Twenty years later, baking had changed. The family clubbed together to buy the grandmother a high-powered, modern, electric oven.
But it taught Sweetenham a lesson he has never forgotten: “Chocolate cake never tasted the same again,” he said. “And the reason was simple —
I never had to put in all that effort in cutting the chips.”
Sweetenham, now the national performance director of British swimming, has lived by his “chocolate-cake philosophy”. More effort means more reward. More passion and more commitment, mean more satisfaction.
He recalled the moments in his life that meant the most to him and they have nothing to do with material gain or status. “Apart from the birth of my children, the most rewarding times for me have been when I’ve stood in the marshalling area with an athlete I know has given totally and in the next few minutes is going to do something really special.
“I’ve known some athletes who were very successful but could have done better,” he said. “To be with athletes who have left nothing to chance, have not wasted any of their talent, have taken themselves to the very limit — that’s true satisfaction.”
He challenges himself in the same way he challenges others.
In 2000, Sweetenham left his family, a successful learn-to-swim business and an impending appointment as Australia’s national swimming coach. And all so he could resuscitate British swimming, which had just experienced its first medal-less Olympics since the Hitler games of 1936.
He had already been a successful national coach of Australian swimmers and Sweetenham is not a fan of going back.
“When people say they have 30 years’ experience, they usually mean they have one year’s experience 30 times over. I need to experience new things.”
And so he came to a two-bedroom flat in Leicestershire, cold, wet mornings, and the ramshackle hut that serves as the headquarters of British swimming at Loughborough University.
Sweetenham had been head coach at the Australian Institute of Sport programme for nine years, four times Australian Olympic head coach and five times Commonwealth games coach. He personally coached great swimmers such as Tracey Wickham, Michelle Ford and Stephen Holland. In total, he has coached 63 top swimmers in international competitions to 27 medals.
Needing something new, he took himself off for four years to be national head coach in Hong Kong before returning to Australia as national youth coach.
