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April
Neil to head to the Tokyo Olympics
13/05/2021 @ 08:02
A man from Bettws Cedewain is to help members of Team GB prepare for the Tokyo Olympics this summer.
Neil Lewis, a strength and conditioning specialist, will be helping some of the UK's top athletes.
Neil, who has been working as a contact tracer during the pandemic, will swap his role for the sporting side.
Neil said: “This will be my first Olympics and I’m incredibly excited to be working with Team GB. Across four Olympic cycles I have worked with GB Rowing, Sailing and Equestrian teams. So, I’ve been preparing athletes since the Beijing Olympics in 2008, but this will be the first time I’ve actually been on the plane to the games for the final weeks of preparation.
“I will be working on everything from gymnastics and hockey to weightlifting. There will be 10 different sports coming into the final preparation training camp while I am there.
“I was selected to go to the Rio Olympics but because of the Zika virus outbreak, the size of the training camp was scaled down and unfortunately I missed out. It was massively disappointing, but here we are again four years later, and I am really looking forward to it.”
Neil will be in Japan for a month helping the GB athletes to prepare.
He has been part of Powys County Council’s successful contact tracing team for the last five months, firstly advising those who have tested positive for Covid-19, and their close contacts, to self-isolate and more recently providing telephone support to Powys Teaching Health Board’s mass vaccination programme.
Alongside this he has continued with his work for British Equestrian as Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach, making sure its riders are in peak condition for the Olympics, and will be responsible for overseeing the final physical preparations for up to 10 sports at the Team GB training camp in Japan in the weeks leading up to and during the Games.
He said: “When a lot of the events are on, I will be working because that is what you are there to do. I will be able to catch up on the day’s events and results each evening but many back home will probably see more live coverage of the games.
“I think it is going to be different to any other Olympics that has gone before. The over-riding priority is going to be the safety of the public and athletes alike – which is completely understandable and right. At this Olympics there will be no international spectators and there will be limited physical interaction between the Japanese public, athletes and support teams.”
Cllr Graham Breeze, Powys County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Corporate Governance, Engagement and Regulatory Services, added: “We wish Neil, and his Team GB athletes all the success in the world at the Tokyo Olympic Games and hope that all of his hard work pays off.
“If they work as effectively as our Test, Trace, Protect teams has done in Powys – with their contact tracing work and support for the mass vaccination programme – they will be onto a winner, I’m sure.”
Neil Lewis, a strength and conditioning specialist, will be helping some of the UK's top athletes.Neil, who has been working as a contact tracer during the pandemic, will swap his role for the sporting side.
Neil said: “This will be my first Olympics and I’m incredibly excited to be working with Team GB. Across four Olympic cycles I have worked with GB Rowing, Sailing and Equestrian teams. So, I’ve been preparing athletes since the Beijing Olympics in 2008, but this will be the first time I’ve actually been on the plane to the games for the final weeks of preparation.
“I will be working on everything from gymnastics and hockey to weightlifting. There will be 10 different sports coming into the final preparation training camp while I am there.
“I was selected to go to the Rio Olympics but because of the Zika virus outbreak, the size of the training camp was scaled down and unfortunately I missed out. It was massively disappointing, but here we are again four years later, and I am really looking forward to it.”
Neil will be in Japan for a month helping the GB athletes to prepare.
He has been part of Powys County Council’s successful contact tracing team for the last five months, firstly advising those who have tested positive for Covid-19, and their close contacts, to self-isolate and more recently providing telephone support to Powys Teaching Health Board’s mass vaccination programme.
Alongside this he has continued with his work for British Equestrian as Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach, making sure its riders are in peak condition for the Olympics, and will be responsible for overseeing the final physical preparations for up to 10 sports at the Team GB training camp in Japan in the weeks leading up to and during the Games.
He said: “When a lot of the events are on, I will be working because that is what you are there to do. I will be able to catch up on the day’s events and results each evening but many back home will probably see more live coverage of the games.
“I think it is going to be different to any other Olympics that has gone before. The over-riding priority is going to be the safety of the public and athletes alike – which is completely understandable and right. At this Olympics there will be no international spectators and there will be limited physical interaction between the Japanese public, athletes and support teams.”
Cllr Graham Breeze, Powys County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Corporate Governance, Engagement and Regulatory Services, added: “We wish Neil, and his Team GB athletes all the success in the world at the Tokyo Olympic Games and hope that all of his hard work pays off.
“If they work as effectively as our Test, Trace, Protect teams has done in Powys – with their contact tracing work and support for the mass vaccination programme – they will be onto a winner, I’m sure.”
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