{"id":489931,"date":"2021-10-27T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T07:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=489931"},"modified":"2021-10-26T09:32:56","modified_gmt":"2021-10-26T16:32:56","slug":"jack-burnell-olympic-dreams-groundbreaking-tech-and-having-a-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/jack-burnell-olympic-dreams-groundbreaking-tech-and-having-a-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Burnell: Olympic Dreams, Groundbreaking Tech And Having A Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Jack Burnell<\/strong> announced his retirement from open water swimming, his goal was to surpass in business what he had achieved in sport.<\/p>\n

Burnell brought his career to an end in April<\/a> after eight years of representing Britain on the international stage.<\/p>\n

During that time he won European and World Cup medals as well as claiming fourth and fifth-place finishes in 2017 and 2015 respectively among four World Championship appearances.<\/p>\n

There was desolation at the 2016 Olympics in Rio when Burnell was disqualified in the final metres after receiving a second yellow card following a tussle with Oussama Mellouli,<\/strong> something he described as \u201cmy career highlight and my career lowlight at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Success at Tokyo 2020 was his final objective but the year-long delay culminated in him realising he wouldn\u2019t achieve his gold-medal dream and he called it a day.<\/p>\n

Having always run business ventures alongside his swimming, Burnell is now immersed in the tech industry and is launching a platform enabling small businesses and service providers to create their own app in a cost-effective way.<\/p>\n

In a wide-ranging interview with Swimming World, Burnell talked about the transition from sport to life away from the pool, his business ambitions, Rio and Tokyo and his football passion with Chelsea and Brentford.<\/p>\n

He also shares his thoughts on FINA, safety and how they can improve open water as a spectacle.<\/p>\n

From Rio Desolation To Having A Ball<\/h3>\n

An abiding memory of Rio 2016 was Burnell\u2019s anger and hurt after he was disqualified in the closing metres of the marathon swimming at Copacabana Beach.<\/p>\n

The Briton had been in medal contention but two yellow cards shattered his Olympic dream.<\/p>\n

He said:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never really get over something like that. I\u2019ll always look back at Rio and think what a great experience it was to be at an Olympic Games to represent your country but there\u2019s also that bitter element at what could have been.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve come to terms with the fact you can\u2019t change the past, you can only influence the future and that is where I\u2019m at now with my business career and the fact that I achieved a lot in my sporting career but I genuinely believe that is only the start of what I can achieve in my business career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Olympic medal was what I set out to achieve: it was taken away from me there but that was out of my control at the end of the day and I am confident that I did everything I possibly could in my career and the time I was in the sporting world to achieve what I did.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I can walk away from the sport with my head held high for sure.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Jack

Photo Courtesy: Jack Burnell Twitter<\/p><\/div>\n

Going into 2020, Burnell \u2013 who was coached by Dave Hemmings<\/strong> at Loughborough \u2013 had his eyes on Tokyo in what would be the final race of his career.<\/p>\n

In March 2020, the International Olympic Committee<\/strong> announced the Games were delayed until July 2021 and that was ultimately the beginning of the end for Burnell and his swimming journey.<\/p>\n

If he couldn\u2019t be in with a chance of making the top of the podium, then he didn\u2019t want to be there at all.<\/p>\n

He said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI was geared up massively to compete in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe difference with me was I was getting to the end of my career at that point so for me that was the big swansong, the big hurrah I guess.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that year push-back just tipped it over the edge for me personally: the enjoyment started to slip away from swimming, I started to get injuries I\u2019d never had before and everything seemed to be going in one direction including my world ranking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d always set out in swimming \u2013 as in anything I set out to do \u2013 to be the best in the world at it and it was becoming quite apparent that me going to the Olympic Games in 2021, I wasn\u2019t going to be the best in the world and I am very realistic about that.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me to continue to put my body through what it was going through, put my mind what it was going through, put my family what I was going through \u2013 the cons outweighed the pros.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where I just said to myself I think it\u2019s time to call it a day: I can take ownership over that and I don\u2019t want to finish 20th<\/sup> on the side of the road in Tokyo and look back and think to myself \u2013 what realistically was the point in doing that extra year?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Burnell had always run his business career alongside his sporting one and three years ago became the performance mindset coach at Brentford<\/strong>, now of the Premier League but then competing in the Championship.<\/p>\n

