Olympic Gold medallists Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie share their wisdom
Yachting gold medallists Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie shared insights into their lives as high performance athletes when they spoke recently at a breakfast for carded athletes organised by the HPSNZ team in Christchurch at the Apollo Projects Centre.
In 2000, the two sailors were identified by Yachting New Zealand as having talent and since then they have led the way in women’s yachting in New Zealand with their sailing achievements -- not just in the 470 double handed class they are sailing now, but in many different classes of boat.
HPSNZ Athlete Life Advisor Julie Jorgensen says she has had the privilege of knowing Jo and Polly and their coach well for some years ``so being able to glean some of their experiences and wisdom for our carded athletes in Christchurch to benefit from was a great opportunity”.
Three years prior to the London Olympics both Jo and Polly were new to the 470 double handed boat. But now, three years out from Rio, it is a different game. “The first time around we were just learning about us as a team and our boat, really just doing our apprenticeship,” Jo says. They have just returned from Europe where they finished second at the European Championships. And in a sign that times have changed, they even took a little time out while overseas to see a little of Europe. “Back when we first started travelling, we would go to a regatta, fly in and fly out. This time I had a few days in Paris. After eight-plus years of going to Europe, it was my first visit to Paris!” Jo laughs. Polly adds: “We have developed really good routines when we travel and we try to train smart so we don’t get sick.”
This year, their schedule is a little more low key with the intensity increasing each year until the 2016 Rio Olympics. Both girls manage to juggle study with training and competing, although it has taken them a few years to figure out the right balance. “We just did an exam right before the Europeans which was not fun,” says Polly. “But it gives us another focus and creates a bit of discipline around what we are doing,” she says. “I initially tried to do too many papers a semester and then learnt that for me one to two papers is plenty,” explains Jo.
It doesn’t take long to realise that planning is a hugely important component to their campaign. And they are not afraid to put their plan out there for criticism and feedback from others. They have had planning experts from both within sport and in the corporate sector provide feedback and on top of that have spent time with other gold medallists, in yachting as well as other sports, looking for the smallest improvements to what they are doing.
“We learnt quite a bit from talking with rower Mahe Drysdale - their training is quite different to ours - and learnt the benefit of having specific goals for each and every session,” says Jo. “Learning to utilise your time really well with some structure around what you are doing is so important.”
Jo and Polly will head back to Europe soon for their World Championships, but before then Jo will have ridden the last five stages of the Tour de France as part of a tour. Later in the year, both will head to Rio to check out the venue, climate, facilities and sailing conditions, as they work towards defending their Olympic gold medal.
To follow their progress check out their website with some great blogs and updates Team Jolly Racing
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