Frances Houghton

5 time Olympian, Fran talks about her new book – Learnings from Five Olympic Games in which she frankly shares all the mistakes she made on her rowing journey to the top of the sport.

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Timestamps
03:00 Background in rowing
06:00 The new book started because I stumbled across an Olympian’s notebook. All my learnings in a succinct volume. A Handbook of “What Worked” in Rowing.
09:00 Contribution to the British Womens 8s group – how champions do it does not work. The Crew needed permission to believe in yourself; what’s inside us is enough.
15:00 The Womens Eights Year 2016 as a graph.
Setting our goals we focused on W2- percentages as our goal.
18:00 Moving from judgement to action.
The challenge of seat racing – we had to be able to talk openly. We trusted our pattern.
24:00 The right pattern of rowing – keep doing it.
27:00 Rowing under pressure.
The difference between concentration and thinking.
Focus on keep concentrating on what you’ve chosen to think about.
29:00 The HOW for big boats is important – how to make a change. Spend time on your communications and language as a crew.
33:00 Life and Rowing. Another diagram. After burnout I needed perspective. It was poisoning me in my mind – the hosepipe of stress untwisted.
41:00 Giving back – mentoring younger rowers.
Pass on learnings and values. It would be such as waste not to do this.
45:00 Treat the book as a conversation starter.
I came to construct the ultimate race from medal to what I should be feeling to deliver it.
48:00 My role moved from Dictator to Energy Director.
53:00 Your Racing Start
Getting it up on the rise – it’s a feel thing.
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