| Gail Emms Badminton Champion |
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| Written by Mark | |||||||
| Monday, 26 March 2007 | |||||||
| Last Updated ( Monday, 26 March 2007 ) | |||||||
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Badminton Champion - Gail Emms Interview
We caught up with Gail and Nathan at the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes after their recent success at the World Champs in Madrid in September 2006. Here is what they had to say… How did you get started in Badminton? Gail started playing Badminton at Bradgate Road Club in Bedford. It was a tennis and badminton club where her parents used to play and she was there from just 3 years old. The older players and other juniors used to keep her entertained. It was natural progression to start playing and she started playing in the junior section at the tender age of 5 and progressed to play in the county juniors at 7. At school she discovered a lot of other sports including hockey, rounders and athletics. But badminton was still a massive part of her life and at 15 she played in an U16 national tournament. Nathan and Gail started playing together in 1992 and spent 3 years playing together. (They both noted that this was scary having played together for so long!) Gail then went to university in Kingston and they spent 5 years not playing together during this period. In 2001 Gail finished university and Nathan and her started playing mixed doubles again together. The rest as they say is history. They have certainly been the most successful British pairing in history and have helped give the Great Britain Team their recent success. There success has included winning the World Championships in Madrid this year, the Silver in the Olympics in Athens and the Gold medal in the 2004 Melbourne Olympics. We asked Gail about her ambitions for the future and she told us “ I would still like to be involved in the sport in some way, helping others to achieve their real potential, obviously London 2012 will be a big thing!!” Nathan commented that he could see Gail as a Badminton TV pundit. On a serious note both Nathan and Gail feel that they have unfinished business with the Olympics in Beijing in 2008 with both of them wanting an Olympic Gold. Gail says “One of the difficulties is about the ups and downs of big tournaments and the coming down feeling once the adrenalin and excitement stops when you return home”. This is one of the more difficult aspects of their lives and for both of them having spent so long living in a competitive environment. But for both of them it is a competitive habit and when they are not playing they miss it almost immediately. As they point out as long as this feeling remains and the desire to keep training and raising their game remains then they will continue to compete.
We grant you three majorsporty wishes
Ban cigarettes – “I hate smelling of smoke after a night out!” Gail then got going on this and wanted to add a few extras:
Create a gladiator arena to deter petty crime, they could fight each other. Tell us 3 things that we wouldn’t know about Nathan…? He is an exceptional poker player He is great at Fuzzball (table football) if there was an England Team for Fuzzball then he would be in it. Nathan loves Sushi – “He could eat it all day” Nathan adds that he is an awesome dancer (This brings much amusement from Gail – “I’ve seen you dance” – only one thing for it then – Celebrity Come Dancing we reckon – please all email the Beeb) Any superstitions: A Lucky hair band Quick Fire Round:
First Car: Old Style Astra (it kept getting stolen) Anyone that you would like to thank? “My mum in particular, she has always been a brilliant inspiration to me. Obviously coaches, team mates and friends who give great support particularly when we are away from home.” Who are your sporting heroes or people that you admire? “My sporting hero has always been my mum. She played football for England and was always doing all sorts of different sports including Badminton and cycling. I was always trying to compete and beat her so she made a huge impact to my sporting success and ambition.” Any other sports that you would like to have been good at? “Not really but it would be nice to have the earnings of some of the other sports such as Golf and Football.” Your training programme Gail and Nathan train every day for 6 days a week, usually only once during the weekend. They have 2 training sessions a day, the first being Badminton and the second usually running or weights. When they get close to a major tournament then the intensity increases and they normally play a lot more matches. Like most of the England squad they live within a short distance of the National Badminton centre at Milton Keynes. This means they get to play lots of practise matches against the rest of the squad. (This must have been interesting given that the recent World Championships meant Gail and Nathan playing their room mates and England team mates. At the EIS (English Institute of Sport) Badminton Centre they also get plenty of coaching, nutrition and fitness advice on site. Gail gave us a tour of the facilities, which includes full physio set-up, weights, plunge pool, jet pool as well as great court facilities. On the day that we are there they also play a bit of dodge ball for fitness, mobility and fun (sadly we do not get to join in!). Check out Gail's new website at http://www.gailemms.com/
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