Sportsister, The Women's Sports Magazine - Rebecca Romero

Rebecca Romero won Silver in Athens as part of the GB rowing team, now four years later she is going for Gold in the track cycling individual pursuit event. At this years World Championships in Manchester she won two Golds, which bodes well for Beijing. However in this interview she shows her human side - a complicated mix of self doubt and ambition.

What have you been doing since the Worlds?

Well not much track work, we have tried to cram in almost a full seasons training between the Worlds and the Olympics. We’ve done lots of endurance and are now just getting back onto the track. Now that I am established as a rider, I find I can have time away from the track for a while and come back and still feel comfortable.

Does your performance at the worlds come with added pressure?

Yes absolutely, if I was Bradley Wiggins, year in year out consistently winning medals, I would have the confidence. But because the win was so unexpected, I ask myself if there was an element of luck there, but that’s just the negative way I think about it, because I can’t understand how I possibly achieved it.

My coach reminds me that I am World champion; it’s not luck that won that medal and I have to take confidence from that.

Now I have to up my game again, because that’s the nature of the Olympics, and I have that exact same feeling as I did going into Athens. Back then, a couple of months before the Games, myself and my crew beat the favourites and then went to Athens as the top crew, then we were beaten and came away with Silver. We didn’t pull it off, and here we are again, I am going in as favourite and it’s going to be a major personal battle.

My self-doubt comes from not winning year in year out. A consistent winning pattern would give me the confidence, because I would have the self belief - and I perform much better knowing that I really am capable of winning.

It’s hard because there hasn’t been time to reflect on the World Championships and enjoy the glory of it, I have just had to get back into training. There was always the bigger thought of the Olympics, it was just a case of job done - that’s great, but it’s the big one that we are after. Thinking that I am double World Champion is strange really because it has been and gone.

The TV coverage of the Worlds was a little misleading, because in the final I won by a fair margin, but that was just that race. In reality we are all a lot closer together, it certainly won’t be so easy in Beijing. I was ahead yes, but not by a massive margin. The format is different in the Olympics too, there are three races over three days as opposed to two races in one day, so that will suit different riders. I think it will suit me better - it is more like how rowing is run.
Have your coaches tried to change your negativity?

Well no not exactly, you can’t change a personality. The motivation is to not lose, and my negativity I try to turn to a positive

So now you are not part of a team boat, you are on your own, will that make a difference?

It works both ways, on the one hand it’s totally down to me so no-one else will effect the result for me - it’s entirely my responsibility, no one to share the work load with and no one can let you down. Achievement is all your own but so is failure. In rowing in a four man boat you are only 25% of the effort, so the pressure is diluted, however if you don’t pull your weight you not only let yourself down but all the others too. In the individual event you can’t share the stresses.

Do you miss the camaraderie of being part of a team?

Yes, in many ways. I have experienced the two extremes now. I experienced the highs and lows of being part of a team and now I am experiencing the same with being an individual athlete. Given the choice though I think I would go for the individual sport. The racing is very different now, it’s totally dictated by stop watches and figures. There are magic numbers that you work towards and world record times. You always know exactly when you are not performing well, when you are under the weather, it’s very exact.

I am also doing the points race, I was in two minds whether I should do it, but there was no-one else and in a way my naivety about the event might play in my favour as I have no expectations. It’s unlike anything I have done before. There’s a combination of tactics and also conserving energy and pacing your body. I will be racing entirely by using my physiological strengths. But my main focus is the individual pursuit, I haven’t trained specifically for the points race but a lot of my training is relevant.

How did it feel to win silver in Athens?

Well there are two ways of looking at it, one is that it’s the runner-up prize and the other is that it’s a silver medal at the Olympics. My own experience was that I had lost gold and only had a silver hanging around my neck. I was disappointed because we didn’t execute the race well, we were capable of more, we lost that gold. We should have won it. It’s a worse feeling to know you lost gold, I am a really sore loser.

If I don’t win Gold in Beijing, I think I will feel better about it as long as I know I have done everything I can and I performed to the best of my ability. We have done everything possible so far, I am happy with my training and if the next weeks go well, then I will know we have done everything we can. Then if I don’t do anything wrong on the day and I don’t win Gold then I think I’ll be ok with it.