英国奥运冰壶新头头GREG DRUMMOND
GREG DRUMMOND TAKES OVER AS OLYMPIC HEAD COACH HEADING TOWARDS MILAN-CORTINA
20230509 9TH MAY 2023
奥运会奖牌得主和两届世界锦标赛冠军教练格雷格-德拉蒙德已被任命为英国冰壶运动的新任奥运总教练，并将立即开始他的新角色。
这位34岁的选手取代了他在2014年索契奥运会上的队友大卫-默多克，默多克在今年早些时候离开，成为加拿大冰壶协会的高性能总监，他在担任教练期间建立了令人印象深刻的声誉，包括在2021年和2022年分别指导两支队伍在世界混合双打锦标赛上获得了金牌。
他沉浸在这项运动中，与他的妻子Vicky住在斯特林，离国家冰壶学院很近，Vicky是2021/22赛季赢得奥运和欧洲金牌的女队的一员，在北京胜利后她退出了精英计划。 作为球员时代的奥运会和两届世界锦标赛决赛选手，他也是四届苏格兰冠军，此前曾在公共部门从事财务工作，他将自己的球员生涯与完成商业和企业体育的学士学位结合起来，然后在2018年加入英国冰壶协会工作人员后，在国际体育管理的研究生学位上发展自己的教练生涯。
经过紧张的面试过程，德拉蒙德现在负责一个系统，在这个系统中，他是在过去两年中取得空前成功的一个组成部分，詹-多兹和布鲁斯-穆特赢得的2021年世界锦标赛金牌是英国冰壶队在过去两年中在主要锦标赛中取得的第一个胜利。因此，他完全致力于创造这条金牌生产线的过程。 "他说："我们取得的巨大成功证明了作为我们计划一部分的所有运动员、教练员和从业人员所做的工作，而这是一个在此基础上继续发展的好机会。
"近期的目标是确保我们继续成为一个领先的冰壶国家，这意味着要不断地向前看，以确保我们通过一种运动员和工作人员都感到自豪的模式来提供和发展该计划，并使他们感到有动力渴望成为提供这种卓越的途径的一部分。" 在说这些话的时候，他敏锐地意识到，新的奥运周期刚刚开始一年，就有一些挑战需要解决，尤其是在女子比赛方面，因为他的妻子是上个赛季结束时离开该计划的那支北京冠军队的三名成员之一，还有英国比赛历史上最出色的冰壶运动员伊芙-穆尔海德和米利-史密斯。
"不言而喻，我们经历了一个过渡期，一批运动员退役，新的运动员和教练加入，这是一个奥运周期结束时不可避免的变化期，"德拉蒙德说。 "然而，我们正处于一个新的奥运周期的早期，这是一个令人兴奋的前景，也是一个我完全打算充分利用的机会，支持我们的运动员在冰上和冰下的发展，使他们能够以世界级的表现提供良好和最大的潜力。
"这是一个积极的地方，也是这个奥运周期的一个伟大起点，因为我们旨在实现我们的目标和目的。起点是一个强大的起点，我们有一个强大的基础。" 德拉蒙德从自己的球员时代起就目睹了英国冰壶运动的巨大变化，因此，他的新工作是这种经验和年轻活力的理想结合，认识到需要不断寻求新的方式来增加系统的价值，同时在已经完成的坚实工作的基础上，特别是自2017年国家冰壶学院开办以来。
"我从运动员过渡到绩效教练，自从做出这一改变后，我从多年来管理多达20多名运动员中积累了知识和经验，"德拉蒙德说。 "我很喜欢成为一个专门的教练团队的一部分，这将是我的第一个高级管理职位，但我很期待这个职位，寻求在过去四年所取得的成就的基础上，在主要的锦标赛中取得成果。 "我希望看到下一个周期继续取得全球成功，同时管理一个系统，看到我们所有的运动员茁壮成长，为持续的领奖台成绩做出贡献。 "每届奥运会之后，都有机会进行反思和重新评估，以确保我们的努力和对进程的应用是朝着最好和正确的方向发展。 "在这个时候上任，随着运动员和工作人员参与集体追求在米兰-科蒂纳及以后的比赛中取得奖牌和目标，我想确保每个人都为成为这个团队和我们世界级项目的一部分而感到自豪。
"体育是一个快速变化的环境，像国家冰壶学院这样的世界级设施的价值永远不能被低估，它为我们的成功提供了一个平台，我完全打算利用这一设施来达到最佳效果，因此我们每天都在不断地创新和发展我们的工作。" 英国冰壶协会的执行业绩总监Nigel Holl欢迎德拉蒙德进入他的新角色，因为他从众多国内和海外申请人中脱颖而出。 "他说："我不得不说，看到我们自己的教练在格雷格作为全职教练加入项目后的四年中不断发展，我感到非常满意和高兴，尤其是因为这展示了其他人和我们的运动员在比赛生涯结束后可以获得的机会。 "格雷格在2018年以运动员身份离开该计划后，已经学到了很多东西，他通过了一个严格的面试过程，该过程由一个有成就的、备受瞩目的专家小组进行，其中包括英国体育部的教练顾问劳里-麦克唐纳、2018年奥运会主帅迈克-海伊MBE、伊芙-穆尔黑德OBE、苏格兰冰壶协会临时首席执行官文森特-布赖森和我们自己的性能服务主管戴夫-利斯，他是他们的一致选择。"
Olympic medallist and two-time World Championship winning coach Greg Drummond has been appointed British Curling’s new Olympic Head Coach and will begin his new role with immediate effect.
