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One Lap Wonder: Jamie Staff
Story posted July 18, 2008
By Larry Hickmott
I think we would all agree that 17 seconds is not a long time for a race. To train for four years and travel thousands of miles to the Olympics to do just one lap of the wooden track in Beijing, hopefully as many as three times in the competition, would take a really dedicated athlete. Jamie Staff is just that and then some.
In March of this year, Jamie won a Silver medal in the Team Sprint was closer than he has ever been to matching and beating the times of the fastest man over 1 lap in the world, France's Gregory Bauge.
Jamie is a former BMX World Champion and for many many years has lived his life in America where he met his beautiful wife Malia, mother to his two twins. He came into track cycling late in his career, 2001, and since then has won World titles in the Team Sprint, a World Championship medal in the Kilometre and a World title in the Keirin.
Track racing has become his life to the extent that he moved back here with his family and is now a resident of Manchester which is just a little different to the life he had in America. That upheaval, a few years ago now, took time to adjust to but in the last few years, the man with the big muscles and even bigger tattoo on his left leg has come on in leaps and bounds.
Beijing will be his second Olympics and Jamie is crossing his fingers it works out a lot better than it did in Athens, his first. His event is the Team Sprint where three riders line up at the start and when the gate opens, they sprint for all they are worth to be as quick as they can around the track.
Jamie leads off on lap 1 at the 2008 Track World Championships
After one lap, man 1, the rider who starts in the gate, peels off and the rider who started in the middle on the start line, then does his best to sprint around the second lap as quick as he can with the third rider, called man 3, on his wheel. Then, as the second lap finishes, man 2 swings up and it is then up to man 3 to carry that speed for the final lap.
On a 250 metre track, the race is over in 43 to 44 seconds for the really top nations and the event is now so important to competing countries, that riders specific to a position in the race spend years trying to knock off a 100th or 10th off their time for a lap. Great Britain for eight years has, with France, been one of the top nations in the event and Team GB have won the World title several times in that period.
The Athens Olympics however was a nightmare. In Sydney 2000, they won Silver and a lot of effort went into the team to try and win Gold four years later. Things in Athens however went wrong and GB came out of it with nothing despite recording the second fastest time of the competition. In 2007/8, the team have been working over time to cut time here and there and one of the riders who has risen to that challenge is Jamie.
They know from the times the French were doing in Manchester for the Track Cycling Worlds, far quicker than ever before (43.271 to GB’s 43.777), that winning is going to be a tough job but a medal, maybe even Gold, is a possibility if everything comes together. It requires the riders in the team to be better than they have ever been before and the amount of work that goes into trying to be that beggars belief. Not just on the Track, or in the Gym, but even when at home relaxing. Dedication doesn’t even begin to describe how committed the Team Sprint riders are to being better.
For the layman, comprehending how dedicated an athlete has to be to win a medal at the Olympics can be difficult when so much work goes on behind closed doors but come the Olympics in Beijing when we’re all watching our TV screens, and Team GB step onto the track for the Team Sprint, they will be the best they can be and there will be no excuses. They can only do their best and that they certainly will.
Morale in Team GB is, as ever, very high and the banter even on a podium always raising a laugh
The Athens Nightmare
For Jamie Staff though, Athens was a nightmare and the fact he is in the team for Beijing is a testament to how much he wanted this spot in the GB Olympic Cycling team. We met in the gym at Manchester where Ross Edgar was lifting some really heavy weights and Jamie wanted to be there for morale support. Team spirit is certainly strong in Team GB as I saw first hand. Each time Ross went to do a lift, the interview would stop -- everything in the gym would stop in fact -- and everyone was there to support Ross.
The starting point for the interview was to go back to Athens and ask how Jamie has recovered from that experience. Training for such a major event takes a lot of mental strength as well as physical strength as we found out talking to Jamie and started by asking why, after such a tough time in Athens, he put so much into going to Beijing?
“I think I have only just got over it to be honest” Jamie explained. “There are so many emotions associated with that experience. The general public look at it on TV and it looks so awesome – which it is — but I didn’t know what to expect and it was different to any other event I have known.”
“At a normal World championships, there is a short build-up, a regular training routine where everyone gets excited and you do the event. With the Olympics though, you have the pre-camp followed by ten days in Wales (Olympic holding camp) and then out to Beijing and then another ten days in the Olympic village before your event.”
