Jan Olbrecht has a Ph.D in Physiology and Bio-Mechanics from Cologne and has swum in three World Championships
for Belgium. He is training adviser to several world class athletes and uses a unique method of lactate testing
to assess the conditioning of his athletes. Jan believes in careful planning and in altitude training to
optimize the athlete's conditioning and performance. He advises athletes whose races last from 20 seconds in
swimming to over 8 hours in the Ironman.
Dr. Olbrecht's primary method of testing and the basis for his information
are lactate tests. While many sports physiologists will use lactate results to
plan training he goes a giant step further and uses these results in a very
unique way. Dr. Olbrecht discovers what it is in the athlete that produces
these results. He will tell you what is in the black box that produced a
certain lactate result. To do this he uses a computer simulation program
validated with over 1000 athletes.
While all this sounds very academic and theoretical, Dr. Olbrecht has
produced results in the market place of sports. He has worked for several
years with Luc Van Lierde, holder of the Ironman World Championship record (Hawaii 1996) as
well as holder of the fastest Ironman ever ran (Ironman Europe 1997) winner again in 1999 of the Ironman World
Championship. While
his work with Luc Van Lierde is impressive, Jan has also worked with several
world class swimmers in Belgium and Holland.
In the World Swimming Championships in Perth in January 1998 five swimmers
in the finals including three medal winners were under the testing program of
Dr. Olbrecht. Brigitte Becue from the Belgian team and Marcel Wouda, Pieter
van den Hoogenband, Kerstin Vlieghuis and Inge de Bruijn from Holland all made
the finals in Perth. Wouda won a gold medal and a silver medal while van den
Hoogenband and Vlieghuis won bronze medals. The Dutch swimmers are coached by
Jacco Verhaeren, coach of PSV Eindhoven.
In 1999 the success continued. Inge de Bruijn won the 50 free at the 1999 World Short Course Championships in
Hong Kong. Wouda, Mark Veens and van den Hoogenband also won medals at Hong Kong and the Dutch men won the 400
free relay and placed second in the 800 m relay there. Brigitte Becue and Kerstin Vlieghuis were also finalist
at Hong Kong. In the 1999 European swimming championships Pieter van den Hoogenband probably had the greatest
competitive swimming performance since Mark Spitz in 1972. Pieter won six gold medals and swam the two fastest
freestyle relay splits in history. Two of his times in individual events were the fastest in the world in 1999
(50 m butterfly and 100 m freestyle.) One other time was second in the world (50 m freestyle) and the other was
fourth in the world (200 m freestyle.) Inge de Bruijn was ranked first in the world in 1999 in the 50 m
freestyle (European record) and second in the world in the 100 m freestyle, 50 m butterfly and 100 m butterfly
(European record). The Dutch men set the European record for the 400 m freestyle. In 2000 Inge de Bruijn broke
world records over 10 times in the free and butterfly.
In 1999 Luc van Lierde was named "Sportsman of the Year" in Belgium, Pieter van den Hoogenband was named
"Sportsman of the Year" in Holland, the Dutch men's 400 m relay team was named "Team of the year" and Inge de
Bruijn finished in second place for "Sportswoman of the Year" in Holland.
In the 2000 Sydney Olympics van den Hoogenband won 2 gold medals, swam the
fastest 200 m relay split in history and set world records as he beat Ian
Thorpe of Australia in the 200m freestyle and Alexander Popov in the 100 m
freestyle. In the 100 m freestyle he became the only man to ever swim the
100 m free faster than 48 seconds (47.8). The Dutch also won 2 relay medals
in the Olympics, the first ever as the Dutch women won the silver in the 400
m free relay and the men won the bronze in the 800 m free relay. In the 2004
Athens Olympics van den Hoogenband won 3 medals, gold in the 100 m freestyle,
silver in the 200 m freestyle and silver in the 4 x 100 free relay as the
Dutch beat the US team and finished second behind the South Africans who won
the gold medal. The Dutch women also won a bronze medal in the 4 x 100 free
relay.
Dr. Olbrecht also works with other world class athletes. He has worked with
Lieve Slegers who has placed third in the New York marathon and Kathleen Smet,
4th at the Athens Olympics, 1998 World University Games champion, 2000 European
champion in the triathlon and 15th in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 5th at
the 2001 World Championship. Jan also works with world champion motocross
racer, Joel Smets. In rowing Jan works with the Dutch team as both the men's
and women's 8's won medals. The Dutch men's 8 won the silver medal and the
Dutch women's 8 won the bronze medal. In all events athletes which Jan advises
won 28 medals in Athens and had two 4th place finishes.
The Book
This book focuses on the principles of training for swimming and the execution
of these principles via a systematic planning and periodization program that
includes a comprehensive testing program. However, the principles of training
covered are applicable to nearly every sport. The first section of the book
discusses training principles, the physiology underlying high level swimming
performance and testing. The second section provides a comprehensive overview
of planning and periodization. This is a swimming book without starts and
turns, stroke techniques, or favorite drills but it is loaded with essentials
that every coach should know. It is also a must for sports scientists as Dr.
Olbrecht explains his new classification of training and the physiology behind
it. There are plenty of examples so the coach and sports scientist will be
able to see how to apply these new ideas to their current training program
Table of Contents
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Last updated July 24, 2006. All contents © Sports
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