Episode 15 - David Davies, Britain's only duel Olympic medallist in the pool and open water

Swim Smooth

Today, enjoy an awesome interview with David Davies from Wales who is Britain's only swimmer to have achieved an Olympic medal in both the pool (1500m in Athens, 2004) and the open water (10km in Beijing, 2008).

Paul first met David in a cocktail lounge (of all places!) after the men's triathlon in Hyde Park at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, 2012. After spying Dave propping up the bar, Paul plucked up the courage to say hello to his hero in open water swimming and proceeded to then blubber on about how inspiring Dave's swimming performances have been and most importantly how his stroke epitomised the "Swinger" swim type (see www.swimtypes.com).

Despite Dave appearing to swim with a "spider" like stroke (high cadence and seemingly short, scrappy strokes), his childhood coach Dave Haller recognised that this was the way that Dave was meant to swim - changing this (Haller said), would be detrimental to his performance. It's only when faced with his 3rd Olympic Games in his home country and the prospect of going from Bronze to Silver to (hopefully) Gold was Dave tempted to alter his stroke and approach, and as history will show, sadly he didn't qualify to swim in the 10km open water event nor final in the 1500m pool event. Dave discusses this in a very candid manner which you will find super interesting.

Dave also shares his tips on transitioning from the pool to open water - sage words indeed!

Dave is one of the nicest blokes you're ever likely to speak to, so it was a great privilege to speak with him on this show - we hope you enjoy!