“SILICON VALLEY HAS A WEIRD PARALLEL WITH TRI”
Illness forced former GB pro Olly Freeman to swap tri for tech. Now, he’s combining the two…
I retired in 2010 after a relapse of glandular fever. I spent my whole tri career managing it because I was constantly toeing the line between training as hard as I could and my immune system functioning. I was already surviving on the minimum, and I wasn’t going to be able to continue performing at that level.
I don’t have any massive regrets. There are one or two, like the Beijing Olympics in 2008. I finished that season fifth in the world and I should’ve raced there. I probably would have done very well considering the form I was in. That was a shame – but that’s life!
It’d always been at the back of my mind that I wanted to take a place at Cambridge [University to study computer science] – it was sad to leave but it felt like the right decision at the time.
There were all sorts of moments I loved in tri. It was a different way of spending such a large portion of my life, and I learned a hell of a lot about myself because of the attitude, discipline and pressure you get as an athlete. I wouldn’t change it, and, hopefully, I’ve learned to channel it in a productive way. Silicon Valley [where Olly went to work in 2014] has a weird parallel with triathlon because it’s filled with the kind of people who really know what it’s like to work hard, which was fun but in a completely different mould.
In San Francisco, everyone has that focused mindset of boundless optimism. It’s like seeing someone in a bar in Kona. If they’re in shape, you assume they’re a triathlete. Why else would they be there?
The tech start-up Let’s Do This (an online marketplace for endurace events), where I now work in London, is even closer to my passion in terms of endurance sport and triathlon. One of the great things about it is being able to dare to dream big, and I think we’re delivering on that already.
“It was sad to leave but it felt like the right choice at the time”
I’d love to say that I’m in cracking shape. Realistically, I’m probably about six kilos heavier than I was [when racing as a full-time pro]. It’s not quite as chiselled as I’d like it to be; it’s squashier…
I’ve done some road races recently which I was woefully underprepared for. I managed to get by completely on muscle memory and pride. I also did the Marathon Du Medoc – which has 23 wine stops!
Occasionally, I’ll meet someone who is aware of my tri career. It makes me think of how much the sport has grown. I remember watching Spencer Smith and Simon Lessing running in their crop tops in 1998 thinking these guys are gods! There would be two or three people clapping, but since the [London] Olympics there are huge crowds.