Olympians in conversation
Student-athletes Leah Crisp and Charlie Brown discuss the sacrifice, success and steely determination that fuels their ambitions.
In the heart of the University’s Sports Training Village, the clatter and clang of weights and shouts of encouragement echo off the walls as athletes, students, staff and the public push their physical limits. It’s here, in a rare pause between rigorous training sessions, that marathon swimmer Leah Crisp (BSc Economics and Mathematics 2024) and modern pentathlete Charlie Brown (BSc Sports Management and Coaching 2026) reflect on their Olympic debut and open up about the challenges of being a student-athlete.
What were your standout moments from the Paris 2024 Games?
Leah Crisp: I’ll never forget the walk to the starting pontoon for the marathon swim – it was in the river Seine, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. I've never done an open-water event with an atmosphere like that before.
Charlie Brown: Our venue [for modern pentathlon] was incredible. We competed in the Palace of Versailles and swam in a pool built in the gardens. During the laser run, the crowd cheered every shot, which is normally frowned upon. My standout moment was being cheered for every green light I got.
How do you cope with the highs and lows of sport?
LC: It’s tough – sport is quite up and down. I had a bad injury and struggled to get back into training. I almost wrote myself off for making the Olympics, mentally, but my coach believed I had more to give and it changed my perspective.
CB: Yeah, everyone experiences highs and lows. I was in reserve for Team GB initially but despite the result not going my way, I went straight back into training the next day, preparing as if I was going to compete. That really paid off when it happened.
Tell us about your journey to Bath.
LC: I’ve always swam and, for me, Bath was the right combination of academia and swimming. The Aquatics GB Performance Centre is here, which is the perfect place to train among champions, but it’s also a university that will challenge and push you academically.
CB: Similarly, I had the Pentathlon GB National Training Centre here, and the fact that the University is great academically and the city is beautiful, too – it was a no-brainer.
Growing up on a farm, I rode horses from an early age. I was a natural runner and swimmer, so I got a place on the English talent programme with Pentathlon GB and worked my way up.
I now train with [Olympic gold medallists and alumni] Joe Choong and Kate French. Almost all the GB modern pentathletes have studied here.
Left to right: Myles Pillage, Joe Choong and Charlie Brown at the 2023 World Championships in Bath. Credit: Jon Rowley
Left to right: Myles Pillage, Joe Choong and Charlie Brown at the 2023 World Championships in Bath. Credit: Jon Rowley
What are the challenges of being a student-athlete?
CB: It can be quite chaotic at times but the Team Bath support staff, the UKSI [UK Sports Institute] and my course lecturers are really helpful. There are challenges outside of balancing studies and sports, too. It's about choosing what sacrifices you want to make.
LC: Yeah, it can be challenging living a different life to your friends. You need to find the right circle that understands and respects that you can't make every social event or go out on a weekend.
In terms of workload, I found the University was so understanding and helped me split my final year in two so I could maximise both my pool and academic performance.
How does the Santander Sports Scholarship help you?
LC: I was so grateful for the scholarship. Having someone believe you've got potential and not having to worry about buying a new racing costume and equipment makes a big difference.
CB: I think it’s great that, as Leah said, someone’s willing to support us. It means a lot, especially when the athlete lifestyle doesn't allow for great financial freedom. I feel incredibly fortunate to have the scholarship.
Talk us through a typical day of training.
CB: A typical day for me is five training sessions: running and swimming in the morning, then physio or fencing after lunch, finishing with shooting and gym. We have weekly blood tests that measure our immunity, and they adjust our training around that.
LC: We have an app that monitors heart rate variability and gives you a score on whether you should limit intensity. I don’t think the coaches are willing to do that, though [laughs].
Like Charlie, I train all day, starting with mobility then in the pool 8–10.30am where I normally swim 8km. Some days we’ll go to the gym after, for maintenance and injury prevention. Then a pre-pool circuit of shoulders, hips and core and another 2.5-hour session where I’ll swim 7.5km. Now I’ve graduated, I’m training full-time.
What’s next for you?
CB: I have one more year left at university and then it will be the start of the 2026/27 season, which is when the Olympic qualification starts.
LC: I would love to go to LA 2028, but I’m taking it as it comes. This year we’ve got the World Championships in Singapore.
CB: We plan quite far down the line in pentathlon because it’s a sport where generally you’re more successful the older you are. It sounds a bit crazy, but we train for the Olympics. As much as we still crave medals at the World Cup, World and European Championships, the Olympics is the pinnacle and we're already talking about LA.
Bath-designed SwordSeat™ fencing chair launched by British Fencing
University of Bath engineers have created an affordable wooden seat to make wheelchair fencing more accessible. The SwordSeat™, in collaboration with British Fencing, is a simple slot-together design which can be built for £150 of plywood.
Wheelchair fencing Paralympic gold medallists Dimitri Coutya and Piers Gilliver, who train here at the University, hail the design as a game-changer for their sport.
“Wheelchair fencing frames are quite hard to source and can cost up to £15,000,” says Piers. “Something like this, which can be produced so cheaply, means more clubs can be welcoming to wheelchair fencers.”
Dimitri adds: “The SwordSeat is a fantastic way to remove some of the barriers to the sport. Equipment becomes much less of a problem, and everyone now has the option to try wheelchair fencing.”
The University of Bath has been the training base for Britain’s high-performance wheelchair fencers since 2015. In that time Dimitri, Piers and Oliver Lam-Watson brought home 20 medals between them – three of them gold – from three Paralympic Games.
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