Did it feel like a big jump from anything youve done in the past?
London 2012 just for the fact that it’s the biggest thing and most meaningful thing I’ve ever done. It’s one of those things that when I look at it I think, will I ever be able to do something as big in the future? I’m sure I’ll have times that will come close on similar levels but it was a home games and there was all the euphoria of emotions. I don’t know if I will ever get close. I always think maybe if I ever have a child and when they are born, that will be better but other than that…
Did it feel like a big jump from anything youve done in the past?
I can’t look back and feel anything negative about it. It was so amazing from the build up to it; being in the village and watching everyone do so well. The public, the sound that they made and the uplifting feeling that they gave you, everything was just amazing. Living in this little bubble that was London you don’t really know too much about what’s going on outside of that and then you have to go back to the outside world. That was the point where I realised how big London 2012 was. At the time it was amazing and I knew it was bigger than I could have imagined when it was going on, but when you come out and see the aftermath and the response that the public gave was just absolutely incredible. I remember going to watch the Olympics and feeling the atmosphere there was amazing and thinking if the Paralympics is one tenth as good as this then it’s going to be massive but then it was just as loud and as amazing. And I think all the athletes felt that and came off the track just so uplifted, even if they didn’t do that well, just so happy with the crowd.
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We all had people we got on with and as a team we all seemed to get on, there was no one in there who didn’t like each other. And at times we got to mix with some people from different sports. It was cool to chat to different people and see if differently but everyone who was wearing a GB vest was just happy and on your side. It was so nice, no enemies, just friends.
Did it feel like a big jump from anything you’ve done in the past?
Yes for sure. I went from competing in front of a few people before that to competing in front of all those people. To go out in front of a crowd like that was crazy. We had a lot of preparation before that for the mental side of things, obviously you can go out and it can spook you, you’re not used to competing in front of everyone and suddenly there’s 80,000 people there.
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I definitely think that the Paralympics has just grown so much. For me that’s the proudest thing. I am just so proud of the British response to it, the fact that people know who we are, some of them know are names and people in the streets perhaps recognise us, I just think that’s crazy that the Paralympics is in that kind of sted. It’s impressive and I’m really proud to see that as a country, and a nation we have been able to do that. I suppose the Paralympics were born here and they have almost been reborn here.
Are you passionate about getting young people into the Paralympics?
I’ve always been sports man, even as a kid. Losing my leg didn’t really stop me, I still wanted to go out and play football all the time. My mum always gives a great little line, that it was always more painful for me to sit back on the sidelines than it was to get involved. Even if I had sores on my legs and it was painful to run around, I have always preferred to do that. I never wanted to let it hold me back. I don’t know if I’ve used it as an extra drive but it’s always been what I have wanted to do before I lost my leg.
Towards the end of school when I was about 15 I thought why not try disability sport out. I researched local options; I went to a talent identification place in London, which was run by the British Paralympic association. You got to try out loads of different sports. It was awesome. There was a sprint outside, which I did a few times in the end and from that, it sparked an interest from those guys and things picked up, they invited me to Loughborough for a few trials, figuring out all these different tests we had to do and almost just learning about the sport, learning how to be a professional sportsman and get the most out of yourself, it was really cool and then at the end of it we were passed onto whichever body was doing our sport. I was passed over to British Athletics and they have taken great care of me. They have supported me 100%, I think that’s why Great Britain as a team are so successful.
What is your training like when you are competing and during down-time?
I’m on the last day of my downtime right now, I start training tomorrow. When I’m not competing it’s nice! I don’t have to think about anything, I can switch off, have some beers when I feel like having a beer, which is a great thing about it, you don’t need to feel guilty, just eating really nice food and switching off from being an athlete. I’m quite strict when I’m training within reason. When I’m competing or training I’ll keep to 90 or 99% good stuff and maybe the occasional treat or bad thing, I’ll love having a burger. I think if you turn too much into a robot, it can almost get too serious at some point, it needs to be serious but you can get a bit too wrapped up in it.
Talk us through a typical day of training
I’ll get up about 8.30-9 and have some breakfast; a couple of pieces of toast and eggs and a protein shake and a coffee. Then I’ll get to training about 10 and then do my warm-up, get some treatment, do my session, whatever it might be that day; a running session or perhaps gym, we do all sorts of different stuff. About 4 running session a week and the weights and leg stuff, to build some explosive power. I usually have Sundays off and sometimes another day off.
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100%. I think the one thing that has been great from London 2012 has been the response that you get form a lot of youngsters. Who perhaps didn’t know about the sport and want to get involved. I hear stories about people who watched the games and then went out to race each other. It’s fantastic. I’ve heard of able-bodied kids dress up as David Weir! I had a letter from this kid trying to get a blade, saying my mum wont let me get one and then my mum read that he didn’t have a prosthetic leg at all he just wanted a blade. That’s really touching for me to think that’s the way that it’s gone, you get able bodied kids wanted to be disabled just because it looks a bit cool. If that can give some of the kids that are disabled the confidence to go out there and be proud of it then it’s been a huge success. For me I never really wanted to wear shorts because I didn’t want people to notice that I had a prosthetic leg, and that was a big thing for me. I heard that after London 2012, there were some amputees from the college I was at in Cambridge who were going out intentionally wearing shorts to show off that they had that – that was so touching for me to see the difference that the two weeks made. Being proud to show it off was a great thing.
What are your goals for the next few years?
I have a few. Definitely in terms of the sport, I want to go out there and try to replicate London it in Rio. It’s going to be hard work so I need to put some work in the next couple of years. But I have personal goals too. At the moment I am hopefully in the process of getting my first house. I am trying to get my first home which is a big importance to me, any sport is very risky and any day you can get injured and it can all disappear very quickly. So it’s about thinking about the future and security. One of the things for me is leaving the sport with a house. If I can leave with a house paid off then that’s the biggest worry of my life gone. I’ve been able to save money for a deposit and that’s sat in a bank account and for me it’s a relief to know it’s protected with FSCS, it’s doesn’t matter what happens with the banks and that’s a massive relief.
Jonnie Peacock has teamed up with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) to raise awareness of the free protection it gives to your money. The FSCS protects savings of up to £85,000 in banks, building societies and credit unions. To check you’re protected click here.