“You have so much time to think and you can’t get away from it because it is in your face. In Athens, I let silly little things get on top of me like I was missing my wife who I hadn’t seen in a long time (a month or more) and I am a person who likes his home comforts and so if I’m in the Olympic environment too long, it drives me nuts.”
“Also, the results for the team in Athens, the Sprint team, were not the best they could be. Chris was amazing in the Kilo but we had issues in the Team Sprint which were disappointing after we assumed we’d get a medal and that knocked me for six and then in the Keirin I got disqualified after going in to it as World Champion and coming out with nothing. So, overall, it was really disappointing and I didn’t want anything to do with the bike after the Olympics and I think the only bike I rode was my wife’s beach cruiser!”
“I soon got back on the bike after a few months though and I think that long break was good for me as I had never had a long break in 20 years of riding. Looking back, it was a real positive to get away, analyse your life, see where you are and what you want to do.”
“I did the Worlds in 2005 and won there, and its all gone upwards from there. I’ve had a few uplifts since then, moving house and the arrival of the twins, but I’m pretty settled now. I feel since Athens, I have matured as an athlete and learnt a hell of a lot more than I already knew. At the time of Athens, I was only new to the sport but now I feel a lot more established and things have gone really well.”
“Now, I just want the Olympics so bad -- bring it on! I wish it was tomorrow as I am starting to lay awake at night thinking about it.”
Gym work, an essential part of the training process for Jamie.
Moving up a gear
Like many other riders in the team, experienced riders who reached new highs in Athens, Jamie has gone on to break his personal bests and asked why he think that he has been able to make the leaps he has in bringing that lap 1 time down, he says “there are a number of factors.”
“Like, I have put my life in order, chosen my priorities and my wife is behind me 150 per cent by doing everything she can looking after the kids and so on. I’m working well with the coaches too and letting them do their jobs in telling me what to do and I’m doing it. I think a lot of it is just a state of mind too.”
“Deep down, I know how big the Olympics is, that it only comes around once every four years, so I am putting absolutely everything into it and there are a lot of sacrifices. For example, I’ll be sitting on the couch and the kids want to play at the end of the day when I’m absolutely shattered and I have to say --bring the toys here and we’ll play.”
“It can be frustrating that there are sacrifices to be made, sacrifices that people don’t realise when they see the event on TV or read about us in the paper. Silly things like the maintenance of the garden and not doing the little things that could affect your recovery. Making the most of every moment and relaxing so you’re fresh for the next days training. I know my wife is looking forward to the Games being over so we can get on with our lives!”
“That little extra effort you have to put into every day life means you put a lot on hold which you don’t tend to if it’s a World Cup or World Championship. I have been so full on for these Games, but I can tell you now -- I won’t be next year!
“For the Olympics, you have to go to that next level, try that bit harder and that includes the training diaries and information I am passing onto the coaches. Some of it is personal but you just want them to be given every bit of information so you can help them coach you. Having been a BMX coach for a year or so, really helped me as you got to see the other side of it and how important the communication between rider and athlete is. I have seen how hard it can be when coaching and getting the information from an athlete and so am now probably one of the best communicators!”.
There are also other factors as well like the sports scientists who take the data from the riders and analyse it to help the likes of Jamie go faster. “There has been a lot more involvement with the English Institute of Sport (EIS) providing us with data and feedback which has been great”.
“Scott Gardner has had a big influence. He works more with the coaches than the athlete but we have a good rapport with him. Periodically I’ll sit down with Scott, Jan, Iain, Mark (gym coach) and Shane Sutton and brainstorm and see what has gone right and gone wrong. Highlight any weaknesses and strengths. For the training to be a success, everything has to run in sync from the athlete to the coach and everyone in between.”
“As an athlete, I have been riding for 25 years this year and because I come from BMX, and never really had a coach and was self taught, I had good and bad years I and have learnt since that you can’t be 100 per cent all the time.”
Jamie goes over the data with Mike Hughes of the EIS
Jamie however is right now, better than he has ever been. The weights in the gym are at least 20 kilos or more better than what he was doing four years ago, he is producing 300 watts more than he used to and his time for the opening lap too has come down a lot. His times are more consistent as well so all in all, Jamie is very pleased with where he is at right now and personal bests have been a part of his build up in the last few weeks.
