Brian Miller One Track Mind September 2016

1. Rio Olympics 2016
Imperfectly perfect, or preparing to
get comfy with being uncomfortable
by
Brian Miller
One Track Mind
September 2016

2. Today’s session
• Recap of London 2012 review
• AOC/AIS Campaign Rio programme
• Rio specifics
• Synchro Australia campaign
• Athletics Australia campaign
• What about Tokyo and beyond ?
• Q&A with Amie, Danielle, Debbie and Kim

3. My Rio 2016 started in September 2012 as
AOC/AIS were unhappy with London 2012
• Involved in WAIS de-briefs in Sept 2012, Athletics
Australia review in November 2012, Synchro
Australia in November 2012, and Cycling Australia
in December 2012. Appointed to Synchro Board
in October 2012.
• Chaired an AOC chief coaches’ London 2012 de-
brief at the AIS in November
• Appointed “High Performance Consultant” to AIS
Director in December 2012
• Involved in planning the AIS/AOC Campaign Rio
professional development programme in 2013

4. Preparing for Rio
• Appointed as Team Psychologist to AA in April
2013. Went to Moscow World Champs,
Glasgow Comm Games and Beijing WC.
• Became Synchro Australia President in
October 2013. Synchro Team needed to beat
NZ in 2015 to qualify for Rio. Post-London, 8
of the 2012 synchro swimmers retired.

5. Thoughts on London 2012 ?
• AOC had failed in terms of preparing teams
and athletes comprehensively
• The AIS and SIS/SAS network had also failed to
prepare its athletes adequately
• Many NSOs (but not sailing !) had failed to
undertake appropriate, detailed preparation
• In summary, Australia had done surprisingly
well to win the medals it did !

6. Thriving Not Just Surviving: what
can we learn from London 2012 ?
by
Brian Miller
DSR Presentation, December 2012

7. Planning and preparation is about
increasing the probability of success
• It’s about consistently producing a high standard
of performance under the most challenging of
circumstances. It is not about producing good
performances when it doesn’t matter. Those
athletes would be described as Training
Champions.
• The answer is all about detailed and thorough
planning and preparation.

8. Specificity of Preparation
• The Olympics are different, unique, fantastic, awesome
but also frightening, weird, and full of unhelpful
distractions and surprises.
• Preparing for the Olympic Games has to be planned
and specific to the host environment.
• This is not something that can be left to chance and we
should not assume that someone else within the
Australian sporting system is dealing with it.
• The athletes compete against foreign athletes but
any back-room team has to see itself as
competing against their foreign counterparts.

9. Campaign Rio 2013-2016
• AOC and AIS worked together to establish a series of
regular meetings focusing on the High Performance
personnel from the NSOs. This was much better than
their preparation for 2012.
• Focus on getting staff to be better prepared than their
foreign counterparts. A form of CPD and a forum for
sharing ideas on Rio.
• In 2013, 2014 & 2015 really good sessions took place.
In second half of 2015 and 2016 the focus shifted to
logistics, uniforms, key dates etc. Was not clear why or
how this happened. But it was an error.

11. Three R’s of Success
(presentation in 2014)
• Risk – managing it
• Resilience – increasing it
• Readiness – achieving a state of

12. Our Aim?
• If there is an “off-field” competition between
ourselves and other NOC planners and strategists
from around the world, we top the podium.
• If we have the most thoroughly prepared
Olympic/Paralympic committees, and if our NSOs are
better prepared than their foreign counterparts, and
if the AIS is working better than other international
academies then we increase the probability of
success no matter the circumstances.
• Indeed, we should welcome difficulties because
we’ll be better able to respond. Thriving not just
surviving!

13. Mutual Understandings
• Accepting our aim means everyone - from
organisations, to staff, to coaches, to athletes -
has a hand in our outcomes.
• For parts of our system, this is “business as
usual.” Risk Management, Resilience, and
Readiness is how they conduct their business.
• But for others with less resources or less multi-
sport experience, this will require some
tweaking or indeed for a different group, this
might entail major transformation.

