Michael Jamieson interview: Former Olympian on how coaching has helped him find a life after swimming
Swimming has been a rollercoaster ride for Michael Jamieson.
The Scot’s high points – silver medals in the 200m breaststroke at the London 2012 Olympics and both the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games – have contrasted sharply with the lows: injury, mental health struggles and, in 2013, emergency treatment for heart arrhythmia following overexertion in training.
While he stepped away from competing in February 2017, his journey with the sport has not ended.
Like many retiring athletes Jamieson knew he wanted out, but didn’t know where to turn next. He had been so consumed with training, so fixated on improvement and so clouded by depression that he had barely considered what would happen when the end eventually came.
But after failing to qualify for the 2015 World Championships and missing out on selection for the 2016 Rio Olympics he made the tough decision to move on.
“I think coming out of sport is obviously really difficult. By the end of it I wanted to get out because I wasn’t physically or psychologically fit and I needed a change,” he tells City A.M.
“I had no idea what I wanted to do. I just knew I needed a break after being in sport for so long and being stuck to the routine. I think it was important to get complete separation from it and do something completely different.”
Getting away
Jamieson says there was some support available, but a lifestyle advisor was only available to the top athletes. So having made the decision to quit after a tumultuous relationship with the sport, he spent most of 2017 travelling to get away from it and broaden his mind.
“I was doing a lot of yoga and learning about mindfulness and from that I became a lot more interested in the transition for athletes coming out of high level sport,” he says. “How they use those skills and first of all acknowledging where those skills are – I think that’s one of the toughest bits. You feel like your identity is so fully within sport that you’re not sure where those other skills are.
“That initial separation from the sport was difficult but you still wake up and you still have to fill your day and it actually turns out a bit easier than you think It’s not as daunting as it seems initially.”
Following his successful sabbatical Jamieson accepted a role as an ambassador for a chain of international schools in Shanghai. He was two days away from moving to China when a few conversations planted the seed for what has now become his life.
Coaching
Jamieson, along with former Olympic team mate Craig Gibbons, decided to set up a high-performance swimming academy in London to tap into the capital’s talent. Natare West London was born in October 2017, with the duo using their expertise to change the way youth performance swimming operates.
The 30-year-old also joined sports charity Laureus as an ambassador earlier this year and spoke to City A.M. last week from Fight For Peace in North Woolwich, where he took his swim team to exchange ideas with young people from the boxing and martial arts community programme.
“Certainly initially I did not see myself getting into coaching,” Jamieson says. “But the opportunity came about to start a new team in west London and the main draw for me was to prove we could do it differently, with a real focus on mindfulness, on communication, on the relationship between coach and athlete, on more closely monitoring the volume and training schedule.
“I think age group swimming has a real reputation for having a high training load and we’re trying to prove that the basis and foundation of aerobic fitness and skill acquisition can still be done with a more manageable load where they can still acquire new skills and new sports.”
Just over a year on from its foundation Natare has proven a hit with its participants and helped Jamieson move on from competing, while simultaneously giving back to the sport.
The smaller membership programme is in contrast to most other London swimming clubs and allows Jamieson and Gibbons to tailor training to the individuals and develop them as athletes.
“It’s still a huge commitment, but we try and offer a couple of cross-sport opportunities across the season as well,” he explains. “They don’t just pigeon hole themselves as swimmers – they are athletes. They do gymnastics and circuit training. There’s less water-time and less volume.”
Developing skills
The Glaswegian’s coaching philosophy stems from his travelling, studying and personal experiences as an elite swimmer. Having been swept up in a blur of overtraining, a fixation on Olympic medals and his own personal battles Jamieson is passionate about his students adding more strings to their bows.
“The big thing now is [advocating] a dual career – trying to change the focus for athletes so they recognise the need to develop skills outside of their chosen sport, to have a hobby, a passion away from it and accept the fact that by giving some focus to another project it doesn’t necessarily dilute your focus from professional sport,” he says.
“Certainly myself and a lot of other athletes felt that if they place focus on something external to their primary sport it means they’re not giving themselves the best opportunity to improve. A cultural shift is needed. It takes a long, long time to change a culture. But there’s certainly more awareness around it just now, but it will take a long time for it to filter down.”
While Jamieson is understandably critical of a system which prompted some difficult times, he holds no grudges and is happy with the place he’s reached.
“Those opportunities have helped create this one. For that I’m really grateful and I think it puts me in a better position to teach these guys and share my experiences.”