1% Improvements helped towards our brilliant Olympic Summer Success

Olympics cycling: Marginal gains underpin Team GB dominance

By Matt Slater BBC Sport at the London Velodrome

On the final morning of the Olympic track cycling competition – a “competition” his team had almost completely subverted – British Cycling’s performance director Dave Brailsford went on BBC Breakfast and gave the game away. So Dave, came the question, tell us about these “marginal gains” that underpin everything you do?

“The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together,” he explained, without looking at all like the evil mastermind of a mysterious sect. “There’s fitness and conditioning, of course, but there are other things that might seem on the periphery, like sleeping in the right position, having the same pillow when you are away and training in different places. Do you really know how to clean your hands? Without leaving the bits between your fingers? If you do things like that properly, you will get ill a little bit less. They’re tiny things but if you clump them together it makes a big difference.”

Britain have won seven out of 10 track cycling gold medals in London – matching their achievement from Beijing 2008.

So the secret of British cycling’s success is taking your own pillow with you when you travel, and cleaning your hands properly.

Sorry, Dave, but that’s not going to wash with the opponents you have just steamrollered for the second Games in succession! They want cheating, they want witchcraft, and they want an excuse. The day before, French newspaper L’Equipe had run a story based on claims of skullduggery from Isabelle Gautheron, the French team’s boss. She said the British were supposed to be using the same wheels her team got from the French company Mavic, but they could not be the same because the Brits were going so much faster than her riders.

When asked about these “magic” wheels, Brailsford told L’Equipe they were “round”.

So, what we can we learn from Dave Brailsford and his training technique? If you can improve in all areas of your business, even by just 1%, the overall impact on your success can be phenomenal. If you want to know how to plan for your businesses success, or want to talk with someone who will be just as enthusiastic about your companies growth as you are, then call us on 0208 241 3000.

The whole article here….   http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19174302