14. The Unexpected…
• Absolutely guarantee some things will
occur which are unexpected. They will
be unique. Guaranteed. Beyond
question.
• But all Games research shows that if we
have prepared for other similar or
parallel circumstances we will have a
better chance of coping when those
truly unique and “special” things occur.

15. …And the Necessary
• Painstaking risk management and careful
preparation take us a long way toward
Readiness.
• Success is also about balance, flexibility,
and resilience—the mindsets we each bring
to the task of success at Games time.
• The next 2 days are about addressing these
issues with practical solutions to difficult
problems.

16. Timeframe for Change
• 2015 is the time to be trialling or
experimenting in this space
• 2016 is about finalising, locking-
in, and being ready.

17. Approach for this Forum
• A little sharing of information from the lectern
• Some self-reflection and self-awareness work
• Working in groups
• Increase awareness, provide resources
Trying to exploit the combined intellectual capital in
the room.
• No monopoly on good ideas.
• We can all improve by hearing other people’s take
on things.
• We further strengthen the network of people we can
tap in to.

18. The 7 Deadly Sins of Olympic
Planning
(or how to avoid stuffing everything
up by not predicting the likely
potholes along the road to Rio)
{March 2015}
by
Kirsten Peterson and Brian Miller

19. The 7 Sins
• Acclimatisation
• Team Climate
• Staff Enhancement
• Transitioning
• Managing Risk
• Health
• Technology

20. 1. Acclimatisation
• In 2012, various TeamGB squads employed
“Readiness Plans” or “AcclimStrats”. And they
were at home !
• Acclimatisation is not just about humidity
levels, jet lag strategies and hydration plans.
That is 1990’s thinking and is not going to give
AWE any sort of edge – at all !

21. Acclimatisation
• What is your strategy for “acclimatisation” for Rio ?
• What are the plans that underpin your approach ?
(Climate means total Olympic environment: prevailing
weather, time zone adjustment, apartment living,
psychological/emotional components, competition
schedule, transport, food, boredom, safety, health and
hygiene issues etc.)
• When will this strategy be developed ?
• What are the sport-specific parts ?
• When will it be trialled ?
• When will it be announced and implemented ?
• How will it be communicated ?
• Do we require buy-in from “significant others” ?
• After the Games, how will it be evaluated ?

22. 2. Team “Climate”
• Any group with more than 2 people has a “climate”.
Climate can be encouraging, supportive and positive,
or discouraging, ill-disciplined and destructive. And lots
in between.
• The critical formula is…..
Actual level of performance = Potential level of
performance – Process losses.
Team climate will often determine how many process
losses exist within a team. And when 2 groups have
equal levels of potential performance, it is process
losses which determine the outcome.

23. Team Climate
• What’s your plan for ongoing development
and refinement of the climate piece ?
• Everything prior to Rio is like a practice or
phoney war. The Games will be where the
gaps are exposed if everyone on your team is
not clear on the game plan for what the team
stands for, what behaviours are “in” versus
“out” and how that culture will be maintained
under stressful conditions.

24. Team Climate
• What approach have you taken so far, and how
will it be built upon in the next 15 months ?
• What approach are you taking to gaining buy-in
from staff, athletes and family members ? (Like
the addition of family members!!)
• How is “climate” being rolled -out ?
• How was it rolled out in the past and how can
that be improved upon ?
• Does your Board play a role in this process ?

25. Team Climate
• If you anticipate that your Board will want to
be involved, how will you manage that now
and at the Games?
• Will you be using external facilitators to help
develop Climate sessions?
• What are the details of your plan –
who/when/where/how ?
• After the Games, how will it be evaluated ?

26. 3. Staff Enhancement
• Experience tells us that in some cases, it’s not the
athletes who concern us at Games time, but the staff
around them who lose their heads, over-manage, or
otherwise cope poorly with Games stresses.
• What is your Games-ready strategy for the staff who
will help prepare the athletes in the build-up, and what
is your strategy for the staff who will be attending the
Games ?
• What are you doing about Olympic-specific
professional development for debutants ?
• What do they need to know, and how will they get to
know about it ?

