Humble Brabants Keeps Both Eyes on London 2012

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Dr Tim Brabants MBE became the first British athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in either the sprint or slalom kayak disciplines, leading from start to finish in a convincing K-1 1000m victory.

Just weeks after returning from Beijing decorated in gold and bronze, Brabants humbly traded his paddle for a stethoscope, returning to his post as a doctor on the A&E ward at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham. The calm after his Olympic storm was devoid of any real downtime – as both a medical professional and an Olympian, he possessed the same industrious intensity.

“When I’m working, I’m a doctor,” he assures me with some firmness. “My prime concern is making sure that I’m as good as possible as a doctor. Now, I’m making sure that I I’m as good an athlete as possible. It’s kind of a double life.”

“My entire focus at the minute is on London and about getting that result. It needs to be because I’m up against other athletes who are 100% focused on competing. I can’t take my eye off the ball, I have to be 100% committed to getting that gold in London.”

Achieving three A’s in his A-levels, Brabants opted to attend Nottingham University to resume his studies in medicine. Pivotal to his decision was the fact Nottingham could offer him both reputable medical and kayaking facilities. Since his first skirmish on the water as a keen ten-year old at Elmbridge Canoe Club, kayaking has been the love of his life.

When competing, Brabants glides easily into his natural habitat – his motivation for Beijing was the “unfinished business” left by his greatest sporting disappointment. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Brabants broke the world record in his 1000m heat, only to slump to fifth in the final. Whilst a lesser man may have struggled to keep his remain focused, the resolute Surrey-born sprinter refused to let that setback extinguish his Olympic flame.

“The fifth place in Athens drove me on. I broke the world record in the heats, but I performed as well as I had done all year. I had come fifth at the World Cup that year behind the same four people that beat me in Athens. Yes, it was disappointing, but I felt like I had unfinished business. A medal in Beijing was a very realistic possibility if I adjusted my lifestyle balance.”

Since his Olympic gold in 2008, his lifestyle has not been transformed in the way many would suppose.� Kayaking isn’t financially lucrative; his lottery funding and sponsorship is barely enough to keep him holding his paddle. He is instead driven by an almost unquenchable thirst to succeed in everything he does. Brabants’ sea-green eyes glaze over when talking about his Olympic success and the opportunity of a repeat performance in front of a home crowd in 2012.

“I think the first gold will always be sweetest,” Brabants insists. “But it’s harder to then go on and defend that title. That is what I am preparing for at the minute – it will be fantastic to do it at a home Olympics, in front of a home crowd.

“You can compete against exactly the same people the month before at the World Cup or the European Championships but it is not the same.”

Brabants can be found disturbing the tranquil waters of the river Thames on a daily basis. Since deferring his medical commitments until after the London 2012 crescendo, training consists of six hours a day on a thirteen-days on, one-day-off basis. If he emulates his preparations for Beijing 2008, Brabants will kayak approximately 150km a week, complete punishing sets of 200 pull-ups and burn 7,000 calories a day in the process.

“In the UK it’s nice to get a bit more recognition for what we do,” Brabants insists. “We work just as hard as the rowers, just as hard as the cyclists, just as hard as anybody else.”

Over the past 20 years, the incredible success of British rowers has eclipsed the achievements made in the kayaking discipline. With his Olympic success in Beijing, Brabants thrust kayaking into the public consciousness, gripping a nation largely apathetic towards lesser-known sports with a breathtakingly inspirational performance.

“People start to watch sports they wouldn’t normally, myself included,” Brabants concedes. “You start to watch things like the archery and tae-kwon-do. It gives us the opportunity to showcase what we do.

“We had never won an Olympic medal in my sport, I won the first medal at Sydney 2000 with a bronze, Campbell Walsh got a bronze at Athens, then I got a gold and a bronze in Beijing.� It’s great for the sport – it shows we are a nation that can be competitive on a world stage.”

Brabants can now look forward to a period in which he is not “the only athlete in our sport that was on the international podium”.

“It was frustrating, because you could see the talent was there but they weren’t quite realizing that talent. Now we have a good coaching structure in place, a very well supported team, we are well led by our performance director and the results are now showing.”

The 2012 Olympic games in London will mark the most significant event in almost every participating athletes career. Before Tim Brabants resumes his duties as a doctor, he faces an opportunity to rewrite history by defending his Olympic title. The arduous journey to the podium is already underway, with Tim Brabants insisting, “the most enjoyable thing is when you deliver on what you believe you can deliver.”

“Everyday, on the Sportsvibe site and in the papers you see stuff about the Olympics,” he concludes.

“It’s not just like other Olympics where you can rock up and race – London’s great because you can see the whole build up process. It keeps it fresh in your mind everyday. So day’s like today when it’s really cold on the water in the morning and you don’t want to get out of bed, it’s very clear in your mind why you are doing all this training and what the goal is at the end.”

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Holiday Inn, the Official Hotel Provider to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is providing free room nights to British athletes to support their preparations over the next two years.

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For more information, visit; www.holidayinn.com.