Giles Long

For twelve years Giles has represented Great Britain at the highest level in the world of swimming, both as a Butterfly and Individual Medley swimmer and as a relay team member.

He has won twenty major Championship medals including Paralympic, European, and World Championship Gold medals. His greatest achievement was winning the Paralympic 100 metre Butterfly Gold medal, in October 2000, in a World Record time.

Giles’s achievements are the more impressive given that he had to struggle against cancer for 2 years which threw his entire career into doubt. His treatments for his bone tumour included chemotherapy, radiotherapy and numerous operations.

Sportsvibe caught up with Giles for an update…

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How did you get into swimming?
�I always loved being in the water and seemed to be always pestering my parents to take me to the swimming pool.� One day I was sitting in the back of the car, aged seven, with my Mum was driving along.� She looked into the rear-view mirror and said “You like swimming, why don’t you join the swimming club?” I did.� Loved it and within weeks wanted to win a gold medal.

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What’s the best thing about swimming?
I think it when you feel like you’re flying.� After years of training an investing in the skills of swimming you become so used to moving in the water and holding your breath that it becomes a total joy to be in the element.

Who is your biggest inspiration in your sport?
My Dad.� Between the two of us we worked out a whole new way of swimming Butterfly which has been copied by Paralympics swimmers the world over.� He was an amazing sailor and was one of the first few to bring the 18foot Skiff to the UK from Australia in the early 1970’s.� He never knows when he beaten and taught me that winning in sport is about using every tool in the box not just about going the gym and getting stronger.

Do you admire anybody outside of your own sport?
I am blown away by Usain Bolt.� He is just out of this world.� But I admire all the people out there practicing and training in all weathers, trying to be better at something when everyone says they’re mad. Sportsmen and women who are on a journey not knowing where it ends but prepared to give it their best.

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Who is the most competitive person that you have come up against in swimming?
�A Danish swimmer called Emil Brondum.� He had all sorts of things that he would try and do to psych me out.

Do you have any pre race rituals or superstitions?
Yes.� I practice self-hypnosis.� It takes between 20 and 45 minutes to get into the right mental space but once I’m tuned in I have a trigger phrase which I say in my head in the final fifteen metres of the race.� It makes my muscles feel refreshed and means I finish the race harder.� As for superstitions I will never hold or touch a mirror on race day just in case I drop it – I’m pretty clumsy.

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What is the most memorable moment in your sporting career to date? Why?
Winning the 100m Butterfly at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics in a new world record time.� Standing in the middle spot on the rostrum with 20,000 people all standing to honor something that you’ve done just makes you feel like you are shining from the inside out.

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What do you want to achieve next in your sport? What are your goals?
I have retired from competitive swimming at the very top end but now I channel my energy into making sure that young athletes that have aspirations of competing at the 2012 Paralympics get every chance.� To that end I work with the Variety Club who are doing fantastic work at raising money with fundraising evenings like Reach For The Stars where, with the admin assistance of SportsAid, they aim to bridge the gap between amateur participation and elite competition.

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If you hadn’t of been a Paralympic swimmer, what would you have done?
I’m not very good at it but I like to think I would have been a pro surfer.� Always in the sun, always in the water, lots of beach babes and a sport that looks really cool.� What’s not to like?

What music do you listen to? What’s the last thing song you listened to on your i-pod?

I listen to everything!� Everything from Mozart to mind-grinding Techno.� I love collecting music and have a huge vinyl collection (which only causes minor domestic friction with my girlfriend).� But the last thing to listen to on my iPod was Small Town Boy by Jimmy Somerville, its an eighties tune that has a real sinister melancholic tone to it and I rediscovered it a couple of weeks ago.� It’s a song about prejudice and if I was still swimming I would have used it to psych me up before a race – I endured prejudice in swimming and it was always great to let sporting performance make them look small.

What do you do on a day off/in your spare time?
If I get the time I meet up with friends and jam.� I play guitar and harmonica – there a few things in the world that can rival making a total racket in a small room for an extended period of time.

If you had 24 hours to live, how would you spend it?
I like to think that would use it wisely and visit somewhere incredibly special or experience something incredible.� But I think a nagging part of me will just wonder what on earth ever happened to the kitchen scissors?
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What is your favourite film?
Withnail & I, I could watch it for ever and ever.� Partly because its hilarious in the way that all the best cult films are.� But also because underneath the hard drinking, drug abuse and other nonsense its about a man (“I” played by Paul McGann) who dreams of being a professional actor, grinds away at it and against all the odds makes it.� I can identify with that.� Anyone that has a dream and is prepared to chase it gets my admiration.

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Do you get any strange fan mail?
Occasionally things come through that are a little weird though most if it is just very flattering.� I once got a picture of a female chest to autograph.� I’ll leave you with that thought….

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What is the funniest thing you’ve read/heard about yourself in the media?
That “Giles Long sustained his disability after having an accident on his motorbike aged thirteen.” I’ve never even owned a motorbike.� And don’t you have to 16 to ride one anyway?� I suppose I could have been the passenger but even then it still doesn’t work.� Anyway, I had cancer.� So there.

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Tell us a joke about your sport?
What do cheap hotels and racing bodysuits have in common?� No Ballroom.

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Giles is supporting� The Variety Club Disability Sports Committee & SportsAid new grants programme to support young, disabled athletes in the lead up to the 2012 Paralympics