Trevor's 'Gold' winning effort at AG in 1966 unmatched

by Leslie Fernando

CYCLING: It is one of the longest standing records in the history of Sri Lankan sport. When the record was established in 1966 - when he won two golds at Asian Games, many people thought that it would be equalled or beaten at the next major international games. More than ten Asian Games and ten Olympic Games have passed and hundreds of Sri Lankan cyclists have had a crack at it without even coming close. The record that everybody is talking about is Trevor de Silva's two Asian Games gold medals. What motivation and talent drove such a gifted athlete?

To find out the Sunday Observer recently interviewed de Silva on the phone in his London home about his life after cycling and the secret of his success.

Question: In 2008 the Sri Lankan Government gave you and late 'great' Maurice Coomaravel a very prestigious National Sporting Honour at a grand ceremony at the BMICH. Your name is also included in the sporting book Sri Lanka Proud. What does this mean to you amongst your other achievements?

Trevor: I was very surprised and honoured to have been given this award. The Trophy and the Citation take pride of place in our home right next my two Asian Games medals.

Question: You are married to Anne, do you have children?

Trevor: We have none, but, Anne has two wonderful children, Rebecca is 30 is the Media Relations Manager at the London College of Fashion and is married to Paul who is the Head of Community Events at Kings College Hospital Charity. Peter is 28, is a qualified electrician, dealing in high-tech audio visual equipment and is engaged to Amy who is a Regional Manager for ZARA.

Question: I know you are still involved in health and fitness. Can you tell us what you do now through your company ExecFit?

Answer: I have about 80 clients and my main objective is also my slogan "keeping them Fit, Healthy and Mobile year after year". Most of them have been Execfitting for over 10 years, some of them have been with me for over 20 years. Everyone has an individual programme based on their needs and aspirations.I also run seminars on Health, Fitness and Sport for people from all walks of life.

Question: You are a UK Athletics level four coach, what is your involvement in coaching, Do you also coach cyclists?

Answer: I personally coach a small group of runners and cyclists. A few are performing at quite a high standard and aiming to reach an Olympic standard by 2012. I advise coaches of levels 2 and 3. I am also involved at the coaching periphery through workshops and seminars with running clubs and I am closely associated in a coaching/advisory capacity with the Wimbledon Windmilers Running Club. I have been a member since 1980. Many runners/cyclists consult me, mainly about injuries and high level training.

My specialities are sports injury prevention and or rehabilitation and top ten training regimes. Thankfully I can think back 45 years and prescribe my own historical training methods adopted to a cyclist or runner's individual need. It still seems to work judging by their progress.

Question: Many Sri Lankan cyclists have performed very well at the South Asian Games (SAG) but not at the Asian Games. Being the only Sri Lankan to have achieved this, how big a step is it? What advice would you give the present day cyclists?

Answer: It is a big, but bridgeable step with the right training. You meet strong world class cycling nations like Japan and China at the Asian Games. I have competed against them and beaten them. So it can be done.

Their training philosophy was similar to mine but completely different to the accepted norm in Sri Lanka at that time. I even upset some cycling officials by following my own format and not their programme. The cyclists must concentrate on improving their own standard year on year. Winning races at national level is important to a cyclist.

But if one concentrate too much on winning the same type of race every year, one may lose sight of the overall objective which is the need for constant improvement. You need extreme self belief and confidence to keep your mind on your goal and then set about it in single minded to the exclusion of everything else.

I had no secret training plan other than training at least once a day, 800 km a week on average and sometimes up to 1000 km. I had many training partners, the late Maurice Coomaravel and Desmond Gunawardena, Trevor Newman, Jeffrey Mason and my other Asian Games team mates, S. M. Hassan and Ivan Gamage.

I set myself a personal challenging target, for example to ride from Colombo to Kandy in around 3 hours when I achieved this, two months before the Asian Games I had the confidence to take on anyone and then I tapered my training to reach a peak for the Games.

The build-up to the Asian Games or Olympics takes 2 to 3 years. Maybe when I am in Sri Lanka in mid-July, I could talk to the cyclists and officials. I have already been in touch with Nishantha Piyasena, the General Secretary of the Cyclists Federation.

Question: You were selected for the 1972 Munich Olympics but did not make the trip as you had lost the passion for hard training. Do you ever regret not going for the Games and just taking part?

Answer: No. I am extremely happy and satisfied with my life now. If I had gone to Munich my life would have taken a completely different path and I will not be where I am today. With the little training, I was prepared to do I could have competed and I would certainly completed the course albeit someway down the field. Yes, I would have been the first Sri Lankan cyclist to have completed an Olympic race. No. I did not want to just make up the numbers - when I raced, I wanted to fight to the finish.

Question: What are your other interests?

Answer: Anne is very keen and qualified gardener and we were judged to have the 'Best Front Garden 2007' in Merton Park. I try and help whereever I can, Anne is the brains, I provide the brawn. We walk a lot and cycle when the weather is good.

Question: Do you keep in touch with your cycling contemporaries?

Answer: Sadly I have lost touch with my cycling pals except my good friend and former training partner Jeffrey Mason. We keep in touch occasionally by phone.

Question: Did you ever think of making a comeback maybe in the masters category or do another sport?

Answer: No. There is a time and place for everything. When I stopped training before the Olympics, I was never going to race again.

But I fulfilled a long term desire to run a marathon. At the age of 43, I ran the London Marathon in around 2 hrs 38 minutes and finished second overall in the Milton Keynes marathon.