'Train Hard, Fight Easy' has become the watchword for many high performers in life. A phrase originally attributed to 16th century Russian general Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, the motto has inspired elite soldiers and elite athletes too.
Kiwi windsurfer Tom Ashley realised he hadn't done enough in his build-up to the Athens 2004 Games where he finished 10th on the Mistral board. Four years later on the RS:X board at the Beijing Games, Tom's radical change of approach resulted in a world-class performance that led to Olympic gold.
Strange thing was, Tom always looked like the most laid-back bloke in the boat park. Everyone else was hard at work and he was just, well, chilling! How did he manage to lie in his proverbial hammock and still come away with the top prize?
This is one of many things we'll be grilling Tom about, as well as his approach to the critical skill of 'periodisation', building up towards your peak event so that you're firing on all cylinders not all the time, but at the time when it matters the most.
It's Tom's deep understanding of what an elite athlete needs that led him to being hired as the is the new chief executive of Canoe Racing New Zealand whilst still in his early 30s. NZ has enjoyed plenty of Olympic success in that discipline too, by the way, so we'll be exploring the common themes across these two sports.
Join Road To Gold's Hamish Willcox and Andy Rice who will be hosting the 60-minute live Q&A with Tom Ashley.
Tom Ashley, windsurfing Olympic Champion - photo © Pascal Lauener
HOW DO I SIGN UP (FOR FREE)?
It's free to get live access to the call, all you need to do is sign up here at www.roadtogold.net. It takes less than 30 seconds.
We'll give you a heads-up on our Facebook Group too, see details below.
The Q&A kicks off on Zoom at 1900 hours UK time on Tuesday 3 May / 0600 hours NZ time on Wednesday 4 May.
Join Zoom Meeting with Tom Ashley us06web.zoom.us/j/81476550829?pwd=MkpYRjV2T1k2TWE5WVkvZTFiL01BUT09 Meeting ID: 814 7655 0829 Passcode: 898762
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Tom Ashley, windsurfing Olympic Champion - photo © NZPA