Our Olympic jukebox

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11 June 2012

Many athletes use music to motivate them or keep themselves calm before big events. Cathy Wood and Nick Curtis suggest what should be on the iPods of 2012’s biggest names...

USAIN BOLT - SPRINTER

The 25-year-old Jamaican is the fastest man alive. Will we still be calling him “Lightning” Bolt in July, or will he become “Shot His” Bolt?

2012 playlist: Carrying on a long and dishonourable tradition of sportsmen recording appalling music, Bolt has released his own rap single, Faster Than Lightning, where he sets out his manifesto over a house beat. “I need to go faster, I need to work harder, I need to keep driving to the finish,” he says, going on to add: “When I hit top speed I turn on the afterburners.”

Elsewhere, Bolt could seek inspiration from Lightning by The Wanted, Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen, or Run to You by Bryan Adams. (The Spencer Davies Group’s Keep on Running might be better for a marathon man.)

MARK CAVENDISH - CYCLIST

What running shoes are to Usain Bolt, wheels are to the 27-year-old Manx road-race cyclist who is the fastest thing on two (unmotorised) wheels.

2012 playlist: It’s rumoured that Cavendish is such a music fan that he named his young daughter Delilah Grace after the respective anthems of Tom Jones and U2. Since his shot at Olympic gold involves slogging up the punishing gradient of Box Hill nine times, however, he might like to have Miley Cyrus’s The Climb and Emeli Sandé’s Mountains hammering into his eardrums before straddling his saddle. Any of the several songs that use permutations of the words “move” and “up” in the title also seem predestined to get the thighs pumping: Move On Up by Curtis Mayfield, Movin’ On Up by Primal Scream and Moving On Up by M People. And, of course, Kraftwerk’s Tour de France.

TOM DALEY - DIVER

The 18-year-old is an anti-bullying campaigner and has perhaps a greater emotional investment in these Games following the death a year ago of his inspirational father Rob from cancer.

2012 playlist: Probably won’t include LMFAO’s Sexy and I Know It, after Daley and other members of Team GB’s diving squad were criticised for a spoof video showing them lip synching to it on an Australian beach. Natalie Imbruglia’s Diving in at the Deep End may be a little obvious but Higher by the Saturdays and Flo Rida, and Status Quo’s Down Down should focus Daley on the two extremes of his sport.

CHRIS HOY - CYCLIST

Hoy may be the first cyclist in 100 years to have won three gold medals at one Olympic Games, but he is as well known for his humility as he is for sporting prowess.

2012 playlist: Before entering the velodrome for the 2004 Games in Athens, Hoy played Massive Attack’s Angel to calm his nerves, and he is known to enjoy listening to urgent, high-energy music from the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Public Enemy, The Prodigy and Foo Fighters.

VICTORIA PENDLETON - CYCLIST

Bedfordshire-born Pendelton, 31, is a fiercely competitive athlete who has won nine world titles, likes to wear full lippy when she rides, and has announced her intention to retire after the 2012 Games.

2012 playlist: Given her plan to quit sport to marry fiancé Scott Gardner after the Games, Pendleton might like to listen to the Kaiser Chiefs’ Retirement, to inspire her to one last win. She might also value Corey Hart’s Never Surrender, having crashed at 40mph in the Women’s Sprint at the recent World Championships in Melbourne, then got up, dusted herself down, and went on to win.

REBECCA ADLINGTON - SWIMMER

A double-gold winner at the 2008 Olympics, 23-year-old Adlington spoke out recently about the abuse she suffers on Twitter, having already been the butt of comedian Frankie Boyle’s savage jokes.

2012 playlist: Adlington has spoken of a fondness for Beyoncé, Girls Aloud and The Killers, but for these games a quick belt of Aretha Franklin’s R.E.S.P.E.C.T. might help drown out the haters.

JESSICA ENNIS - HEPTATHLETE

Ennis, 26, is current European heptathlon champion but revealed recently that she had been called “fat” by a senior figure in British athletics.

2012 playlist: Ennis has professed affection for the music of Tinie Tempah (in response to reports that he fancied her) but En Vogue’s Free Your Mind would also remind her that it’s what’s inside you, not what people think of you, that counts.

BETH TWEDDLE - GYMNAST

A three-time world champion, Tweddle, 27, has previously used cha cha and flamenco music but promises “big and British” accompaniment for her floor routine at London 2012.

2012 playlist: Well, it doesn’t get much bigger or more quirkily British than Queen’s We Are the Champions, and here’s hoping it will be apt. But the profound expression of gratitude in N Sync’s Music of My Heart might be a fitting tribute for Tweddle to the coach, Amanda Reddin, with whom she has trained since the age of 12.

MICHAEL PHELPS - SWIMMER

The 6ft 4in swimmer known as the Baltimore Bullet has won a boggling total of 14 gold medals — eight in Beijing and six in Athens.

2012 playlist: Phelps apparently favours rap, playing Lil’ Wayne, Eminem, Young Jeezy and Usher through the giant headphones he’s regularly seen wearing before a race. Given his track record, you’d think he’d adopt as his anthem All I Do Is Win by DJ Khaled (featuring Ludacris, Rick Ross, T-Pain and Snoop Dogg).

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