Training philosophy of David Rudisha and coach Colm O’Connell is critically analysed

On August 9, 2012, inside the London Olympic Stadium, David Lekuta Rudisha strode elegantly to 800m victory with gun-to-tape tactics, stopping the clock just a fraction over 100 seconds for two laps of the track.
His world record remains unchallenged so let us take a look at the training philosophy of his coach, the great Colm O‘Connell.
Coaching guru O‘Connell has famously declared that „there is no secret“ but we can delve a little deeper to have a look at the two men who starred in the screening of a BBC documentary show – David Rudisha: 100 seconds to beat the world.
We begin by exploring the six lessons behind the coaching philosophy of the Irish Patrician Brother from Cork, who took a teaching job in the Kenyan town of Iten back in 1976.

1. You don‘t need to have been a great athlete to be a great coach
With 25 of his students having gone on to become world champions, and four having become Olympic champions, the man who is Kenya‘s most successful middle-distance coach of all-time had no athletics career when he arrived at St Patrick‘s high school in his late 20s. His colleague, Brother Paul Brennan, recalls with affection: „He never ran a race in his life.“
The lesson here is that some top coaches may have been former top athletes, but many will not have been. Either way, quality coaching requires a different skill set from being an elite athlete.