Thanks Coach! Leisel Jones to Stephan Widmar
Issue: Volume 29 Number 2
Super swim coach Stephan Widmar has come a long way — literally and metaphorically — since he chased a dream all the way to Australia as a backpacker in the 1990s.
He left Switzerland with little more than the desire to become a top-class swimming coach and has carved himself a place in Australian sporting lore as the super coach who turned one of Australia’s most promising breaststrokers into a world champion and serial world record-breaker.
The journey taken by his high profile swimmer Leisel Jones has also been stellar, but a lot more public.
She has ridden the crest of the wave but also experienced being dumped by her own high expectations and a public who misinterpreted bitter disappointment as bad sportsmanship — but she is back on top thanks largely, she says, to her new coach and a new approach to swimming.
‘Stephan put in a lot of hard work to get me to where I am now. He has shaped me into a different athlete.’
Jones burst onto the international scene in 2000 at the age of 15, becoming the youngest Olympic medalist in Australia’s history winning silver in the 100-metre breaststroke and 4x100-metre medley relay at the Sydney Games.
Four years later, despite winning gold (in the relay), silver and bronze, she fell short of her own high expectations at the Athens Olympics. Going in as the world record holder in the 100m she had to settle for bronze, then silver in the 200m. Unable to hide her emotions, she faced heavy criticism.
‘It was so hard at the time and I really didn’t know any better,’ Leisel said. ‘I used to wear my heart on my sleeve because swimming was my life and it was all I had.
‘I put in 24 hours of hard training each week. I gave up my whole life and my whole youth. When I went to Athens I knew I was by far one of the best swimmers there and I believed I deserved to win gold and I didn’t.
‘It’s pretty heartbreaking and I don’t think people understand that.’
Completely disillusioned, her desire for swimming waned. Then she made the decision to switch coaches and join forces with Stephan Widmar and his squad, based at Brisbane’s Valley Pool.
‘It was a decision that had to be made at the time and I was very much ready for the move. I knew Libby (Lenton) before I moved there and I knew the gym coach so it was a logical and natural choice for me.
‘It was pretty tough at first. I had to find some confidence in myself, which Stephan gave me because I had so much confidence in his program.
Leisel learned to relax and started to enjoy her swimming again. At her next major meet, the World Championships in Montreal in 2005, she won three gold medals including the 100-200-metre breaststroke double, smashing the 200-metre world record.
‘Stephan put in a lot of hard work to get me to that point and shaped me into a different swimmer.
‘It was a time of change. I’d done a lot of hard training. People started to see the good side of me and I started to be more honest as an athlete.’
Widmar is a fair but uncompromising coach who brings out the best in his swimmers.
‘He knows what he’s doing and he’s very much in control of the sessions. But he’s always open to what we have to say and does appreciate feedback.
‘Stephan says I’m pretty easy to coach because he only has to tell me things once. He tells me what I’m doing wrong and I fix it straight away. I’m pretty low maintenance.
‘He’s very understanding. He used to be a swimmer himself, so he really knows what we are going through. But he has high expectations and can be very passionate and knows when we are not giving 100 per cent.’
It’s a partnership that is working for both of them.
‘I’m definitely a more confident athlete. I now trust myself more than I did. I’m very driven and I’ve made a lot of sacrifices in my life to work on this one goal. I’m very determined, but not selfish. I’m very conscious of other people and helping them work towards their goals as well.’
Despite the tough training regime, there’s always time for a laugh.
‘Because he’s Swiss he mixes up words all the time and we pay him out about it all the time,’ Leisel laughs.
‘When he first came to the country he couldn’t get “swordfish” right and kept saying “wordfish”.
‘He doesn’t always get Aussie humour either, but he’s getting there slowly. We have a lot of fun with him.’
Jones also has a wide support group which includes her mother Rosemary. Team Leisel also includes the ten other swimmers she trains with, a physiotherapist, massage therapist and a sports psychologist.
‘There’s a lot behind it. A lot of it is staying motivated, finding goals and things like that. People don’t realise how much behind-the-scenes work there really is and that’s what consumes a lot of your time.’
That time investment is certainly paying dividends. Jones was scintillating at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, winning gold medals in the 50-metre, 100-metre and 200-metre breaststroke and 4x100-metre medley relay, smashing the world record in 100m breaststroke to add to the 100-metre and 200-metre world records she set at the Telstra Commonwealth Games Trials.
She’s now focusing on the World Championships next year in Melbourne.
‘That will be fun and I’ll be working to chip away at personal best times and just to keep improving and finding new ways of doing things.’
The Beijing Olympics are also on the horizon in 2008, after which Leisel will reassess her goals.
‘I’ll see where I go from there. It might be time to open up new things in my life — I don’t know what — maybe just be normal for a little while and then get back in the water and keep going.’
One thing she will not be doing is coaching.
‘Definitely NOT! Once I leave the pool, that’s it! I’m not going back!’
