My Olympic Secret
Sitting in a bar on Copacabana beach drinking Therezopolis Gold beer with Matthew Leighton, I explained how I came to be tweeting @PlanetCanoe at the Rio Olympics.
There is a moral to the story. I can also reveal what it has cost me and how it translates to the business world. So here goes.
Simple beginnings
The reality, sadly, is that the closest I will get to competing at the Olympics is Feel The Ultimate Run post. While I may be an accomplished paddler, I am not at this standard. I can nevertheless really appreciate more than most, what it has taken these elite athletes to get to an Olympic stage.
I grew up a stone’s throw from Crystal Palace where the International Canoe Exhibition was held each year in February. I attended each year from the age of 15, in part, to see the stars from BBC TV’s Paddles Up series competing in the pool slalom.
I offered to help.
I began as the starter for the pool slalom. Tony Arrowsmith began to recognise me when I turned up each successive year. I progressed to my first commentating role. Jennifer Munroe and I started doing PR together.
When I went off to University, I found out when the GB slalom team trained at Holme Pierrepont. I turned up and offered to help. Brian Fuller asked if I could use a stopwatch. Months later at a senior GB training camp then four-time World Champion, Richard Fox, came up to me on the bridge over the course in Nottingham to ask me what I thought of his run. While I wasn’t qualified to comment; what Richard wanted to know was how his splits compared to Melvyn Jones, Ian Raspin and Russ Smith. On the next run, I was able to tell Richard the splits based on the specific strokes he and the others had used. We have been friends ever since!
The next the opportunity arose when GB Team Manager, John MacLeod, was looking for an assistant to travel out with the GB Team for Olympic selection in La Seu D’Urgell. I offered and had the pleasure of travelling with coach Alan Edge and the team, which included the late Martyn Hedges.
As a qualified level 3 slalom coach I volunteered to run National Development Squad, which continued for many years. In parallel, I commentated at a ’92 World Cup race with Roger Fox and Roger Annan and then the 1995 World Championships with Kent Ford & Lamar Sims. At the 2001 International Canoe Exhibition, I chaired a session introducing Sydney Olympic medallists, Paul Ratcliffe and Tim Brabants.
Fast forward to London 2012, I volunteered for the Olympic test event. When I was not fortunate enough to be picked as one of the live commentators I thought long and hard about a practical way I could still contribute. I responded to a tweet from The Sport Feed. I offered to help by writing a free Unofficial Olympic canoe slalom blog every day for 30 days. This was picked up by the BBC and Sportscene.
Rob van Bommel subsequently offered me the opportunity to be a contributor to Sportscene. This was a fun partnership. As an experiment, I began tweeting through the ICF World Championships and World Cup races using my @gregiej account. This was just to see where it would lead, how practical it would be and to what extent people would pick up on it.
This journey led to a request from the International Canoe Federation (ICF) to provide coverage on Twitter for the Lee Valley World Championships. In turn, I became part of the media team at the Rio Olympics covering canoe slalom, canoe sprint and paracanoe at the forthcoming Paralympics.
This is a very abridged version but you get the gist. There has been a lifetime of memories along the way.
Moral of the story
Simple. Offer to help. Expecting nothing in return except the curiosity of a journey to see where it leads. I come from the camp of why not. Next stop is the start of the next 4-year Olympic cycle. I have no idea where this will take me in four years time, but hey ….why not.
A lady on a plane once told me about her teenage daughter who wanted to get involved with the Canadian volleyball team. I gave her the same advice. Find out where and when they practice and just turn up and offer to help.
Over the years, the canoe slalom community in my world has expanded from national team to now represent my friends across the World. They motivate me to keep coming back, even though we sometimes meet only once a year.
It has been a very Shakespearean drama; tragedy, drama, comedy, thrills and unexpected twists and turns. I feel incredibly privileged and fortunate.
Cost
It has really cost me nothing in monetary terms. It has been an investment and passion of time. About 30 years to be precise.
How this relates to business?
- Just put yourself out there, with no agenda or expectation, just the curiosity to see what happens.
- I like to ask someone how they got to where they are today. Then shut up and listen to the nuances of the words that they use. It tells you a great deal about people’s decision-making, their relationships with others, how they perceive change and opportunity. Try it.
- Share information very openly. Yvonne Ehinger presenting at Inbound Day 2014 demonstrated how PwC had historically perceived tax as confidential information. Through the PwC Tax Matters blog, they have become a recognised online authority on tax.
“When we realized that people expect advise for free, then suddenly the blog became the prerequisite to attract the interested. To share information strengthens both the employee and company brand and the perception and position as the market leader,” said Ehinger.
Final word back to Matthew Leighton, after I apologized to all my non-paddling friends as we said Adeus to Rio.
“Keep up the good work, your enthusiasm knows no bounds. Both times we were sitting on Capacabana beach this week having a beer or two with all the distractions going on around us . You were still happiest discussing Nottingham 1995, the legendary Fox and the Crystal Palace exhibitions. You can’t change, so don’t even bother trying.”
