat with them, and yet among those fellow athletes, some will get their shot at Olympic glory, some will be denied. You want your team mates to be fast – but you need to be faster.

Well my thanks in this case to one of my valued readers and Twitter friends @Alpha_Annelisa, who suggested putting that very issue to our #RoadtoRio competitor Esther Akihary. Before we get into that though, time for a quick update on Esther’s season so far as she races, literally, for her place at next year’s Olympics. And, I’m happy to report, our subject is progressing nicely…

“Last Saturday I raced in Oordegem,” Esther explains. “The 100m went very well for a first match! I ran 11.99 with -1.0 wind. I’ve never been so fast in May, so I’m really happy. Two days later in Tilburg I ran 11.85, but the wind was +2.3m/s. And we may only have 2.0 wind to make it an official time.”

For an understanding of what Esther must do to qualify for Rio, see Part 2. But for now, back to the issue at hand: how to deal with your teammates as competitors.

“First of all the competition is hard!” Esther begins. “A lot of women have a chance to make it into the team. When I was preparing for London twelve women could make it into the team. We went to Tenerife together to train our relay skills and work on teambuilding. For me that was hard, at that time. I didn’t feel like I could be myself all the time and sometimes felt like I was walking on eggshells. I didn’t want to say anything stupid to insult anyone or to say something to make the coach angry or disappointed. A few girls I already knew from my own training group, but some of the girls I didn’t really know.”

Despite feeling like a fish out of water, that training camp clearly served a purpose – albeit there were more challenges to come.

“After Tenerife I did feel like we bonded really well. At our final dinner we laughed a lot and I felt kind of relaxed. But then the season started. Survival of the fittest. And I wasn’t fit…at all! It was an Olympic season so all the girls who were doing competition were really fast. I felt jealous and insecure. What if I wasn’t that fast? And why was I injured? Why me?”

“But in June I could finally race in Geneva. There I ran 11.63, the fourth fastest time on the national ranking! I was so happy. It was such a relief. But of course the tension got higher. With only one more competition to go until the Nationals nothing could go wrong. Of course I screwed up the next match. I did run fast, but another girl finished in front of me who was actually 11th on the raking before that match. So she also was doing a great job right in time! After the Nationals the head coach would announce which six girls would go and which girls would stay home. But I didn’t do a good job at the Nationals, with a 4th place. So the coach couldn’t decide whom he had to take to London. Me or another girl. That girl was from another training group, and it really felt like some kind of war.”

And if you think athletes are robots unencumbered by the drag of emotion, you’d be wrong, because it’s a battle that haunts Esther to this day.

“That moment still makes me sad, because I had a good time with her in Tenerife.”

Competition, though, is competition. It must be engaged in or abandoned – there’s no middle ground.

“But with only one of us to get a ticket to our dream…Friendship wasn’t important anymore. We had to do a sprint-off. Two girls, racing the curve for 100m. The fastest one would get the ticket. It was an awful week,” Esther recalls. “But we all know how the story ends. A very happy ending for me, but at the expense of Janice Babel. I felt so sad for her, but I wouldn’t want it to be the other way around. Not for a million dollars.”

Even so, it was a contest that took its emotional toll.

“I dealt with this problem with my club team, my family and my psychologist. I cried a lot that week. I completely lost track of why I was doing track and field in the first place. I was convinced I would quit after London, because I felt so stressed. But, after qualifying, all was forgotten.”

With London 2012 three years behind us and the next Olympics, an ocean and a hemisphere away, nonetheless right around the corner, how has Esther developed in her attitude towards competing with – and against – her team mates?

“Three years on, older, wiser and a bad injury later I now know why I chose to do this sport: because I love it, it’s my passion. I really enjoy doing competitions again and I feel more relaxed. I’ve grown as a person and I train with a new coach and group now. I feel like I can be me. Finally. Whenever I have a bad day…once I step onto the track: I feel alive! And whenever I feel insecure about competition between me and my team mates I call my coach. He knows exactly what to say to me to calm me down and help me realize the most important thing in sports: passion.”

And what of the potential for flare-ups in such a seemingly volatile environment?

“I currently train with girls who might compete in Rio as well but there’s no tension at all. Because we see ourselves as a team. We make each other stronger. We’re always honest with one another. Of course in competition we all want to be the fastest, but if we’re not racing each other and Sacha is racing super fast, that makes me happy and more confident about my own race. Because I know that if she can do it, we all can! And hopefully that works the other way around as well! Being a team with my opponents has been different in the past. Training with other girls and in another environment. Some of my former training buddies are still my best friends. But with some I don’t have contact anymore. Growing older and wiser I now know that being open and honest is one of the most valuable things in working together.”

Once again my thanks to Esther: the hard work is all hers, I have only to jot down a few notes while she eats, sleeps, lives and breathes the competition. Even so I can honestly say: I’m beginning to share some of the emotion, and if you are too then I’m doing a half-decent job of conveying her #RoadtoRio journey! By the way, in case you’re interested in Esther’s summer season and those all-important qualifying competitions, I’ve included her competition schedule below (thanks Esther!)

For more updates follow Esther @EstherAkihary and head to her website at www.estherakihary.com

All images copyright Peter van Nobelen www.petervannobelen.com