With 2014 finally upon us the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games are not far from the minds of our fantastic athlete ambassadors. I caught up with Ollie Hynd to hear how 2013 for him and what he has coming up in his Commonwealth Games preparations.
Here’s what he had to say:
The lead up to Christmas was a very busy (and successful) time for me as I was the proud recipient of a number of awards including “Disabled Sportsperson of the Year” at the Mansfield Sports Recognition awards, the Ashfield Disabled Sportsperson of the Year, and Nottinghamshire’s “Disabled Sportsperson of the Year.” 2013 was another fantastic year for me so it was great to cap it off by winning these awards. I also had the opportunity to attend the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards with my girlfriend Paige. It was a huge honour to be there surrounded by so many sporting greats celebrating another fantastic year. It was great for me to see stars like Gary Lineker, Mark Webber, Robbie Savage and many more.
These awards really reinforced what an incredible year 2013 was for me, but as midnight struck on New Year’s Eve, my first thoughts were of the excitement of the year ahead. Selection for Glasgow 2014 in April is now top of mind and the hopes that I’ll be experiencing the same atmosphere as at the London 2012 Olympics with the support of the whole country behind me once again.
I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions but qualification for Glasgow 2014 is definitely my focus for the first months of the year. The hard work has already started but I need be constantly improving if I am going to reach my goal of qualifying. At the moment endurance is the key element I am working on and as we get closer to the trials my training will get more specific, with focused work on the various elements of my technique to ensure I perform to my best. I’ve been using my new Dell Venue 11 Pro tablet to log my training swims and track my progress, which has been extremely helpful.
I am now raring to go, and as an ambassador for Team Dell, I’m keen to make the most of the technology available to me to reach my goal of qualifying for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games!
Follow Ollie’s #TeamDell journey on Twitter: @OllieHyndGB and follow the conversation online: @thecgf, @delluk, @glasgow2014.
For more information, visit www.dell.co.uk/glasgow2014