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Department of Engineering

Engineering alumni set for London 2012

Engineering alumni set for London 2012

Tom James (front) and Richard Egington

Good luck to the six Engineering alumni who have been chosen to represent their country in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Whatever happens, I'm very fortunate that I'm doing something that I love, and that I'm able to see how far I can take it, and what potential I have.

Julia Bleasdale, Team GB

Athletes selected for Team GB are:

Julia Bleasdale (Pembroke, 2000) Athletics - Women's 5000m and 10,000m. Julia was selected for Team GB after running a new personal best at the European Championships earlier this month. She credits her time at Cambridge with helping her perfect her training techniques. She says: "When I was a member of Cambridge University Hare and Hounds, we did similar training to what I do now. The main difference was that back then, I was capable of covering only 50 miles a week, and wouldn't run in the afternoon after a session in the morning. Now my training consists of 85 to 95 miles every week.

"It was good to have the demands of an Engineering degree to make sure I didn't overtrain; at the time, my body wouldn't have been strong enough to take it. The thing I remember most is when I won the cross-country Varsity Match in my final year. I set the course record which I believe still stands to this day.

"In the years since leaving Cambridge, I've built up strength as a runner, and I'm now a full-time athlete. When you're running twice a day and on top of that have gym sessions, massage, psychology and physiology appointments, it really is a full-time effort. Weekends aren't really weekends - every day is a training day and there's very little time off.

"The 10,000m final is on the first night of athletics, and it will be the first final in the Olympic Stadium - I think that'll be an amazing event to take part in!

"Whatever happens, I'm very fortunate that I'm doing something that I love, and that I'm able to see how far I can take it, and what potential I have."

Emma Pooley (Trinity Hall, 2001) Cycling - Road time trial. Emma is a former cross-country runner who switched to cycling after an injury prevented her running. She says: "I didn't really get into cycling until my fourth year at Cambridge. I entered the National Road Race Championships and came fourth, which was unbelievable.

"My first proper international race was in Brittany just after I graduated. I could not believe how hard it was at the time. But it was very satisfying when I went back to the same race three years later and won. I moved to Switzerland to do a PhD in 2005 and worked full-time in research while trying to race with a Belgian team at weekends. I'm very fortunate in that my PhD supervisor is Professor Sarah Springman (formerly of the Engineering Department), and she has been hugely supportive of my cycling career. It's only thanks to her that I have been able to juggle research and cycling. Going to the Beijing Olympics was exciting because I didn't even expect to be selected, and then I won silver in the time-trial event. There's more pressure going to your second Olympic Games because you've got more experience and you obviously want to perform better than last time."

Andrew Baddeley (Caius, 2000) Athletics - 1500 metres. Andy is Britain's top metric miler, an Olympic finalist in Beijing in 2008 and a World Championship finalist in Osaka in 2007. The first British male 1500m runner to make a world final in 10 years, Andy is also a European and Commonwealth finalist.

His progress has been steady and mainly low profile since embarking on an athletics career after graduating from Cambridge where he specialised in aeronautical engineering and was awarded a First. He established himself as Britain's top miler in 2006 and has been a stalwart in major championships finals ever since.

George Nash (St Catharine's, 2008) Rowing - Men's pair. The newly elected Cambridge University Boat Club (CUBC) President says that competing at the Olympics is a long-held ambition. He comments: "At Cambridge, I wanted to see how good I could be. Last year I rowed in a pair with Oxford's Constantine Louloudis and made the national team. Once I'd done that, I decided to go for it, take the year off and give it my best shot.

"At the moment, I start training at 7.30am and get home around 3 or 4pm. The British rowing team has an amazing setup and provides you with every opportunity to be the best you can. I enjoy the feeling of rowing: being on the water, going as fast as possible and racing against other people. I'm looking forward to competing against the best in the world."

Tom James MBE (Trinity Hall, 2002) Rowing - Men's four. Tom is the reigning Olympic Champion in the men's four, winning gold in Beijing in a thrilling race over Australia and France. He was awarded an MBE in the 2009 New Year's Honours list in recognition of his achievement.

Tom's Olympic dream started during his first year at Cambridge when he found himself rowing with experienced athletes, some of whom had been to the Olympics. He says: "My learning curve was very steep. I think that as a sportsman, the best way to learn is with other athletes, rather than just from coaches. And there are only two places in the world that offer an environment like that to rowers: Oxford and Cambridge.

"Being a rower and studying at the same time is one of the most difficult things you could ever do. You're combining so many different things. Now my life is tailored just to rowing; there's more training, but I have free time in the afternoon to relax and recover for the next day.

"Everyone's talking about the Olympics, but at the end of the day, you just have to see it as another race. Hopefully I'll be able to get focused on the Games and aim for a gold medal. That's what we're here to do."

Also competing in London is Jake Cornelius (Emmanuel, 2006) who has been selected as part of the USA Rowing squad (Men's eight). Jakes' first experience of rowing was aged 15 at a local festival at home in the USA and the experience so inspired him that he, in turn, still helps with community rowing events. He explains: "When you're 15 and good at something, you feel good about yourself, and that experience really stuck with me. It's the reason why I enjoy assisting with similar events in the community now.

"I spent four years at Stanford and then came to Cambridge largely to row, as well as being keen on the engineering programme. Rowing has a much higher profile in Cambridge than in the US, which I found very exciting, and the calibre of athletes was excellent."

Of his place in the USA team he says: "I'm really looking forward to getting a performance that validates the work we've put in. If you win at the end of the journey, it means every loss had a meaning. There's the feeling of crossing the finish line when the race is over and it doesn't hurt any more; then it sets in over weeks, and indeed years for the major wins, and becomes a bigger part of who you are."

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