Unveiled: David Calder’s Remarkable Comeback

Canadian rower David Calder had some 15 family members in the crowd here on Saturday when he and Scott Frandsen captured Canada’s first medal of the Olympics, a silver in men’s pairs. Among those was his cousin James Brotherhood, who played a critical role in his remarkable comeback.

Brotherhood, as part of his masters program in sports physiology, designed the program that helped Calder return successfully to the sport after a three-year absence.

“Without his science background, I wouldn’t be here,” said Calder, holding his 4-year-old daughter Mira afterwards, a silver medal around his neck . “I would have just ignorantly tried to work as hard as I could, right? And that wouldn’t have been the smart thing to do.

“He really kept the throttle on, but he told me when I need to back off and when I needed to recover. That was the first time that I took a scientific approach to it.”

Calder had only 13 weeks to get ready for the team’s Olympic training camp, which began Oct. 1.

“If we had waited any longer, I think it would have been pretty tough, if not impossible,” said Brotherhood, milling around with ecsatic family members. “The transition he made over such a short time is unbelievable and a lot of that has to do with his amazing genetic gifts. It’s already shown. He’s a three-time Olympian now. He has it. It was just a matter of getting him where he needed to be as fast as possible. He listened to the science and it got him here.”

A paper Brotherhood wrote on the program can be accessed here. His mark for the project?

An A+, of course. Nice work, James!

Comments

[lagerhall stålkonstruktion]

Damn he is strong!
wish him luck!

[lagerhall stålkonstruktion]

Damn he is strong!
wish him luck!

[Stuart]

This is a true testament to determination to succeed, applying science to improve and a direct call for more funding for more sport research in Canada. Dave you rock and koodos to your trainer.