27. Staff Enhancement
• Has someone with Olympic experience been
assigned to manage this project ?
• If there are SIS/SAS staff who are important in the
build-up but who won’t be attending the Games,
do they know that already ?
• When will you choose your ‘long-list’ of potential
staff members, and when will it become a short-
list prior to getting final confirmation from AOC
re: accreditations ?
• When are you planning to let athletes know
which staff members will be in Rio as opposed to
staging camps ?
• How is this process going to be managed ? What
options do you have ?

28. Staff Enhancement
• What is your strategy towards the
management of all of these key human assets
in the next 15 months ?
• Are you proactively measuring their
effectiveness ?
• Are you operating a “run until they fail”
approach to human asset management, or are
you doing some preventative maintenance
aimed at ensuring the key staff arrive in Rio
running at 100% efficiency ?

29. Staff Enhancement
• Health of staff (especially those over 50) is
important. Historically about 2-3 major medical
events per Games, and many minor ones for staff.
Get medicals done now, dental check-ups etc.
• What R&R will staff have before they head off to
Rio ?
• Has this been discussed and debated with Board
and/or senior leadership team ?
• Is there buy-in to an agreed plan ?
• After the Games, how will your plans be
evaluated ?

30. 4. Transitioning
• Is your “transitioning” plan in place for 2016 ?
• Athletes and staff will need to transition from the Daily
Performance Environment (DPE) to a Competition
Environment (CE) at some stage in 2015, presumably ?
There will be a benchmark event such as World Cup,
World Champs, Grand Prix etc.
• What preparation are you doing for the DPE transition
to CE ?
• Then in 2016 the transition becomes more complicated
due to the potential insertion of a Staging Camp
Environment (SCE).
• So 2016 sees a move from DPE to SCE to CE ! Medals
are won and lost in this 2-4 week period.

31. Transitioning

32. Transitioning
• Will you use a “critical friend” to challenge your plans
and assumptions ?
• What differences will you prepare your staff and
athletes for ?
• What items are in your plan ?
• In the village itself there is an almost daily transition
from “Disney World/Circus” to training or competition
venues. What planning is in place to optimise this
situation ?
• If you’re a team sport which hopefully keeps playing for
the entire tournament, how will your transitioning plan
“peak” at the right end of the competition ?
• After the Games, how will it be evaluated ?

33. Rio - first ever Olympics in South
America
Prepare for absolutely anything and
everything !

34. Rio

35. Rio

36. Outside the village – Rio

37. Rio

38. • ZIKA VIRUS AS AT 1 JUNE 2016
/ Scientific info on Zika & its causes is evolving, likely medical
advice will be updated between now & Games time
/ All females of childbearing age need to be aware of the specific
risks of microcephaly, should the mother become infected during
pregnancy
/ Pregnant women are advised not to travel to areas of ongoing
Zika virus outbreaks, including Brazil
/ For family planning post-Rio consult with your medical
practitioner
/ Use of barrier contraception is recommended for up to 8 weeks
on return from Brazil

39. Rio

40. Rio

45. The AOC’s “Edge”

46. The Edge

48. So how did the AOC perform ?
• Apparently much better than in 2012
• Much better preparation in the 2 years running in
to Rio. #OneTeam seemed to work
• The Edge and Campaign Rio were a lot like
TeamGB in the 90’s and 2000’s
• Challenges with media and media control
• Issues with politics
• Uniform
• Integration between AOC and AIS was not tight
enough

49. Athletics Australia
Road To Rio

50. Athletics Australia
• Moscow 2013 - Kim Mickle was the exception
rather than the rule ! Poor processes and
systems. Most athletes didn’t make it out of
prelims.
• Glasgow !
• Beijing
• Staff dev has
been key, via
roadshows &
workshops

52. Olympics environment – what will it be
like ? (March 2016)
• The Olympic Games can be hostile and confronting.
It can be quite different from a World Championships
and we need to be prepared for that.
• Events in Olympic village have included: assaults,
homicide threats, cardiac events and fatalities. It is
out of our normal “comfort zones” and can last for 2-
3 weeks.
• It makes people behave unpredictably and ex-
athletes often talk about it being a life-changing
experience.
• And it all plays out in front of the world’s media.

