Interview by Randall Lister
Bermuda’s Olympic swimmer, Roy - Allan Burch, is aiming to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics. It would be his third Olympics, having previously competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics. Based on his experiences in those two competitions, today, he shares some advice, for Bermuda’s first-time Olympians and all those who dream of competing in the Olympics in the future, on how to deal with the various aspects of competing in the Olympics.
Q: Do you think that Bermuda’s athletes will be affected by the different language and culture of Brazil? What is the best way to adapt to the culture shock and language barrier?
A: “I don’t think that Bermudians will be as culture shocked, mainly because when you go to the Olympics they have people there to help you. So you have a lot of volunteers. The Bermuda team will have their own attaché… that will help you out when you need help. So mainly it’s about staying calm, and they help you so that you don’t have to worry about the language barrier.”
Q: Do you think Bermuda’s athletes will be affected by the climate of Brazil? What is the best way to adapt to the change in climate?
A: “I don’t think we’ll be affected by the climate because it’s similar to our climate. It’ll be warm, [and] it’s relatively consistent, so the climate shouldn’t affect the Bermuda athletes very bad.”
Q: Do you think that the increased pressure of competing in the Olympics will affect Bermuda’s athletes? What is the best way to adapt to the pressure?
A: “The pressure affects everybody, not just us Bermudians. It’s the biggest competition in the world, and you feel the pressure. Personally, the best way that I feel that you can adapt to the pressure, is by simulating the pressure, as much as you can. [Which means] at practice or at a race, getting as emotionally involved as you can, and really trying to… visualize yourself in the situation of being there [at the Olympics].”
Q: What is the best way to avoid becoming intimidated by the famous athletes that you are competing against at the Olympics?
A: “Well, you just have to trust in what you’ve done, and understand that… if you’ve done the work then you’ll get the results that you want. It can be difficult because of the amount of famous athletes that are around, but in our sport [swimming] we tend not to compete against the [most famous athletes]. [However,] Tre Houston, will have to race against [Usain] Bolt, which will be pretty tough and intimidating, but most of the rest of us [will be] competing against people that we’ve competed against, all of the time. So the competitors aren’t necessarily new to us, so that also helps when we know who we are competing against and have competed against them before.”
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