Beijing Blast Number Five: 10 things to include in your Beijing Review

By Wayne Goldsmith | In Hot Topics

So Beijing 2008 is over.

Now is the time to start planning to win in London 2012.

Or World Championships 2009.

Or Commonwealth Games 2010.

Or the next World Cup.

All sports in all nations will do some sort of Beijing Performance Review in coming months.

Some will do it well - many will just do it as a “tick the box - we have to do a review” exercise.

How many athletes, coaches and support staff will actually use the review process as an opportunity to improve their performances in future major competitions? 

How many will just see the review as a pointless waste of time enforced on them by the Funding Agencies or the Board?

So what are the 10 most important things to include in any Beijing review?

Reviews are critical in assessing three key things:

What did you do that WORKED - WENT WELL?

What did you do that didn’t WORK - WENT BADLY?

What did you learn and you can introduce to improve your performance NEXT TIME?

A good review asks questions - the trick is in knowing what questions to ask, why to ask them and who to ask.

Even more importantly, is knowing what to do with the answers to those questions.

Here’s ten questions you should seriously consider asking in your Beijing 2008 Olympics review process:

  1. Did your athletes improve their performance from the SELECTION TRIALS to the competition at the BEIJING 2008 OLYMPICS?
  2. Did your athletes improve in each successive round of their Beijing 2008 Olympics Competition? i.e. from heats to semi finals to finals? Or from first round to second round?
  3. Did your athletes improve relative to their last major international competition? i.e. from the last World Championships or World Cup or Major International Games event?
  4. Did your athletes improve from their performance at the Athens 2004 Olympics?
  5. What are the three most important lessons you learnt from the Beijing 2008 Olympics which will directly help you improve your preparation for and performance at the London 2012 Olympics?
  6. What are the three biggest lessons your learnt from your competitors during the Beijing 2008 Olympics?
  7. Was your sports science support program before, during and after the Beijing 2008 Olympics equal to or better than that of your major competitors?
  8. Was your equipment and technology equal to or better than that of your competitors?
  9. Did your coaches perform well under the pressure of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games competitive environment?
  10. Did your management team perform well under the pressure of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games competitive environment?

 Moregold is Australia’s leading sports performance review and consulting organisation. 

We know the right questions to ask - to help you get the answers you need to make the London 2012 Olympics a success.

Wayne Goldsmith

August 18, 2008

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