It was the night of 6 August 2016 at the Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro and Hannah Miley appeared to be on course for her first Olympic medal.
Coming out of the final turn in the 400IM, the Scot was in bronze position and on track to make the Olympic podium in the third final of her career.
Little by little though, 200 fly champion Mireia Belmonte ate into the gap, moving on to her shoulder with 10m to go before stopping the clock 0.15secs ahead of the Scot to take bronze.
Watching on was Miley’s father and coach Patrick and for him that moment had different layers of hurt and pain.
In a recently-published book titled “Two Hats” – which addresses the parent-coach-child partnership – Miley snr says:
“Watching your child work so hard to achieve their specific goals and then come up a fraction short hurts and I am sure that every parent feels that pain in whichever endeavour their children may be taking part in.”
Photo Courtesy: Connor Trimble
Hannah Miley was fielding questions from a group of journalists at the Great Britain holding camp in Edinburgh ahead of the 2012 Olympics in London when the subject turned to her being coached by her father.
What – she was asked – are the dividing lines?
She said: “Before I start my race he’s my coach – when I finish he’s my dad.”
Days later, Miley finished fifth in the 400IM in London in her second Olympic final after making her Games debut in Beijing in 2008.
The Scot – then just 18 – narrowly missed out on the final of the 200IM in China before coming sixth in the 400IM as she built on the fine promised she showed with three medals at the 2004 Commonwealth Youth Games.
Silver had followed a year later at the European juniors in Budapest where Miley touched second behind a local 16-year-old by the name of Katinka Hosszu, who had made her Olympic bow a year before in Athens.
Fifteen years later and the pair are still the most respectful of adversaries with Hosszu the reigning 400IM Olympic champion and Miley a triple finalist.
And all the while Patrick Miley has been there, guiding and observing as his daughter negotiates the joyful highs and desolate lows of elite sport.
Photo Courtesy: Gian Mattia Dalberto/Lapresse
The Family Ties That Bind
Hannah and Patrick Miley are not alone in their parent-coach partnership.
Sharron Davies, the 1980 400IM silver medallist, was guided by her father Terry; Australian Sam Herford – who coached Murray Rose and John Devitt to six gold medals between them – oversaw his daughter Kim on to the team at Tokyo 1964 where her brother was on the rowing squad and fellow Australian Gerry Stachewicz coached son Tom to three Olympics in 1984, 1988 and 1992.
Janelle Elford, 1988 Olympic swimmer for Australia, and daughter Lani Pallister, World Junior Champion – Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr, Swimming Australia
To the present day and Australian Lani Pallister is coached by mum Janelle Elford who competed in the 400 and 800 free finals at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
Should Pallister make the Olympic team next year in either the 400 or the 800m, she will make self and mum the first mother-daughter combo to swim the same event in the pool at the Olympic Games, generations apart.
Four-time Olympic medallist Emma and sibling David McKeon, who won 4×200 bronze at the 2015 worlds, were initially coached by their father Ron, himself a double Olympian, before moving on to Michael Bohl.
Bohl himself coaches daughter Georgia who won 100m breaststroke bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Patrick Miley started coaching Hannah when she was three and the pair were fixtures at the small pool in the town of Inverurie, Aberdeenshire.
At just 25m and with four lanes, the pool in which Garioch Swimming Club trained was on the surface, less than ideal.
However, it worked for the pair.
As well as a coach to his daughter and Garioch, Miley snr was a consistent presence on British senior teams, a pilot and also an inventor, the brains behind the Aquapacer – a swim rate monitoring device.
A former soldier and triathlete, he had also worked with five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe and Brooke Bennett, winner of three Games golds.
“Two Hats” is a guide for people who either coach or are considering coaching their own children with author Gordon Maclelland having spoken to 23 individuals across 14 sports.
These include former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan, athlete Liz McColgan – 1991 world 10,000m champion – and ex-England rugby union coach Stuart Lancaster.
Patrick Miley provides fascinating insights into his and Hannah’s partnership, the challenges and tips he would give others.
Photo Courtesy: Ian MacNicol/Scottish Swimming
Of the best parts of coaching his own child, Miley snr points to seeing her progress and evolution into a world-class swimmer as well as her dedication to the sport while juggling academic studies.
He pointed to her strength of character, saying:
“She was always comfortable with being different to her peers, particularly during those teenage years, when her school colleagues didn’t really understand her life choices and would encourage her away from the path that she was taking.
“I really respected that and started to see that she had a really steely determination that I had maybe doubted in the earlier days.
“I also felt that I had a unique insight into Hannah the person, I knew so much more about her behaviours and if there were any other issues being carried over from her personal life into her sporting life. I valued that unique part of the relationship.”
The Hurt In Rio As Miley Is Locked Out Of The Podium
Rewind to that night in Rio and Patrick points to this and other performances when she did not achieve her goals as the most difficult aspect of coaching his child.
“I think the biggest challenges were managing the disappointments, I found this a really tough one.
“With an Olympic medal being a long-held goal, coming fourth in Rio in 2016 was a tough one to take and having 4 years between Olympic cycles makes it an even harder one to take.
“Watching your child work so hard to achieve their specific goals and then come up a fraction short hurts and I am sure that every parent feels that pain in whichever endeavour their children may be taking part in.”
Photo Courtesy: Gian Mattia Dalberto/Lapresse
The swimmer will be 31 when the rescheduled Olympics in Tokyo come around and will mark her 32nd birthday on the final day of the Games.
With world, European and Commonwealth medals in her armoury – including double 400IM gold in the latter in 2010 and 2014 – Miley is missing only a trip to the Olympic podium although there is speculation over whether the Games will even take place because of the pandemic.
Should Tokyo 2020 go ahead and Miley make that trip, it would mark 15 years of being on senior British teams following her debut at the 2006 European Championships, where she finished seventh in the 400IM.
That had followed her senior Team Scotland bow at the Commonwealth Games in March that year where she finished fourth over eight lengths.
It has been a career of some longevity at the highest level and one that her father describes as “a really unique journey”.
He added:
“Most of all she taught me as much as I taught her both in and out of the pool and that is something I will fondly remember.”
Miley’s Three Top Tips For Parent Coaches
“Try to ensure that you do nothing to damage your personal relationship. You must have a personal contract with yourself on how you need to behave and also one with your child where you both understand how it is going to look. This will consistently change as well so be prepared to adapt it and tweak it.
“Make sure that you are enjoying the process.
“Finally, make sure that the rest of the family feel engaged, are enjoying and supportive of the whole process. My wife has been such a crucial figure and as Hannah describes her, ‘the glue that holds it all together.'”
“Two Hats” by Gordon Maclelland is published by Chronos Publishing and is available to order online at Amazon
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Marvelous father marvelous daughter representing the very best swimming can be congratulations to Patrick and Hannah and their whole family. John Leonard