PEAK PERFORMANCE
Jack Gower quit Team GB for Ireland, now he has his sights set on doing his West Cork heritage proud at the Beijing Winter Olympics
AFEW weeks ago, Jack Gower enjoyed a threeday training camp at a deserted St Moritz. He was there with five members of the Swiss national team and their coaches. Such is the power and reach of the Swiss ski federation that they were able to shut down the country’s most famous resort for coaching. It is an Olympic year, after all.
‘They just closed down the whole of St Moritz for five of their athletes in camp, with me tagging along,’ Gower grins over zoom from his base in western Switzerland. ‘This is a new experience for me, I have never worked with people who had this much influence.’
Gower has his own initiative to thank for the fact that he is working with Switzerland, one of the powerhouses in Alpine skiing. Heading into this Olympic season, he wanted to have the best possible training regime, so he emailed Urs Lehamann, the President of the Swiss ski federation who is a Eurosport commentator, to explore the possibility of working with them.
‘He put me in touch with the head coach and we had a meeting, a very positive meeting. Introductions were made to my coaches, the Irish federation wrote a supporting letter and that was it. It came to fruition in November,’ he explains.
‘I’m really glad it went through. To be honest, it’s a big win for me. They have been really supportive because they don’t really need an Irish skier tagging along. The budget and facilities are a different world, the resources they have is incredible. I think their budget is around €50 million. Coming from where we came from, it is mad but it’s cool to be training in that environment.
‘Stepping into that environment every day, I know that I am going up against the very best guys in the world, and the most well-resourced guys. And if you are competitive against them in training, you go into races, knowing where you stand. And being competitive against them in training gives you enormous confidence going into races,’ says the 27-year-old.
Gower is a former world junior champion and has represented Britain in the European Youth Olympics. He had been the best-ranked British skier on the World Cup circuit up to a couple of years ago. However, a disagreement with that federation led to him switching nationality to Ireland, as his grandmother was from Skibbereen in West Cork.
And he celebrated that switch by claiming 13th place in a Europa Cup race last month, the best result ever by an Irish Alpine skier.
‘The Irish federation have been great and I am delighted to be representing Ireland. It has been great, the group have been lovely and my dad is delighted that I am competing for Ireland. He spent all his summers in West Cork,’ says Gower before grabbing a book that had been lying by his bedside that Richard, his father, had given him when he started skiing for Ireland.
It recounts the adventures of his grandmother, Aimee Winder and her family, as they travelled around Africa and Europe. ‘It’s all about my gran’s family, they did all these incredible trips and it describes them. It is a really cool thing to have,’ he says.
Gower hasn’t had far to go for advice on his sporting career. His dad is a first cousin of David Gower, the former England cricket captain. The pair are so close that he referred to him as Uncle David growing up. With the Beijing Olympics coming up, David might be of some assistance in how to handle big sporting events.
But the thing is that if you are skiing at a high level, you know what massive events look like. While it is difficult to comprehend in this country, or even in the UK, the skiing World Cup circuit is huge. Thousands and thousands of people line the slopes in Austria, Switzerland and Italy. The top skiers are superstars. In a part of the world where our knowledge of the sport is Ski Sunday on BBC 2 and the occasional winter holiday, it can be hard to grasp.
‘It is very difficult for anyone in Ireland, or England, to get a sense of just how massive the sport is in Europe. Unless you are there, it is hard to convey the sense of it. That’s the great thing about the Olympics, you can see how big it actually is. Even for me, I have been skiing since I was very young, but I didn’t have a sense of how big the sport is until I started progressing and getting into World Cup races. There are 30,000 registered male skiers with a licence, which mean they can compete in the sport. It really is massive.’
And he reckons that the dangers and risks associated with the sport don’t really come across on television. It’s not until you are at an event that you get a sense of how steep the inclines are in downhill racing.
‘The danger and risks that everyone is taking, it is one thing that is quite difficult to get your head around or make that come across. On television, it doesn’t look the same. ‘Everyone is surprised by how many injuries I have had, but for anyone who is around the sport, you just accept that it is part and parcel of the game.’
He lists off his injuries. Broken his femur. Dislocated his hip. A separated shoulder. Ruptured cruciate ligament in his knee.
But he’s in little doubt to his worst. His first head injury. The most frightening experience of his life. Gower remembers little of the incident apart from waking up in a
darkened room, with his father and brother looking down on him.
