Published: 18.08.08

University of Brighton senior lecturer, Dr Gary Brickley, will head to Beijing this August for the Paralympic Games, as an accredited member of staff for Great Britain’s Paralympic cycling team.

Gary will be coaching three of the Paralympic cyclists - Darren Kenny, Sarah Storey and David Stone – as they represent Britain at Beijing’s Paralympic Games alongside seven other British cyclists from the squad. Leading the team on the road race and time trial, Gary will also be trackside for the track events.

Among the athletes coached by Gary is multiple world record holder Darren Kenny, who is going for five golds in the Beijing Games. Trained by Gary for the last six years, Kenny took two golds and one silver at the Athens Olympics 2004 and smashed three world records at the recent 2008 Visa Paralympic World Cup held in Manchester.

Also in the squad coached by Gary is former Paralympic swimming champion Sarah Storey, who switched from the pool to the track in 2004 and makes her Paralympic cycling debut in China this summer. Sarah, who rides in the locomotor category as she does not have a fully formed hand, is now a world champion in the pursuit and is an exceptional time triallist too. Brickley has coached Sarah since 2005

Joining them is Paralympian David Stone, who was selected after finishing fifth in the recent able-bodied, World Trike Championships. Coached by Gary since 1999, David was on the fast track talented athlete 2012 scheme at the University of Sussex, which gave him access to university sports squads, equipment and coaches as well as financial assistance. 

Speaking about his role, Gary said: “It is a real honour to go out as part of the support crew for the cycling team. We hope to build on the success of the Olympic team. We are ready for the challenges of Beijing.”

Gary has been posted all over the world as a coach to the GB paralympic cycling team. Most recently, in May this year, Brickley travelled to Beijing to inspect the road and time trial course at the Olympic triathlon venue. It was important for riders to experience the course, said Gary. “We video and take performance data on the athletes so that they can replicate the course in training. For example, Darren’s cerebral palsy means that he struggles with left hand turns so he will go over the course a number of times to improve his cornering. Darren also has a course simulator which he is training on at his home in Bournemouth.”

Gary was also responsible for the team’s training schedules during the lead into Beijing, along with examining responses to training in the heat and monitoring the effects of jetlag on each member.

“We wanted to see if the pollution was bad in Beijing, so we measured the lung function of each athlete,” said Gary. “It was a low-pollution day, so the results showed everyone’s lungs were generally OK. It will be interesting to see what happens in summer conditions when we’d expect the pollution to be a lot worse.”

Gary has worked with the Great Britain paralympic cycling team since 1999. He was with them at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000 and has since taken on advisory roles, coaching duties and worked as an exercise physiologist. As a senior lecturer at the university’s Chelsea School, Gary specialises in exercise physiology, nutrition, exercise and health and applied sport and exercise science.

Riders Darren and Sarah were recently shortlisted for World Disabled Athlete of the year, in the prestigious 2008 Laureus Awards presented in St Petersburg, Russia, which Gary attended.

BBC news links:

28.08.08 - Paralympic coach going for gold
13.09.08 - Kenny and Stone win cycling golds