53. Quote for The Secret Olympian (2000)
• “During the Games the village undergoes a
gradual change from a monastery to Club 18-
30 holiday camp. The village gets noisier and
noisier with more athletes having bugger all to
do. They don’t want to leave the village. It’s
like a free holiday for two weeks. I felt so sorry
for the sports who are on in Week 2 or who
have to keep going for the entire 20 days.”

54. Starting conversations early
• We all anticipate there will be challenges in
Europe, Florida and Rio. Nothing new in that.
• But what can we do now to better prepare
ourselves, staff and athletes, for the inevitable
chaos we will encounter ?
• Being surprised at the weirdness, the
pressure and the chaos will be a collective
failure on our parts. We expect “stuff” to
happen and need to prepare accordingly.

55. Starting conversations early ?
• What advice should we give to debutant
athletes and staff ? If we knew then, what we
know now, how much better might we have
performed ?!?
• What 2 things should be addressed by
athletes, coaches and support staff between
Nationals and leaving for Europe/USA ? What
actions should we undertake which
specifically help prepare for chaos ?

56. Even when no-one is watching
• We are in direct competition with other
Athletics staff from other countries.
• We need to be task-oriented, focused and
reliable. Athletes do not warm to staff who go
weird at the Games.
• We will not transform in to super-beings in
Rio, but we will pay attention to detail and do
the best job possible to achieve the best
results possible for all of the team.

57. How did Athletics go ?
• Generally well. Achieved the target of 2
medals and exceeded target of Top 8 and Top
16 finishes
• Most staff stood up and performed well
• Most athletes were satisfied with support they
were given
• 3 significant “What ifs” occurred and our plan
worked. They were almost non-events to
those who didn’t know they were occurring

58. Synchronised Swimming
Road To Rio

59. Support

60. Journey started in 2014
• Canadian Open, World Cup. Young team, poor
physical condition, inadequate technical skills
• Preparing for World 2015. Travel/touring skills,
mental resilience work
• Imported coach
• Volunteer support staff

61. 2015 campaign aimed at qualification
via Oceania
• Camp-based programme at the AIS. Canadian-
based coach and WA-based assistant. Return
home = different quality of training
• Main themes were “bounce-backability” and
resilience. Putting old heads on young shoulders
– quickly
• Group sessions, working on goal setting, what
ifs…, preparing for Worlds in Kazan
• Beat New Zealand to qualify. Then
Commonwealth Festival in Perth, including de-
briefing by outsider.

62. Post-qualification October 2015
onwards
• Change of coaching staff
• Training became increasingly centralised at AIS
and in Perth – WAIS great !
• 12 will become 9 after Trials
• Compete in Japan & Spain
• Appeals and CAS
• Sessions with other female
Olympians

63. What next ??
• Finished 8th in Team
• Lived the moment(s)
• Upheld the “brand”
• Involved in Aus parades

64. 8 New Olympians
• Only ever been 30+ Aus Olympic Synchro
swimmers
• Must stay in sport
• Bidding for AIS
Support via AWE

65. Impact on participation ?
• Publicity
• This is possible !
• More enquiries
• Adults as well
• Schools interest

66. Exposure

67. Exposure

68. So what about Tokyo and beyond ?
• Rigorous review of what did and didn’t work
for AOC, AIS, AA, SSAI etc.
• Even more rigorous review of what smart
things other nations did. One eye in, one eye
out
• Identify the gaps between the “As Is” situation
and the “To Be” environment
• Devise a plan to close those gaps
• Execute the plan with a passion

69. QUESTIONS ?

70. • Tell us about the sporting journey you took to
be competing in Rio.
• If you were a coach or team manager in
Tokyo 2020 or the Olympics in 2024, what
would be your main message to the athletes
who you were working with at that Games ?
How would you help them prepare for the
uniqueness of the Olympics ?