He had no memory of the previous two weeks and was told by doctors he had to stay in the pitch-dark for two days, not able to read a book or talk to anyone because they were afraid of a brain bleed.
‘That was just scary,’ Gower recalls. ‘First off, you never know when you will come back or if you are going to come back, at all. And I lost about two weeks of my memory, I couldn’t remember the two weeks prior to the crash. That freaked me out. When I woke up, my Dad and brother were by my bed, and I obviously knew who they were, but couldn’t remember where I was or the two weeks before that.’
Compared to the other injuries – the broken femur and cruciate ligament – the head was a lot more terrifying. ‘The other injuries are not nice and pretty painful, but bones heal. When you injure your head, it is a lot more frightening. Sport is awesome and being able to do this for a living is awesome, but it is not worth your life. I have met people in this sport who have had to quit because of head injuries. That incident did scare me, for sure.’
It didn’t scare him enough to stop, though. Just to be more careful. And he says that the risks within the sport lead to a fraternal atmosphere on the slopes, even though everyone is trying to compete against each other.
‘I think everyone in this sport has thoughts about the dangers and stuff. I think it becomes a lot more real after your first major injury. There is definitely a period of time when you feel like you’re pretty invincible on the skis. But once you get your first serious injury, that all changes,’ Gower explains.
‘And that’s why you have quite a nice atmosphere at the downhill races because everyone is quite supportive in the sense that they know the risks attached to the sport, so there’s quite a lot of respect. And you have to accept from early on that you are going to have injuries in this sport. It is part and parcel of it.’ Gower (left) has been skiing since he was an infant. ‘I always loved the sense of freedom that I got from it. You got to go fast. It was something I seemed to be quite good at. I struggled at school, but I was quite good at sport and skiing gave me the whole package.
‘It was nice for me be good at something. When I was little, I had a lot of energy to get rid of and skiing was a good way of channelling that. My parents were very supportive, because they saw this sport was helpful for me, making me focus.’
His family have backed Gower all the way in his Alpine skiing career and they are glad that he is honouring his late grandmother by representing west Cork this way. He met his family over the festive period, as they came to the Austrian Alps to spend time with him.
With the Omicron variant running wild, Gower didn’t feel comfortable heading back to England. ‘Everyone around the World Cup circuit is being ultra-cautious. Even at events. If you contracted Covid, it will ruin your season. You’d have to quarantine for two weeks in the middle of the season. Stuck in the room, unable to train, you wouldn’t even be able to go to the gym or for a run.
‘You’d be missing out on races, but not just that, you will be coming out flat because you are not in good shape. It would be a disaster, especially in an Olympic season. So I am pretty careful and cautious these days. Flying home to the UK for Christmas wouldn’t have been a wise thing to do,’ he says.
Covid has already disrupted the season of the sport’s biggest star, America’s double Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Skiffrin, who is isolating after contracting the virus, as well as Austria’s double world champion Katharina Liensberger. Gower knows a few of his fellow competitors who have had their Olympic ambitions derailed by it.
‘Yeah, I know a few skiers who have got it and it has been a disaster for their season. And this being an Olympic year, you can’t afford a couple of weeks out of action.
‘Even at World Cup events, there are 140 people racing and the same number again doing stewarding and support staff. A lot of people in one place, it is not the ideal situation in a pandemic, so everyone is being ultra-cautious.’
It won’t be confirmed until the middle of January if Gower will represent Ireland at Beijing but, given his Europa Cup results, he’s in a fairly strong position to qualify. He will hope to compete in four events at the Olympics – Downhill, Super G, Giant Slalom and combined. ‘My strongest events are Super G and combined,’ he says.
Combined is an event that consists of one downhill run and two slalom runs and it is rare to see on the circuit, which allows Gower to think he might have a chance of making an impact at the Olympics.
‘The combined is going to be a very interesting event, the only race in it they are running this year is at the Olympics. So there might be a couple of surprises in that race. I am ranked 70th in the world in combined, but I am going to push really hard for a top 15 in that event.’
Given that he has been working with one of the strongest nations in Alpine skiing, Jack Gower has reason to believe that ambition has a solid base.
‘TRAINING WITH THE SWISS PUTS YOU INTO A DIFFERENT CLASS’
A
is for Appalling: No province, including Ulster, could escape some mind-numbing drubbings but the new depths were plumbed when a decision was made to show the Mayo/Leitrim Connacht semi-final live.
