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Alistair and Jonny Brownlee spent Tuesday afternoon with Saracens ahead of their Champions Cup opener
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The event was part of the Saracens Player Development Programme Speaker Series
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The brothers took gold and silver in the triathlon in the Rio Olympics
Olympic, Commonwealth and World champion brothers Alistair and Jonny Brownlee spent Tuesday afternoon with the Saracens squad ahead of the club’s Champions Cup clash against Toulon.
As part of the Saracens Player Development Programme Speaker Series the Brownlee brothers, who took gold and silver in the triathlon in the Rio Olympics, addressed the squad about their experiences as world champion triathletes, their training schedules and shared their story of their unique family partnership as triathletes.
©Matthew Impey / Wired Photos
Picture by Matt Impey +44 7789 130347
Speaking about the visit, 2016 Olympic Gold Medallist Alistair Brownlee said: “The mental aspect of sports can be very similar. How you maintain your motivation day-in-day out, competing and performing under pressure, they’re plenty of similarities that crossover. The interesting thing for us is being able to talk to people in other sports and get to talk about those similarities and maybe there’s something we can learn from each other. We really enjoyed the afternoon.”
Saracens full-back, Alex Goode added: “The Brownlee’s are two of the best athletes in the country and it was great to have the chance to hear their individual stories about competing in such a physically and mentally demanding sport. I’m sure all the lads took away a lot from today’s talk and hopefully so did Alistair and Jonny.”
And the boys, who went to the same school as Charlie Hodgson, certainly impressed the boys.
Inspirational listening to @AliBrownleetri and @jonny_brownlee today at Saracens. Legends of triathlon…! pic.twitter.com/Dyf3sUnswl
— Petrus du Plessis (@PetrusduPlessis) October 11, 2016
Awesome to meet and listen to @AliBrownleetri and @jonny_brownlee today. #triathlon pic.twitter.com/d2eHQvQU7t
— Jim Hamilton (@jimhamilton4) October 11, 2016
Previous sports stars who have shared their experiences with the players as part of the PDP Speaker Series include former F1 world champion Sir Jackie Stewart, England cricket captain Andrew Strauss along with 200m and 400m Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson.
Other speakers from outside the sporting world have included Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, British Army Lieutenant General Sir John Lorimer and Renee Salt, a Holocaust survivor.
