Countdown to the Games: an interview with Dominic Mahony
27 July 2011
Lane4's Client Services Director Dominic Mahony tells us what he's excited about on the anniversary of one year until the London 2012 opening ceremony. As well as his role at Lane4, Dominic won an Olympic bronze medal in the Modern Pentathalon team in 1988 and is also now Team Manager for the GB Modern Pentathlon Team.
Today marks one year until the start of the London 2012 Olympics, what does this mean in your role as Team Manager for GB Modern Pentathlon Team?
Without wanting to sound like a party pooper, my job is to remove interference for the athletes so that they can deliver their best performance; in fact they call me The Shield. Today will be treated like every other day. Yes, it is an important milestone, but not overly so. The athletes have their feet firmly on the ground and will be looking beyond the celebration to concentrate on their performance. The team for the Olympics won't be decided until June 2012, which can be really tough for the athletes, and they need to keep working hard and believing that they are good enough to be part of the team. I will be encouraging them to use the home Games as inspiration and validation, but not so much that it interferes with their preparation.
What does this mean in your role at Lane4?
Today I will be at a client event in London marking one year to go until the opening ceremony. Lane4 has helped organise the event for one of our longest standing clients, and it acts as a way to motivate and inspire all of their employees. As the Games draw closer I can see that many of our clients will feel inspired and will want to experience the magic at some level within their organisation – I hope that my experiences, and those of Lane4, can help them do this.
What are the parallels between these two roles at this time?
I might not on the 'field of play' (e.g. I'm not an athlete taking part in the pentathlon, or a staff member at a clients' organisation) but in both circumstances I am facilitating performance and using my skills in the best way I know how to help others to deliver when it counts.
What are you most excited about for the Olympics coming to London?
Home Olympics are once in a generation. I will not see it again in my lifetime, and it probably won't happen again in my children's or possibly even THEIR children's lifetimes. London is such a magnificent, globally-significant city. It's big enough to absorb the Olympics yet also to own it and stamp its personality upon it. The entire city will celebrate, and I for one can't wait to see it completely lit up with the sheer energy of the event.
As an Olympic bronze medallist yourself, how does this day make you feel?
It puts me right back to when I was hoping and preparing to compete. It was back in the amateur era so I was still trying to balance other work and commitments while fiercely fighting for my place. It was still a dream at this point – there was no clear route or road map of key milestones like there is today for the full time athletes. And I, too, didn't know if I had made the final team until a month before the Games started.
I am so pleased that both my professional and sporting life relate to this momentous occasion. I get to live it all over again but in a different way.
2011-07-26