The 34-year-old replaces his 2014 Sochi Olympic teammate David Murdoch, who left earlier this year to become Curling Canada’s High Performance Director and does so having built an impressive reputation as a coach, including guiding two separate teams to gold medals at the World Mixed Doubles Championships in 2021 and 2022.
Immersed in the sport, he lives in Stirling, close to the National Curling Academy, with his wife Vicky who was part of the women’s team that won Olympic and European gold in the 2021/22 season, before she retired from the elite programme following that Beijing triumph.
As an Olympic and two-time World Championship finalist in his playing days, he is also a four-time Scottish Champion who previously worked in public sector finance, having combined his playing career with completing a BA in Business and Enterprise Sport before undertaking a post-graduate degree in International Sports Management while developing his coaching career after joining the British Curling staff in 2018.
Following an intense interview process, Drummond now takes charge of a system in which he has been an integral part of delivering unprecedented success in the last two years, that 2021 World Championship gold medal win for Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat having been the first of 10 victories in major championships for British Curling teams in the past two years. He is consequently fully committed to the processes that have created this gold medal production line.
“The tremendous success we have enjoyed is testament to the work being done by all the athletes, coaches and practitioners that are part of our programme and this is a great opportunity to build on that,” he said.
“Immediate goals are to ensure we continue to be a leading curling nation, which means constantly looking forward to ensure that we keep delivering and developing the programme through a model that both athletes and staff are proud to be part of and in which they feel motivated to aspire to be part of a pathway that delivers such excellence.”
In saying so, he is acutely aware that just a year into a new Olympic cycle, there are challenges to be addressed, not least in the women’s game since his wife was one of three members of that Beijing winning team to leave the programme at the end of last season, along with the most decorated curler in the history of the British game, Eve Muirhead and Mili Smith.
“It goes without saying that we have experienced a transition period with a cohort of athletes retiring and new athletes and coaches coming on board which is the inevitable period of change at the end of an Olympic cycle,” Drummond observed.
“However we are early in a new Olympiad, which is an exciting prospect and an opportunity I fully intend to make the most of by supporting the development of our athletes both on and off the ice to a point where they can deliver well and to their utmost potential with world class performances.
“It is a positive place to be and a great launchpad for this Olympic cycle as we aim to realise our targets and goals. The starting point is a strong one and we have a strong foundation.”
Drummond has seen massive change in the British Curling set-up since his own playing days and consequently takes on his new job with an ideal combination of that experience and youthful energy, recognising the need to constantly seek new ways of adding value to the system, while building on the solid work that has already been done, particularly since the opening of the National Curling Academy in 2017.
“I made the transition from athlete to performance coach and since making that change I have built my knowledge and experience from managing upwards of 20 athletes over the years,” said Drummond.
“I have enjoyed being part of a dedicated coaching team and this will be my first senior management role, but one I am looking forward to, seeking to build on what I have achieved over the past four years, delivering results at major championships.
“I want to see the next cycle continue the global successes, while also managing a system that sees all of our athletes thrive and contributing to on-going podium results.
“After every Olympics there is an opportunity to reflect and re-assess to ensure our endeavours and application to the process is heading in the best and the right direction.
“Coming into the role at this point, with the engagement of athletes and staff in that collective pursuit of delivering medals and targets in Milan-Cortina and beyond, I want to ensure that everyone is proud to be part of this team and our world class programme.
“Sport is a fast changing environment and the value of a world class facility like the National Curling Academy, which has provided a platform for so much of our success, can never be underestimated and I fully intend to utilise that facility to best effect so we are continually innovating and developing what we do on a daily basis.”
British Curling’s Executive Performance Director Nigel Holl welcomed Drummond into his new role after he emerged from a strong field of domestic and overseas applicants.
“I would have to say that it generates huge satisfaction and pleasure to see one of our own coaches developing as Greg has in the four years since he joined the programme as a full time coach, not least because it demonstrates the opportunities available to others and our athletes after their playing careers,” he said.
“Greg has learned the ropes since departing the programme as an athlete in 2018 and he came through a rigorous interview process conducted by an accomplished and highly regarded panel of expertise which included Laurie MacDonald, Coaching Advisor at UK Sport, 2018 Olympic Chef de Mission Mike Hay MBE, Eve Muirhead OBE, Scottish Curling interim Chief Executive Vincent Bryson and our own Head Of Performance Services Dave Leith and he was their unanimous choice.”
Images: Team GB/ David Pearce, WCF/ Richard Gray &Celine Stucki
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