Cashing in on hard work

The stress of a high pressure job has helped power Emeka Udechuku (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) into Team GB for the Olympic Games in Athens.

And the 25-year-old discus thrower reckons his breakthrough will inspire other throwers to follow him if they can get the right quality of encouragement during the next few years.

It has taken seven years for the amiable giant to graduate from European junior champion to Olympic athlete – and he has made the final, huge improvement despite holding down a demanding full time job as national sales manager with Barclays’ corporate arm.

Once he began to spend his days dealing with businesses turning over between £20 million and £1 billion annually, his many sports friends feared his athletics career would stall – especially as qualifying standards for major championships are arguably even more demanding in field events than in track races these days.

Yet the opposite has been the case for the quietly spoken Corinthian who first sprang to prominence while studying at Dulwich College. Udechuku entered this season knowing that his best, of 62.07m, had not been improved since 2000. He managed no further than 60.66m last summer, his final one of five at Loughborough University. He knew the Olympic A standard was 64.00m. He won the Norwich Union Olympic Trials with 61.60m on 10 July. Seven days later, he made a day trip back to Loughborough for the EAP Meeting – and whirled the disc out to 64.93m.

How? “I had a lot of belief going into that day,” he says in between business calls as he strives to ensure his clients will not really miss him after he flies out next Monday to the Olympic Preparation Camp at Paphos, Cyprus, to prepare for the competition of his life. "I think you go into your own state of delusion … ‘I am going to the Olympics!’ Regardless of what anyone tells you, whether it makes any sense or not, you have to believe it. I was telling the other competitors at Loughborough that I was shaking because I was anticipating throwing so well. And I’m hoping to get that feeling again in the qualifiers.”

While that still does not fully explain his sudden improvement, he reckons the mental stimulation of his job has been the key.

Udechuku, who earned a degree in sports science followed by a masters in business management at Loughborough, explains: “Before I go training or to compete, I don’t have the time now to think through what I’m going to do. Probably having lots of time to think through exactly what I’m going to do leads to a certain staleness.

"I’ve certainly not become a physically better person: I go to meetings and drink coffee and eat biscuits. I think my colleagues have all viewed me as being shy and retiring. It’s certainly new to me.”

His new found career might have taken up even more of his life if it hadn’t been for that throw on 17 July, which elevated him to 22nd in the World rankings. He says: “I am happy doing the sport because I enjoy doing the sport. But if I was not competing at this level, I would be sitting this winter wondering what I was going to do. I have commitments to my club, who have always been extremely supportive of me, but I am glad that it is coming together.”

Athletics success is not new to him, though. His potential first glowed in 1995, when he threw the 1.5kg discus 62.22m, a feat that remains the best ever by a UK Under 17. Two years later he won the discus title at the European junior championships in Slovenia, and he has been supported by UK Athletics World Class Potential Programme, funded from the Lottery by Sport England.

He has been coached throughout his career by Mike Winch, who stands fifth on the UK all-time shot put rankings and is now the UK Athletics vice-president. “Mike and I have a strong relationship,” he says – and he has clearly inherited his coach’s campaigning nature.

He says: “If discus in this country is given the right amount of emphasis for the next few years, we could have in 2008 the same problem we had with the triple jump a few years ago when there were more than three beyond qualifying distances for the major championships. We have a group of guys aged 19 to 23 who could be throwing further than me given the right competition and the conditions to develop.

“At the Loughborough meeting, almost everyone threw a season’s best or a lifetime best. A lot of people have come over from the shot to give discus a go. There is so much scope and potential for doing more and more. But we have to make sure there is a provision for international competition, certainly in Commonwealth Games year and Olympic Games year. We have not had that kind of competition this year, but there is a serious need for it. Given a 5% improvement in strength, technique and competition, we could have at least three guys competing for the A standard by the time of the next Olympics – but it will not happen if people don’t put the event on.”

But a problem much closer to home occupies Udechuku as he prepares to fly out to Cyprus and then on to Athens. “I’m working full time, trying to see friends, trying to do some training, fitting in press interviews – and Mum has suddenly decided to get the house decorated. I’m sure it will be fine when it’s finished, but it’s all added to the stress because I can’t actually find my Olympic kit at the moment."