This session will follow the journey of two women, both elite athletes. The first suffered a career ending injury and battled over a two year period to achieve an Olympic Silver medal in London 2012 and World Gold in 2013. The second, suffered a near fatal crash and was minutes away from dying, she was in intensive care for over 2 months. She too battled over two years making it back to podium performance funding for the Olympics. The session will go into detail on how physio, medicine, strength & conditioning, physiology, nutrition and psychology all played a key part in both women’s rejuvenation.
Former Head of Performance, Team GB - and Director, Sport & Exercise Medicine Centre for Health & Human Performance
James is currently employed by the British Olympic Association (BOA) where he is the Lead for Performance Services, and the Manager of the Intensive Rehabilitation Unit (IRU) at Bisham Abbey. He was appointed as Deputy Chef de Mission for Performance Services for Team GB at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In addition to this, he has been the Head of Performance Services for Team GB at the inaugural European Games in Baku 2015 and has worked with multiple sports throughout the UK, USA and Australia.
In his capacity with the BOA, James sits on the strategic board for the Institute of Sport Exercise & Health (ISEH), which is part of the legacy from London 2012 and the National Centre’s for Sport & Exercise Medicine (NCSEM). The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recently awarded the National Centre’s, through ISEH, a grant to become one of a handful of International Research Centre’s.
James has previously held positions such as Head of Medical at Saracens RFC; Consultant Clinical Lead Physiotherapist for UKAthletics; and Consultant contracted Physiotherapist for the RFU to the EPS, where he worked through two Olympic cycles including London 2012, and helped in the preparation for the Rugby World Cup in 2011. James has been the medical team leader for Gloucester County Cricket Club, and is on the Board as a Founder and Director for Sports and Exercise Medicine (SEM) at the Centre for Health & Human Performance (CHHP) in Harley street, London.
He completed his Masters in advanced Physiotherapy at University of Queensland in 2000, and has undertaken further studies and post-graduate qualifications in Strength & Conditioning and Biomechanics.
Senior Strength & Conditioning Coach, Intensive Rehabilitation Unit - British Olympic Association
Fionn currently leads the strength & conditioning support at the Intensive Rehabilitation Unit (IRU) at Bisham Abbey. Here he works as part of an interdisciplinary team to provide intense rehabilitation to Olympic athletes and collaborates with practitioners throughout the EIS network in the areas of loading strategies and diagnostics/ athlete profiling.
Fionn moved to the UK in 2010 and completed an MSc in Sport & Exercise Science at Cardiff Metropolitan University. He then worked for the Sport Wales Institute until 2016, leading delivery to several sports including boxing, judo, gymnastics and cycling.
Fionn also provides consultancy in the application o strength diagnostics in rehabilitation, and integrated physical preparation to professional athletes and teams.