Jamie has also learn a lot about himself over the years since Athens and what he can do to build on his form so its where he wants it to be, so crucial for a major event like the Olympics.
In summing it all up, Jamie adds “as Dave Brailsford (Performance Director) says, it’s bringing all those one per cents together and after a while it adds up.”
The Long Road to Beijing
All the riders in the GB Olympic team know that they will need to be in the form of their life in Beijing to have a chance of winning a medal. That sort of form only comes with hard work over a long period of time. For example athletes like Jamie don’t just suddenly start training at the last minute. Jamie’s road to Beijing started as soon as the 2007 World Track Championships (March 2007) were over.
“This season started for me at the Majorca World Track Championships. I was disappointed not to get a ride in the Team Sprint and that was a kick up the ass. The Kilo (Bronze medal) was a treat and I felt in good form but not the best I could have been.”
“Where as some riders will take time off after a Worlds like that to have a bit of fun, I was straight on my road bike and that was the best thing I could have done because its given me the time to get a huge road block in. Even when I was travelling with the BMX team, I took the road bike and was cranking in the miles and building up a good solid foundation.”
“Even today I think that is helping me with my recovery and the ability to deal with the demands on the Track and in the Gym. I was super fit in the gym and had laid a great foundation and I have never been this consistent in the gym and on the track. There is a hundredth between every effort on the boards and it is phenomenal to find there has been no real drop off. I think that is one of the biggest things I did to help me get to this point.”
“I have just focused on the one event (Team Sprint) and set goals along the way and have hit nearly all of them. In Copenhagen I didn’t but then Bauge wasn’t that quick either then and I just put that down to the conditions or the speed of the track.”
Getting Faster and Faster
Jamie admits that it was back in France in 2006 when he did a 17.420 (a few hundredths slower than Bauge in the final) that he knew he could break down the barriers for the first lap in the team sprint.
“When I first joined the team (late 2001), everyone was Team Sprinting and a good lap was 18.0 seconds but the sport has moved on a lot since then. I just think you have to remove those mental blocks in your head. I realised anything is possible when Bauge came along and was doing the 17.3’s and 17.4’s. You start thinking, if he can do it, I can do it.”
“Looking at it from a different angle, a lot of countries are now focusing specifically on this event and they have a specific man for a position where as before it was just made up of Match Sprinters and Keirin riders. Now you have riders for specific positions in the Team Sprint which is going to bring out more in the athlete.”
“My job is now about doing a single standing lap and my life is based around that so you are going to see improvements.”
“I was shocked doing 17.4’s a couple of years ago and was happy with that but then this year to come out and do two 17.2s was great. I had sent round an email to my coaches saying I was aiming for a 17.2 at the Worlds and it was ironic that was what I did so now I am sending round emails saying 16.9s! Hopefully that will have the same effect in Beijing!”
Jamie knows though it isn’t just the time that matters but how his time compares to that of the others. In Manchester, Jamie’s opening laps in qualifying and the finals were on par with the fastest man there, Gregory Bauge of France, a few hundredths down but fast enough to have the team going into the second lap near enough (within a few hundredths or thousandths) of the French on the other side of the track.
What the times will be in Beijing will depend on the on the climatic conditions and the track. In the Beijing World Track Cup last Winter (December), the lap 1 times were slightly down by a few tenths on the times in Manchester (half a second or so) but that could be down to many factors. What the team will do in August at the peak of their form is anybody’s guess.
And Jamie fully expects the times to get even quicker over the next four years and while riders are talking about 16.9’s at this point in time, Jamie says that by London 2012, they may be doing 16.5s. Jamie then admitted that he’d love be the first rider to break that 17 second barrier!
Team Selection
Before Jamie could even think about Beijing however, he had to first make sure he was on the plane and with so many riders trying to book their seat to Beijing in the sprint team, competition for places was fierce. Jamie however says he was quite calm about it after the World Track Championships.
“I didn’t focus on what the others were doing, just on what I was doing and what I could control. I wasn’t stressed at the trials, quite relaxed in fact, and I came through it well. I just kept the pressure on and physically I knew from the numbers in the gym and those on the track that I could do a better lap that the others. So I kept believing in myself.”
Just the one?
2004 and Jamie wins an individual title in the Men's Keirin
Taking into account that the sprinters in Team GB have three possible events, Sprint, Team Sprint and Keirin, is Jamie still only focused on doing the one lap?
