Campbell Won't Compromise on the 2012 Trail

If Alan Campbell does not fulfil his golden ambition in the summer of 2012, it will not be as a result of complacency. Whilst that word is frowned upon across all sports, you get the feeling that the 27 year-old from Coleraine positively despises the concept.

Campbell’s single sculls victory in the British trials at Dorney Lake this weekend speaks volumes for the Northern Irishman’s uncompromising approach to competition. Despite calling the event his “least favourite of the year,” he has now beaten off potential teammates for seven consecutive seasons. Such a feat would be sufficient for most sportsmen to be content with their career haul, but not Campbell.


Speaking with an eloquent, frank confidence that never once crosses the border into the realms of arrogance, it seems that domestic dominance is not quite enough. In eighteen months time, there is an altogether bigger fish to fry.


“When I think back to when I started rowing, the Olympics always comes up,” he reminisces. “I watched Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent bringing home the only gold medals from Atlanta in 1996 and took up the sport the very next season. My aim, from that point on, was to be an Olympic champion.”


“Not many people get the opportunity to compete in a home Olympics and hopefully I can be one of those 550 athletes from Great Britain who do. That would be a great honour because to compete in front of your peers and the people that mean the most to you is very special.”


Although endearing, such humbleness is almost gratuitous. Barring serious injury, Campbell will be a senior figure in London amongst a perennially successful rowing contingent. In fact, because of his innate ability to put pain aside for a pursuit of glory, it would take a catastrophic occurrence or equally drastic loss of form to prevent him being there. When the sculler explains the gruesome depth of adversity that he had to wade through to reach the Beijing start-line in 2008, his Olympic determination takes on a masochistic dimension.


“Three years ago, a tooth abscess infected my bloodstream, latching onto some weakness in my right knee. I eventually needed an operation; it was pretty horrible. To have a surgeon come up to me two months before the Games and tell me I wouldn’t be able to walk, let alone compete, after four years of intense preparation was devastating.”


“From that point, I had a choice between giving up and fighting. I managed to work hard and get myself into a boat. I made the final and now I can look back on what I did with pride. It was beyond what I was capable of and down to both my desire and the spirit of those around me. I am a much stronger athlete now, though, and a more mature racer than I was.”


The matter-of-fact manner in which Campbell recounts his painstaking efforts reinforces his complete disregard for physical hurt. There is no room at all for compromise. Though he might have been forgiven for easing off slightly in order to preserve his health for next August, it seems that Campbell would suffer from horrendous claustrophobia were he to wrap himself in cotton wool.


“There are always risks with training,” Campbell continues with characteristically refreshing honesty. “Last year, we went on a cycling camp and I came off the bike, ending up in hospital for four days. Some of those injuries stayed with me for months but, fortunately, the World Championships were in the southern hemisphere and we had longer to prepare, right up until November. I was able to get up to full fitness because of that.”


That meet at Lake Karipiro, where Campbell grabbed a bronze after finishing just four tenths of a second behind his good friend and home favourite Mahe Drysdale, offered a sumptuous taste of the adulation that the Lake Dorney crowd will drum up next summer. The idea of home advantage is another irresistible aspect of the London allure for the Coleraine man.


“There is a lot of hype about that and everyone seems to ask about it,” he explains excitedly. “You only need to look at the last World Championships to understand. Four New Zealand crews got the better of British ones by one place. We’re hoping that, in London, those roles can be reversed.”


With the Olympic horizon nearing at alarming speed, driven by the surrounding and inevitable media furore, it would be very easy to lose focus on events at hand. As with other indulgences however, Campbell will force himself to resist. Qualification is the first hurdle, which, along with an important psychological foothold, can be achieved in Bled, Slovenia, in five months time.


“This year’s World Championships act as an Olympic qualifier, so from that point of view it’s important that we get a seat first and foremost. I’d also like to go into London as the favourite, rather than just one of the favourites, so a really good performance is vital. Having come second two years ago and third the next, it would be great to complete the set and go into the Games on the back of a gold. Win or lose though, the big one will always be that final in Dorney.”


Understandably for a man who evidently leaves nothing to chance, Campbell is aware of the exactly what is required in order to become an Olympic champion. The detail he goes into whilst elaborating on these obligations is truly stunning, and certainly not for the squeamish.


“Over four years, every single one of the guys in the single sculls final will have done a similar amount of work. For every second of the race, there will have been ten hours worth of training.”


“That will come into play over the first 1500 metres, but the last quarter, when your lungs are burning, you can feel hot pokers in your legs and taste blood in your mouth, is where it really counts. Then it all comes down to who can delve into their heart and soul the most.”


Again, without a trace of banal cliché, the extent of Campbell’s medal hunger is articulated with vivid starkness. However, though Campbell’s chosen profession is clearly tough, and excruciating pain rears its spiky head often and with a great deal of force, he denies insanity.


“I can’t put my finger on why I am a single sculler,” he says, stalling for the first time, albeit only slightly. “Maybe it’s because I’m a lonely child, there are loads of reasons. What I do know is that I enjoy it and wouldn’t want to be in anything else. There’s no better feeling than being out there on your own and getting the boat running sweetly.”


“Maybe all of us are a breed apart in the sculls. I would definitely look at my competitors and say that they are slightly crazy, but I wouldn’t say I was.”


Obviously, for Campbell, Olympic obsession does not count as a viable mental condition. With the air of a man on an insatiable gold rush, he finishes by turning his mind back to Saturday’s triumphant trial.


“Last weekend was actually a great chance to visualise the race that is going to happen at London 2012, something I’ve done plenty of times already,” he admits. “I’ve won every time.”


If dedication has anything to do with transforming dreams into reality, Campbell is sure to accomplish his Dorney Lake destiny in 2012.

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The British Olympic Association is the National Olympic Committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. They prepare the 'Best of British' athletes for, and lead them at, the summer, winter and youth Olympics, and deliver extensive support services to Britain's Olympic athletes and their National Governing Bodies to enhance Olympic success.

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