Alice Dearing on Olympic Discipline and What It Takes to Go the Distance (Part II)
By The Champions Speakers Agency
As one of Britain’s most influential voices in sport, Alice Dearing made history as the first Black female swimmer to represent Team GB at the Olympic Games. But her legacy stretches far beyond the pool. A champion for inclusion and co-founder of the Black Swimming Association, Alice combines elite athletic insight with a deep understanding of mental resilience, communication, and performance under pressure.
In this exclusive interview with The Champions Speakers Agency, Alice opens up about the mindset that fuelled her 4:30 a.m. training starts, the power of consistency through adversity, and why true success—whether in sport or business—requires more than talent alone.
Q: In your experience, what core mental traits from elite athletic performance can businesses learn from and apply in their own environments?
Alice Dearing: “So, the qualities of a high-performing athlete, um, in some respects can be, I think, a bit scary. Like I think about the things that I did, um, as an athlete and, um, and now, especially now I’m retired, I look back on it—I was like, wow, I was really, I was really locked in there. But, um, I think that they’re so powerful and so important for businesses to be able to translate into their industry and their environment.
“So, for example, quite a lot of times I didn’t want to go morning training. You know, I was waking up, um, as a teenager at 4:30 in the morning to go training. And then, as I got older and thankfully got a little bit later—but, um, I think it was still 5:30 that I was waking up. So, um, and that was my life for about 12 years.
“And it was the mentality that sometimes I didn’t want to go, but there wasn’t an option in my mind not to go. It was one of those things where I was just like, okay, I’ve set my alarm, I’m getting up and, kind of, that’s it. Of course, if I’m ill or if something’s happened, that’s a completely different story.
“But in terms of battling that inner monologue of, “I don’t really want to do this, let’s procrastinate, let’s put it off,” um, kind of having that mindset of, “I know what my goals are. I know that I need to do X, Y and Z to achieve it. Let’s go and execute it.”
“And, um, that’s something that I didn’t really appreciate could take you so far. And sometimes it, it is—can just be pure hard work. Sometimes it’s a mix of hard work and talent. People get to different places in different ways, but consistency of turning up to training and, you know, giving it your best every time or just doing what the coach says…
“Or sometimes I turned up and there was no fibre in my body that wanted to be there. And, um, just being really honest, I still worked through the session. I still found something to gather out of it because even at your lowest points, those are the times when you can make gains like you wouldn’t believe.
“Swimming is one of those sports that I found—whenever you’re swimming fast, it’s easy. It’s easy to turn up to training. And, of course, that’s how things work. You know, when business is going well, you want to turn up, you want to do things, you’ve got that energy, you’ve got that drive.
“But at the darkest times, when things aren’t going great, that’s when you really need to persevere, find that consistency and just keep plugging away every day. And, um, that’s something that swimming and being an athlete has taught me because, um, it really can create the core of your business or of who you are.
“And then from that can spread out other things. And also—I’ll just add as well—um, communication was, like, such a key part of me maturing as an athlete. So, as a teenager, like adolescent, I was, um… I have a very strong mind and very strong opinions on how I want to do things.
“I’m very stubborn, which is why I’ve been able to get as far as I am—because I didn’t want to quit. Like, I felt like when I wanted to quit, I was like, “No, I don’t want to quit. I still want to do this.” Like there’s still stubborn drive and energy within me.
“And this came out, especially as a teenager when I couldn’t really communicate or didn’t know how to speak to people. I was in conflict with coaches, and I realised, as I got older, I was like, “You’re going to have to work with people to get to where you want to get to.”
“You can’t keep fighting with, um, with people. If they don’t see your point of view, how else can you communicate with them? How else can you have a conversation where you get their point of view, they take yours, and you work together?
“So, a more collaborative approach. And it’s something that I really, kind of, had to grow and mature into. But I’m really appreciative of it now because, um, it’s left me in a place where—like, you can’t be an athlete in isolation.
“So, all of these… there’s literally hundreds of people who have contributed to my swimming career—whether that’s my technique or my mentality or just helping me out with a little bit. And I couldn’t have done that without them, essentially.
“And I think a business is exactly the same. You know, especially like perhaps smaller businesses—there are so many different aspects of people who work for you or in your life, in your lifestyle, who support you.
“And it’s exactly the same for athletes. It’s not a lone wolf approach. There’s like a whole, like, entourage of people behind you. And learning to effectively communicate with them and to deal with conflict is so, so important.
“I think that’s something that businesses have to navigate a lot. You know, whether that’s disagreements or, you know, having to tell someone to work harder or something like that—having uncomfortable conversations is challenging.
“But, um, it puts you in a place where you either, kind of, have to have that conversation or just accept a lower performance. And as an athlete, there was no way I was putting an uncomfortable conversation over my performance.
“That just doesn’t compute. But yeah, um, communication is such a key part of who I am and what I became.”
Q: From your Olympic journey, what parallels do you see between sustaining athletic excellence and building long-term business success?
Alice Dearing: “So, I see the kind of relentlessness in the sense of being patient. Because, um, you know, you see, like, some businesses pop up and you’re like, “Oh, where have they come from?” And then you realise that they’ve been working hard for 15 years—putting in a lot of groundwork, a lot of effort, a lot of late nights, early mornings.
“And, um, it’s not by chance that they’re now succeeding. And it’s exactly the same for athletes. There’s a lot of, like, difficult work that goes into it, which I know a lot of people are aware of.
“But you know, um, it’s like that relentlessness, that consistency. And, um, yeah, trust and communication with people around you to help build the thing that you want to build.
“And sometimes it’s understanding that not everyone’s along for the ride. And again, that’s another uncomfortable conversation. But, um, it is so important to be able to have that environment which means you can grow from it and, um, become your best self.
“So, um, when I was younger, I was in a training group which was like one of the best training groups in the country. And I wasn’t happy there. And I really—I couldn’t really see that I wasn’t happy there.
“And I eventually got kicked out of it and I was really upset in that moment because, um, I was like, “Well, what else is my value as a swimmer?” I was in this amazing training group; they don’t believe in me anymore—what am I doing next?
“And so when that happened to me, I kind of had a decision to go into another training group, which wasn’t seen as good, but it was a bit more relaxed and, um, could kind of allow me to, like, spread my wings a bit more and have more… just have the pressure taken off me a little bit.
“And I decided to go for it because I didn’t feel like quitting yet. As I’ve alluded to—that stubborn energy within me—I wasn’t ready to quit. I moved into it, and I actually found it was so much healthier for me, so much happier.
“And, um, I speak about this as kind of like—it’s okay sometimes to take a step back or to move into something which isn’t seen as conventional or what people say, “No, that’s not how you do it. You should do it this way and that’s the best place to be.”
“Because everyone’s individual, and businesses are individual in that sense. There’s a very unique set-up to each one. You can’t copy-paste things across.
“Founders, CEOs, your staff—they’ll all have different life experiences, different mentalities. So, finding and creating an environment which is unique to you and to your business and growing that and flourishing that, I think, is really important.
“And it’s the same for athletes in the sense of training groups. Who you surround yourself with is so important and they can massively affect your performance, whether you believe it or not, and whether you think it will or not.
“And I think that’s the key thing for me—I didn’t think it was affecting me. I moved into this other training group, felt a lot more relaxed, was so much happier and swam like the best I’d ever swum in my life.
“And that’s what got me to the Olympic Games. So, um, I think sometimes assessing yourself, kind of having a critical eye and not being afraid to make what seems like a difficult decision can leave you in a much, much more positive place.”