Some comfort was taken in the belief such an embarrassment might prompt real change but, again, we underestimated those who cling to the status quo.
B
is for Brothers in Arms: If the secret was long out on the extraordinary talent that is David Clifford, there was much curiosity as to what his older brother Paudie could offer, especially given his lack of exposure at inter-county level.
His work ethic allied to his kicking skills had a transformative impact, allowed Sean O’Shea to move closer to goal while his younger brother thrived, saving his best for last with a stunning performance against Tyrone in the All-Ireland semifinal.
C
is for Conor Meyler: When we normally think of footballer of the year candidates, we picture gifted geniuses lining up to showcase their God-given skills, but there is something far more inspiring about watching a player through sheer force of will ease himself into that elite category.
From Ryan McHugh to Ryan McAnespie to Paudie Clifford and, finally, to Patrick Durcan, the bigger their reputations the heavier they fell.
And when the final needed a breakthrough moment, take a guess who delivered the killer ball?
D
is for Daniel Flynn: In a game that has been suffered from being over-coached, a free-wheelin’ spirit like Flynn demands to be treasured.
The Leinster final was a bore but one thing that stood out was the genuine anticipation that surged through the stadium every time Flynn got on the ball, and in the end he got his reward with a finish of such exquisite quality that it wins my goal of the year award.
E
is for End of an era: There is a danger in reading too much in to one defeat but the sense that Dublin were in decline was evident all season.
The media storm around their training ban breach in March put them on the back foot before a ball was kicked and they never really recovered, while key players – Ciaran Kilkenny the exception – lost form.
They will start with a clean slate next season but there are issues that will not be just willed away, not least a defence with ageing components.
F
is for Fox in the Box: As one super sub in Kevin McManamon departed the scene, another arrived to play an absolute pivotal role in Tyrone’s All-Ireland success.
Tyrone would not have been even in the final without Cathal McShane’s match-changing performance against Kerry capped by that instinctive injurytime goal – and he effectively repeated that dose with his punched finish in the final.
G
is for goalkeepers: The Ulster final performances of Niall Morgan and Rory Beggan, who, when not kicking off the tee were essentially the triggers for a high press on each other’s kick-outs, astounded and gave us an eyeful of the future.
It also provided us with the tackle of the season, with Beggan’s dramatic stripping of Mattie Donnelly, but it was Morgan who laughed last, besting Robbie Hennelly in the final with a performance that was pivotal to Tyrone’s success.
H
is for hopping ball (or hard luck): End of year audits are gifted a conviction dictated by who are the winners and losers but in real time that is not how it works. It often come down to a simple twist of fate. Would Tyrone have reached the All-Ireland final had Michael Murphy nailed his penalty? Or would they have won it had Ryan O’Donoghue done likewise in the final?
Or if Robbie Hennelly not had the good fortune to having two kicks to take the semi-final to extra time would we now be asking who will stop Dublin from winning eight-ina-row? All on the bounce of a ball.
I
is for inappropriate: And I am being polite when referencing the breach of training bans that poked a finger in the eye of both the spirit and the letter of the law in protecting public health.
Cork, Down, Monaghan and Dublin all acted in poor judgment but, let’s be honest, there was lots of others who got away with it.
It was a stain on the GAA’s otherwise excellent contribution to the national effort in a crisis.
J
is for Joint managers: The consensus was that this does not work, but thankfully Tyrone did not heed the white noise. From the outside looking in, Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan worked beautifully together, although hardly by accident as you can be assured that there were clear lines of demarcation. As a result, their players’ clarity of purpose proved that two good minds are better than one.
K
is for Kieran McGeary: Evidently he is as self-effacing off the field as he is as effective on it, claiming to be a ‘borderline mediocre’ player at one stage, although he always looked a sharp and engaging footballer.
He was just different gravy in the summer and his performances against Donegal and Kerry in particular were decisive in getting his team over the line, while that point in the final just oozed class.
L
is for Lee Keegan: The Westport man cemented himself as one of the all-time great half-backs in a year in which he won a fifth AllStar; the most by any player who has never won an All-Ireland.
From half-time in the All-Ireland semi-final to the last whistle in the final, he carried the fight relentlessly and the pity is he was a couple of fellow leaders shy of getting Mayo over the line. He may well go down as the greatest footballer to never win an All-Ireland medal.
