It all boils down to me, says Gillick

DAVID GILLICK did not even know how to turn on the washing machine when he moved lock, stock and barrel to Loughborough in pursuit of excellence under renowned 400m coach Nick Deakin.

He had gone through a bad patch after winning the first of his two European indoor 400m titles and decided he had to make drastic changes to his life if he was to realise his full potential. But he found his athletics career was not all he had to change. He had to change his whole lifestyle. He had to look after himself and he cannot remember having cooked a full meal for himself before.

“When I was at home, all my cooking and washing was done for me but next thing you are over there and I did not even know how to work the washing machine,” he said.

“Now I buy all my own stuff and I cook everything myself. I was lucky that a friend of mine, Barry Murray, was over in Loughborough doing a Masters in sports nutrition and he helped me out immensely.

“Those are the things you don’t think about and then you are paying rent and bills. I have probably grown up a lot and I have found what I want — where I want this career to go and basically it boils down to me and I have enjoyed it.

“To a normal person my day would be very boring — the same thing over and over again. Training is training but it’s almost a lifestyle to be a professional athlete.

“A typical day is very mundane — very run of the mill — you are up at 8am, having your breakfast, you’re training at 10.30am, do your session and after that you could be in the ice bath, you could have physio, obviously get your food in straight away and then a couple of hours rest and then you are back in the evening doing something else whether it’s a bit of core work drills, a bit of stretching or whatever it is. That’s usually about 5 or 6 o’clock and you are in bed by 10 o’clock.

“One of the main reasons is that when I was in Ireland I’d go to bed at night and I’d be lying in bed thinking I could have done that better today or I did not do core work or I did not eat properly today and it would stress me out.

“In England I hop into bed and I am lying there knowing that I put in a good day and that I’d done everything I could. A clear conscience is the easiest pillow to sleep on.”

In between winning the first of his two European indoor 400m titles in Madrid and retaining it in Birmingham he had periods of ups and downs and that prompted him to relocate. He may still have ups and downs but he can handle both these days.

“In any walk of life you are going to have days when things are not going well — that’s the nature of sport — but its being able to cope with the downs and come back again stronger that is really important,” he said.

He was riding high after setting a new national record — 45.12 secs — when he got a lane at the Golden Gala in Rome this year but when he arrived he discovered he had been given Lane one. In the past that would have fazed him totally. Now, however, he could handle it like a true professional.

He knew he was faster than others in the race and he asked if he could be changed to the B race.

“I knew no one in the B was going to put his hand up for Lane 1 in the A race so I just basically went back to my room and thought ‘you have two choices here: get stressed and bothered about it or else you just take it on the chin and get on with it’ and that’s what I did.”

Today when Team Manager, Patsy McGonagle, hands him the lane draw for Monday’s first-round heats of the men’s 400m at the Olympic Games in Beijing, his hand might shake slightly but he knows he can handle it. “OK, I could get Lane One but I’ll look at and it’s 400m all the way round at the end of the day. Of course nobody likes to get the inside lane but it’s not the end of the world.

“In Rome, I ran aggressively from Lane One and felt really strong in the home straight and when I finished I felt I had a lot more there. It’s confidence as well. It’s nice to be able to run a good time out of a dodgy lane.”

Against the odds he made the semi-finals at the world championships in Osaka last year. He drew Lane eight that day but finished sixth (45.37) and just missed out in a place in the final.

“I know I could have to break the Irish record to just get through the first round here,” he said. “But, at the end of the day, the biggest thing for me is what I call being perfect — that’s just being able to walk off the track, look in the mirror and say, Gillick, you’ve done well.”