How will the Olympics inspire you?

With the Paris 2024 Olympics beginning in just a few days, Simon Griffiths reflects on marathon swimming’s short history in the games and what we can learn from the incredible athletes taking part

Marathon swimming became an Olympic event in 2008. This reflected the growing revival of interest in open water swimming and a recognition that it was a serious athletic pursuit. Team GB had three swimmers taking part, and all of them collected medals. David Davies won silver in the men’s race, while Kerianne Payne and Cassie Patten won silver and bronze in the women’s event.

A few months later, I met Keri-anne at a press event. We spoke at length about her love of outdoor swimming and details of her training. She also gave me some useful technique tips. I still regularly do a modified version of one of her favourite training sessions (mine is shorter and much slower than hers).

Cover star

The Olympics inspires people in different ways. For many people, it’s the nudge they need to do more exercise or to train for a physical challenge. For me, watching the 2008 marathon swim and then meeting one of the stars of the sport were part of the inspiration for creating Outdoor Swimmer magazine, originally as H2Open magazine. I was even able to include an interview with Keri-anne in the first issue and put her picture on the cover.

In 2012, the Olympics came to London and the marathon swim took place in the Serpentine, in Hyde Park. It was one of the free-to-view events and I cycled into London to watch. The massive crowd, five or six people deep all around the lake, showed that marathon swimming can be a compelling spectator sport. We saw a spike in our website traffic during and after the Olympics as people were inspired to find out more about outdoor swimming and give it a go.

What can we learn?

Not only can we be inspired by the Olympics, we can learn from Olympians. People who reach the top in sport know what they are doing. If you want to improve your swimming, watch how the Olympians do it. In open water, as well as swimming technique, watch and try to understand their tactics. How closely do they swim to each other, where do they position themselves? Note how quickly and efficiently they feed. How often do they lift their heads to see where they are going, and how high do they lift their heads? We are privileged at Outdoor Swimmer to have Cassie Patten as a regular contributor and willing to answer a wide range of questions about outdoor swimming.

This year, the Olympics moves to Paris and the marathon swims will take place in the Seine, pollution levels permitting, on 8 and 9 August. For the first time since Beijing, Team GB has three swimmers: Hector Pardoe (who had to withdraw in Tokyo due to an eye injury), Toby Robinson and Leah Crisp. We’re looking forward to watching them race against the best swimmers in the world. Tune in if you can, and be inspired to pursue your own swimming dreams.