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Blog: Sarah Storey at the Commonwealth Games

Incredible India!

Posted: 14th October 2010

Arriving in Delhi was very exciting, not least because on approach to landing, the view from the plane window through the heat haze showed a sprawling city with many impressive looking buildings but although I tried to crane my neck I couldn't see any of the much talked about venues or our accommodation at the Commonwealth Village.

Having never visited India before I was curious to sit by the bus window and watch the sights of another huge city pass me by as we were whisked through the streets to the Athletes' Village. The drill of any Games is very much the same and the journey from the airport is always a quiet one as each person in the team takes in the sights of the city.

I always love that part of the trip, after a long flight when you are really itching to get there and unpack it's almost like the best is saved to last and you see the host city from the athlete bubble. It's also the same on any journey to the venues, a great vantage point for people watching and checking out the day to day life of another huge city on which so many foreign nationals have descended. I never expected to have the time to go out and about in the city of Delhi, so I soaked up the outside world as best I could from the bus.

Arriving in Delhi we had the same "Games Lane" route to the Village, with the traffic virtually at a standstill around us, we athletes were cleverly guided through the maze of streets and three lane carriageways, with a police escort and many other security personnel lining the streets we travelled. With big banners and adverts of the Games Mascot, not to mention the many volunteers that had been at the airport to welcome us, I had a good vibe about our stay and was excited to explore the much talked about Village.

The construction of any Games Village is similar. Athletes and the staff are housed in apartments or houses all of which have been built to be rented or sold afterwards. Occasionally there is an existing campus available for the Village, as was the case in Manchester 2002, but in general the Village is a new build, built to blend in so that it can be used after the Games.

In Barcelona 1992 the Village was by the Olympic Port, its food hall was not the usual huge marquee but a tall building and now that area is residential - the food hall building has been turned into a shopping mall and underground supermarket.

In 1996 the Village was built as an extension of the University of Atlanta and after the Games was to house students. In Sydney a completely new housing estate was built with the intention of converting the buildings into family homes after the Games. As such the house I was in didn't have a kitchen and I even slept in what would have ended up as the garage. This approach also meant there wasn't enough room for everyone, so some unlucky people lived in mobile homes that were placed outside the main houses.

Manchester's Commonwealth Games hosted the athletes in the University accommodation to the south of the city centre in Fallowfield. A huge campus was taken over from high rise flats to the older more traditional style rooms which the English team had. These were bigger bedrooms, with a large bathroom down the end of each corridor. With accreditation always allowing free access to local transport, being a swimmer at those Commonwealth Games, meant we could use the public buses to get up and down the main road to the pool. It was perfect!

By Athens in 2004, we were back in purpose built accommodation in a superb village and like Delhi there were several training venues at the Village including a 50m swimming pool and archery field.

Like Athens, Beijing was another purpose built village and again with all the modern conveniences of a leisure pool, state of the art gym and vast array of shops in the International zone.

In much the same way the Delhi organisers built the village specifically for the Games and the location meant the apartments were built as prime location residences to be sold after the Games. With a high speed rail link just a few minutes walk from the village, future residents of these apartments will be able to access the business and central districts of Delhi much quicker than in other areas. The Delhi Village also went one better than any other Games, providing en-suite bedrooms to all residents as well as a guest toilet off the main living area. This meant in the apartment I was staying, we had 5 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. Complete luxury when there are up to 10 girls staying together!

Arriving in the heat of the day made me appreciate the time we would have to acclimatise, although after a couple of rollers sessions outside, I was soon used to the 35-40 degree daytime temperatures and quite enjoyed not having my usual cold feet!

By the second day I was ready to hit the track and arrived to find a brand new velodrome with all the additional facilities such as athlete lounge, treatment rooms and changing areas you would expect of a world class venue. Having no prior knowledge of weather patterns in Delhi it was interesting to find we were experiencing constantly low pressure, around 980-985mb and I hoped that with an adjustment of the track's air conditioning we could enjoy the heat from outside and a potentially superfast track.

By race day I'd experienced all the Village had to offer, with a vast array of tasty food in the food hall, a string of shops in the International Zone, the cool Residence Centre for internet and the endless supply of sport on the "live feed" channels of the apartment's television. After hitting the track up until competition started on Tuesday 5th October, I was then confined to barracks and told to rest up ready for action on Friday 8th. It's that sort of training that no one ever warns you about and that over the course of the last 7 Games, I have managed to perfect in a way that doesn't cause me to go too stir crazy!