M
is for a (failed) Meath coup: Going after Andy McEntee after a brutally condensed season, having put in the county’s best performance since 2010 against Dublin
Here are the highs and lows of an extraordinary season in which the gap between the big sides and the rest was exposed like never before
was ill-advised and ill-timed. Had the executive got their way, the county would have been plunged into chaos as the new season reared its head, but the clubs saw sense and stood by the manager.
N
is for a New Way: Proposal B that sought to introduce a league championship may have failed by a narrow margin at Special Congress but reform delayed is not reform denied. The expectation is that one of the two proposals currently in place that will provide a new pathway for the All-Ireland championship will be approved – and both will have the form of a league element – which is a badly-needed step in the right direction.
O
is for Over and Out: The close season brought with it a raft of inter-county retirements, not least that of Mayo legend Colm Boyle, whose departure should be mourned by everyone who likes their football to be played with verve and passion. And the exit of eight-time All-Ireland winners Philly McMahon and Kevin McManamon is another reminder that a glorious chapter in Dublin’s history is closing.
P
is for penalty shoot-outs: It is only a matter of time before a big inter-county game is decided by one – and we came very close this year to the Kerry/Tyrone semi-final going that way – but it is an unacceptable means of achieving a definitive result. I can’t see why if teams are level after extra-time, the result cannot be decided by throwing the ball in and letting the next score be the winning one.
Q
is for (lack of) Quantity: The pandemic forced the GAA’s hand on that but it must have been soul destroying for a lot of teams who played no more than five games all year, while an underwhelming championship also reminded how fortunate we are to have moved away from the knock-out format that previous generations were saddled with.
R
is for Rebels Roll Over: Perhaps there was always going to be a reckoning after what happened the previous winter, but no one could have envisaged how Cork would roll over in Killarney once their temper was sated after the first quarter.
Their 22-point hammering was a record defeat but it hardly served Kerry well either, leaving them chronically under-cooked, and they paid the ultimate price.
S
is for Same Again for Mayo: Mayo did the football world a favour by taking down Dublin but that only heaped expectation on a team that is not as good as the 201217 version that could not crash through the All-Ireland ceiling.
But that knowledge will not make it easier to accept, just harder to get another shot.
T
is for Third Time is a charm: The excitement at the return of my old manager Jack O’Connor, coming back for a third stint, this time with former Down manager Paddy Tally for company as coach, is palpable. It will be nothing if not interesting – and the CCCC’s fixture computer is not without a sense of humour by pitting him against his former county Kildare at the first time of asking – but in Kerry we will be hoping he gets to laugh last.
U
is for Unexplained: The championship was spoiled by the delay caused by Tyrone’s Covid crisis. It would have been easier to accept if there had been more clarity as to what had happened. There were a number of questions that required answering, not least how did so many of the Tyrone players get infected while observing best practice safety measures? And just how many players declined to get vaccinated because they feared it would impact their performance?
That’s the least we should be told.
V
is for Vikki Wall: It is the hallmark of a very rare talent when they are capable of sending an electric surge through a stadium every time they get on the ball, but that is what Vikki Wall managed to do, not least in the All-Ireland final. Her instinct when she gets possession is to go straight for the jugular, backing her power and her sublime skillset every time. And because she is on their team, the Meath ladies will be back for more.
W
is for Where is Stephen Cluxton? Okay, we know where he is now but the manner of his departure did not serve Dublin well this year, piling pressure on Dessie Farrell and the team. There was no need for a public pronouncement, but the fact he did not offer a private one suggests a disconnect between the player and manager.
X
is for X-Rated: Which probably describes John Small’s tackle on Eoghan McLaughlin (below) which left the Mayo player with a broken jaw, but in real time it passed as a hard and legitimate hit.
To be fair to referee Conor Lane, he did not have the benefit of slow motion but he erred in his care of duty to a stricken player by allowing play to continue.
Y
is for Young Guns: It was not just the unexpected nature of Offaly’s under-20s AllIreland win, but its manner thrilled to the point that it even got Tomas off his sofa and heading up there to coach a county that now has potential to match its tradition.
Z
is for Zzzzz: Too many county finals in the strongest counties were awful – Donegal, Dublin and Mayo in particular, while the Kerry title was nothing to write home about – which shows that over-coached, riskaverse football should be kept off our TVs. And, better still, off our training pitches.