Dr Gary Brickley
Published 10 July 2012
Dr Gary Brickley is a senior lecturer in exercise physiology at the School of Sport and Service Management and coaches GB Paralympic cyclists. He applies the latest scientific understanding to the training of athletes.
His cyclists won eight gold medals and one silver medal in Beijing and two gold and one silver in Athens. Gary also worked at the Sydney Paralympics.
Dr Gary Brickley with graduate and double gold medal winner David Stone
For London 2012 he is working with three cyclists – Sarah Storey OBE; Dr Darren Kenny OBE and David Stone MBE.
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Sarah Storey was already a successful athlete when she took up cycling in 2005 having won five Paralympic gold medals, eight silver and three bronze for swimming. She also competes in able bodied competitions and despite winning a gold medal in the World Cup, looks likely to narrowly miss out on the Olympic and Paralympic double at London 2012.
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Darren Kenny is a multiple world and Paralympic champion and world record holder and by far the most successful member of the GB para-cycling team.
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David Stone – a double Paralympic gold medallist – regularly keeps adding to his collection of gold medals at para-cycling Road World Cups and his ambition is to win two gold medals at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Gary said: “The cyclists I work with have the potential for 12 gold medals at this stage so London is quite exciting. They all live remotely; Manchester; Leeds and Bournemouth so we chat regularly on the phone or Skype and I look at their training diaries and power output production throughout the season. However, they do visit the laboratories at the School of Sport and Service Management for physiological assessments as they prepare for vital stages in the quest for Paralympic gold.
“We have some interesting work going on using altitude training, where I am able to set the altitude and the intensity for their training and track how they respond. All of the altitude training is carried out in tents or altitude chambers.”
Gary is also doing some challenging work in the altitude chamber with University of Brighton student Todd Leckie who is chasing the final Olympic place in triathlon.
Gary combines the coaching with his research and has recently published a chapter in a book on performance cycling focusing upon Paralympic cycling.
“I will be presenting at the pre-Olympic conference in Glasgow in July on what it takes to be a multi-medallist at the Paralympic Games.”
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