Sitting with your feet up for two or three days straight, no unnecessary walking, no socialising in other apartments, nothing more strenuous than riding to the food hall 3 times a day and doing a light rollers session. That is the part that doesn't appear on the side of the tin!

Athletes must be capable of tolerating extreme pain, of competing even when their body wants to sleep, of training until they think they'll fall over and knowing how much to eat and sleep.

Nowhere does it say, "Athletes must be able to do all of the above and must also be able to tolerate the extreme boredom of resting up before a major Championships!" It got to the point where my flatmates were coming back from racing and saying, "have you actually moved from that chair?!!" To which I would reply, "of course, I went to get my lunch!"

I sat in my chair watching all of the cycling and most of the swimming. I based my lunch time around not missing any finals, and I knew the TV channel numbers I would need to flick sports off by heart! I watched in amazement at the speed of the fastest qualifier in the men's individual pursuit and hoped to emulate that. I saw the drama in the Keirin and watched excitedly as team mates picked up their medals. I was part of the action, but I was still in my chair!

I did a few interviews just after we arrived and was asked questions about whether it was different being part of an able-bodied team and whether it would be harder or easier being an athlete as a result of that. I'd not really thought of the event as any different to going away with my Paracycling or Paraswimming team mates, it didn't feel too different, just pulling on the national kit and packing for another competition. The only differences I could find were related directly to my circumstances. I wasn't standing in the Village as any kind of favourite. Looking around and people watching in the Food Hall gave me the chance to spot any number of athletes I recognised, and who I knew would be regarded as a favourite. For me, it was probably only the 3rd time in my career when I wouldn't be regarded as a favourite at a major Championships.

I wasn't at the top of the rankings in the Commonwealth and I'd just been beaten at the British Championships by another rider who I knew I'd face in Delhi. I stood there as a World Record Holder and as a Paralympic and World Champion, but none of that changed my approach or meant I was more likely to be singled out. I was just another rider, like any other, who was also hoping to get under their personal best and try and get on the podium if I could.

My ambitions for the Games were also different. I would have loved to think I could win, but realistically I knew the challenge would be to get a second ride. There could be no tactics. I couldn't expect to be last off in qualification and therefore know what time would qualify me for the final. I was out there to do exactly the opposite of what I have ever done in the last few years. My aim was the ride the Qualification round like a final and see if that was enough to get through to the medal rides. There was no thinking or planning for a second ride, as far as I was concerned my preparation was for one 3,000m ride and anything after that would be a bonus.

In the event I rode against a young New Zealand rider, who had I beaten I would have been in the bronze medal ride. I didn't win our contest, I clocked the same time as I did at the British Nationals and was placed 6th. I couldn't have gone any faster on that day, so had no regrets. I just wasn't good enough and hadn't had the same perfect preparation as I'd had prior to the Paracycling World Track Championships when I'd done my personal best last year.

I'd gone out to leave nothing in the tank and barely had the energy to switch bikes for the cool down. It was a strange one really, I felt I'd tried harder than I'd done to go my personal best [5 seconds quicker, last November] and the power data from the bike this time, showed I was 35 watts higher on average for the ride. Considering I am lower at the front and from pictures certainly look more aero than I did last November, I would have expected a 35 watt increase to have been enough to do a quicker time, especially with the decrease in overall drag.

With the "numbers" looking so positive and the impact of the lessons I've learned from the experience allowing me to again move onwards and upwards as an athlete I feel incredibly humbled to have had the opportunity out in India. It's always good to get your "head kicked in" every now and then, preferably not with the attention of the country's media on you or with the added tag of being the first endurance para-athlete to compete for an able-bodied English team, but I am so glad I was there. Not only did coming 6th remind me of how grateful I am to have made the podium on so many other occasions in the past, but it also confirmed to me I am right to be so motivated to ride a sub 3 minutes 30 for the 3,000m, it's another landmark I just HAVE to reach!

A big thanks to all the people who made the trip possible and of course to my family and friends for their constant support and encouragement. Until next time, Sarah x