It came about when he gave a team talk to the Brentford first team prior to the 2018\/19 season which resulted in several players asking for one-to-one sessions from where the business relationship flourished.<\/p>\n

Burnell said:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me personally that club is incredible: the ethos that has been bult there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am just honoured that I can build upon that and work with very key influential players and develop that \u2013 the resilience that I have had within Olympic sport – and implement that into the football world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is something I am very privileged to do and I just love it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Football is his passion, the man who has spent time at the top table of elite sport starry-eyed as he recalled meeting his Chelsea heroes.<\/p>\n

He beamed:<\/p>\n

\u201cPost-Rio Chelsea did a big piece on me in the club magazine and on Chelsea TV.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went into the dressing room after one of the games and I always look back at that and say that was the highlight of my sporting career rather than the Olympic Games!<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked into the dressing room and John Terry<\/strong> was the first player to come up to me and say \u2018hi Jack, I saw your race\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cCezar Azpilicueta<\/strong> came up to me, started chatting to me, that\u2019s when Thibaut Courtois<\/strong> was on the team and he started chatting \u2013 it was a very surreal moment in my life as I\u2019d supported and loved this club as a five-year-old kid.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo then be in the dressing room with these guys chatting to me, I was absolutely gobsmacked. I\u2019ve never been gobsmacked and lost for words but I certainly was in that case!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Were there any conflicts when Brentford played Chelsea recently as the Blues came away with a narrow win?<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted both teams to win. It was the strangest feeling ever.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A Smooth Transition And A Revolutionary Tech Platform<\/h3>\n

Many athletes have struggled after retiring as they attempt to forge a new life.<\/p>\n

While training and competing, every moment of every day of an athlete’s life is scheduled and organised and the sudden loss of that structure is destabilising.<\/p>\n

So too the lack of objectives and goals that have been ever-present.<\/p>\n

\"Jack

Jack Burnell: Photo Courtesy: British Swimming<\/p><\/div>\n

Burnell though didn\u2019t feel the transition so keenly having done a business degree while he was swimming before launching his own ventures.<\/p>\n

To him, sport wasn\u2019t the be all and end all.<\/p>\n

In his own words, Burnell was known during his swimming career as \u201cthe guy who was constantly doing something in business, the guy who would always wheel and deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

He would advise people to \u201csell what you know,\u201d something which prompted a conversation with his business mentor around how to make it easier for people to do just that.<\/p>\n

Noting the success of online store builder Shopify, where owners can sell their products, Burnell set about creating a platform where service providers can build their own app in his role as head of community and partnerships with UltraWell<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The platform enables businesses to have everything in one place – a business storefront essentially.<\/p>\n

Around \u00a31.5million (2,070.000 US dollars) of tech has already gone into Ultrawell with Burnell and his team set for their first funding push by the end of 2021 before a projected launch date of mid-2022.<\/p>\n

It means small businesses and sole traders who had previously not been able to afford to pay someone to build an app can now do so for as little as \u00a330 (41 US dollars) a month.<\/p>\n

Burnell said:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allows small independents to compete with the big boys.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in the day when website just used to be made by agencies, they\u2019d cost hundreds, thousands even, you wouldn\u2019t really know what you were getting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas now you can simply go on Wix or Squarespace and you can create an incredible website because all the hard work has been done for you.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in effect doing that for service providers to deliver their services through an app and all that data is in one place.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the minute these guys are using Zoom, WhatsApp, Google sheets, email, spreadsheets \u2013 all these different things are not combined in one place because it\u2019s going to cost half a million pounds to build an app that does all that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have taken all that headache, all that tech away and put it into one simple low monthly subscription.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it allows people that are independent service providers to compete with people who have 400 consultants who can create an app like that because they\u2019ve got the budget for it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He added:<\/p>\n