“Unfortunately so” was the reply. “That is the position I have put myself in for the last season and has been my goal.”
“I told the coaches I want to go to Beijing and I’m going to put all my eggs in one basket, man 1 in the Team Sprint. I didn’t want to do all the events then as I thought that would dilute what I could do in the Team Sprint so from that point of view, it has got me where I am.”
“But now with the form I have, I think I could be competitive in the Sprint rather than the Keirin (Jamie was World Keirin champion in 2004).”
“I don’t do too many long efforts like Chris (Hoy) and Ross (Edgar) do but I am getting up there and doing really good times for flying efforts but hey, I chose to do this and if I was asked to step up there, I’d gladly do it. I’d love to.”
“Sure, it can be frustrating doing only one event but there are plenty of athletes going to the Olympics for just the one event and I’d be happy coming back with a Gold or any medal to be honest. Obviously everyone wants Gold but there are only a few of those to go round so I’d be more than stoked to get anything.”
Not just any race…
A common theme that I hear talking to riders is that they avoid putting pressure on themselves and treat races like they would any other – they just prepare better so they can go faster than they ever have. Jamie says that is easier said than done!
“It’s hard to treat these races as just another race like the Worlds etc because of all the things that are around you telling you it’s the Olympics. You do need to put that behind you once you’re on the track but I didn’t in 2004. I have had to learn that you have to try and go there and treat it as just another event as hard as that is.”
“The same competitors, the same track, the same officials that you face at other events like the World Cup there – so I need to just go out and do my job. That is the way you have to treat it but for a lot of first timers, you are kind of awestruck and you let your emotions run away with you.”
“I have heard that the percentage of medals for first time athletes is low and from my experience I can understand why. I think it’s fantastic for Jason Kenny to be chosen because he is a phenomenal athlete, so fast, so young and it’s great for him to get the Olympic experience before he hopefully rides in London.”
Olympic Village – No Home away from Home
One thing that can play mind games with athletes though is the Olympic Village. It was this very thing that Jamie Staff struggled with in 2004 and he explained why it can be tough and no holiday camp!
Whilst the team did not have that many stressful distractions in the Athens Olympic accommodation, with only the odd press conference to disturb their free time, it was being cooped up in a small space that got to a few of the riders.
“You’re stuck in these apartments, two or three bedroom ones, but there is no kitchen in there yet and the dining room is a bedroom so you have like five or six bedrooms in this tiny apartment and there are 20 odd of you staying in this building for two weeks.
Everybody is emotional, it gets stressful and that was what I let get to me before.”
“Things like the poxy plastic chairs start to get to you and you have this for two weeks and it was certainly not home from home. That got to me but this time I’m over it and realise everybody is in the same boat.” Then with a laugh he said “I asked Shane Sutton (Performance Manager) for a PlayStation and he told me to p#ss off and that’s being polite!”
In Athens, Jamie explained that in the village there were computer rooms and a huge hall with PlayStations or XBoxes but everyone was yearning for some home comforts to have close to them. So this time, Jamie is taking his coffee machine along with his PSP, a computer and some books.
“You will go nuts it you are sitting in a room with 15 other athletes with nothing to do so it is about getting away and finding stuff to occupy your time”.
For now though, Jamie is still at home and dealing with juggling the pressures of having a young family and the scrapes that young men of three get into whilst also focusing 100 per cent on his training before he heads for Newport and the Olympic holding camp where his taper for Beijing will see him doing less and less training and more and more resting.
One final question to Jamie though – post Beijing – what then? “I’d like to have another shot at the Sprint but what I do depends on what happens in Beijing. I’d love to go to London 2012 but I need to look at the young talent coming up as well. Take Jason Queally. He has trained his heart out the last four years and hasn’t quite made it and I certainly don’t want to spend four years training and not make London.”
What ever happens, whether Jamie is racing still or in coaching, Jamie would still love to be involved in the sport for London 2012 saying it is going to be a very special time for sport in Britain. For now though, Jamie has a lap, or three of the Beijing Olympic Velodrome to focus on!
Good luck to him for Beijing 2008 and thanks for taking the time to talk to us!
RELATED LINKS
Pre-World Track Championships Interview
ARCHIVES
Interview before the last Olympics
Interview by larryhickmott@britishcycling.org.uk
