Swimmer Marco Koch on Making the Unbelievable Believable

Do you want to be the best in the team? Are you vying for a promotion at work or a gold medal in the upcoming race? Then it’s time to read how European and World Champion Marco Koch does just that.

The 27-year-old German explains how it’s not just strength, performance or endurance necessary to become a professional and successful swimmer. It’s more about how well you can control your body and your mind.

Along with his coach and psychologist, Marco develops new ways to become physically and mentally stronger. This is his way of ‘thinking outside the box’. The different perspectives all come together and provide a variety of ideas to help Marco realise what is working well now and how things can be improved for the future. Improving his mental strength comes from analysing different game day scenarios and changes in his training and life. This helps him improve his performance both in and out of the water.

Mental strength is especially important in competitions where it is easy to succumb to external pressures and expectations. This could cost you the race. When asked how one can cope with these psychological challenges, Marco simply answered:

Marco’s life is ruled by swimming, leaving little time for anything else. This will continue to be the case at least until after Tokyo 2020. However, he does manage to factor in time for his studies, private and family life.

“It’s either everything or nothing,” says Marco. With ambition like this, it’s no wonder that Marco is the current world record holder for the 200m breaststroke. Swimming is always the top priority. Everything else is adapted around his sport.

Before races it’s important to have a clear routine to calm nerves so you can maximise your performance.

“I recap the last training session, because in the end this one race is like ‘kindergarten’ compared to all the kilometres you swam in training to get to this point, explains Marco. Competition is kind of like having had your main dish with vegetables and the only thing left waiting for you is a delicious and well-deserved dessert. Dessert is like that one race in front of you, the easy part, your reward for all the hard work. Every time you overcame yourself, all the mornings where getting up was hard and motivation was zero, made your game day easier.”

Mental strength is key in races. We asked Marco how he motivates himself enough to keep going when there is one lap left and his competitor is an arm’s length ahead.

Working towards a long-term goal becomes your life, but what happens after you reach it? We asked Marco about his plans for after Tokyo 2020.

The grand idea is to finish his studies and possibly become a swimming coach or a sports psychologist to inspire and encourage others using his sports expertise and new-found knowledge from studying. One thing Marco is sure about is that he “can’t imagine a life without swimming.”