\u201cTech is only great when it integrates into life seamlessly: the technology can be incredible but if it doesn\u2019t integrate into daily life it won\u2019t be functional or usable and people won\u2019t use it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is what is at the core of our business is that we make this simple and we allow people with no tech knowledge at all\u00a0 to deliver their services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are people with great knowledge and we allow them to deliver their services online with no tech experience and no real budget to produce these things which usually cost huge amounts of money.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On Open Water Safety And Attracting An Audience<\/h3>\n

Burnell wasn\u2019t competing in open water when Fran Crippen<\/strong> died on 23 October 2010 during a FINA-sanctioned 10k open water event in the United Arab Emirates<\/a> in hot water temperatures.<\/p>\n

Following his death, FINA implemented rule OWS 5.5 stating that the water temperature cannot be below 16 degrees Celsius (60.8 F) or above 31 degrees Celsius (87.8 F).<\/p>\n

While Burnell says there was greater consideration given to safety, he still has reservations, saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been way better since I have been competing \u2013 the wetsuit rules and all that kind of stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven that though is a bit suspect: I think FINA will bend the rules to whatever suits their situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in races where the water has definitely been too cold to race or too warm: the water temperature is taken right next to the boat engine so it\u2019s warmer or in shallower waters when they want it to be warmer.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s always going to be an element of bending the rules and stuff like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no hard and fixed rules of when it needs to be taken or where it needs to be taken; it\u2019s just – we\u2019ll bend the rules to suit what we need.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it is way safer I think, a lot more stringent on that side.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Watching the Olympics, it reinforced to Burnell that open water has to be more proactive if it is to be classed as entertainment and attract an audience.<\/p>\n

\"Jack

Jack Burnell: Photo Courtesy: British Swimming<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe problem open water has is the way it\u2019s filmed and the way it\u2019s televised and the way it\u2019s presented to the general public is so dry, it\u2019s almost not watchable and you are never going to develop a sport or create a buzz around a sport if it isn\u2019t entertaining to watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that ultimately has to be at the absolute core of what FINA need to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the ISL, they\u2019re trying to do that. Whether they are succeeding in it or not is up to someone\u2019s judgement.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think what FINA have to do is make that sport a commercially viable proposition to a broadcaster or to someone that wants to get fans interested and watch it.<\/p>\n

\u201cOtherwise, there\u2019ll be no money in the sport and it will stay a sport that just ticks along with lottery funding.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Burnell has some ideas of his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are there not three or four drones in the air? It doesn\u2019t make sense: drones were literally made to film open water swimming, they\u2019re a perfect tool.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have cameras on boats that video splashing water at the side and you can barely see what is going on.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these graphics you see in F1 here you can see where people are and you understand who is where and what\u2019s going on; there is just none of that that goes on in open water swimming, even at the highest level.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re living in a generation where TikTok shows you a video for 10 seconds or 5 seconds and you decide if you want to scroll on or not; a sport where it shows you where someone is every half hour is just not reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy aren\u2019t all swimmers wearing tracking devices which show where everyone is in real time?<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the marathon: people watch and they know everyone\u2019s splits. It creates an intrigue.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Burnell brought his career to an end<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7575,"featured_media":185189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,122074],"tags":[121426,184,5338,32019,17553,52208,58477],"class_list":["post-489931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-europe","tag-dave-hemmings","tag-fina","tag-fran-crippen","tag-jack-burnell","tag-oussama-mellouli","tag-rio-2016","tag-tokyo-2020"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nJack Burnell: Olympic Dreams, Groundbreaking Tech And Having A Ball<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Jack Burnell announced his retirement from open water swimming his goal was to surpass in business what he had achieved in sport.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/jack-burnell-olympic-dreams-groundbreaking-tech-and-having-a-ball\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jack Burnell: Olympic Dreams, Groundbreaking Tech And Having A Ball\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Jack Burnell announced his retirement from open water swimming his goal was to surpass in business what he had achieved in sport.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/jack-burnell-olympic-dreams-groundbreaking-tech-and-having-a-ball\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-27T07:01:00+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-26T16:32:56+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Jack-Burnell-finish-e1489278347979.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1035\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Liz Byrnes - 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