After winning a bronze in 2008 and a silver in 2012 Canadian Ryan Cochrane will be looking to stand on the podium after the 1500 freestyle for the third time at the Olympic Games in Rio. There is one big difference this time Cochrane will be without his long time coach of Randy Bennett who passed away from cancer just over a year ago at the age of 51.
You could liken the length and the closeness of Cochrane and Bennett’s relationship to that of Michael Phelps and Bob Bowman.
Cochrane, who is now coached by Ryan Mallette, is currently ranked 18th in the 1500 freestyle having put up a 15:00.75 at the Canadian Olympic Trials. Looking at that time and ranking one might think that Cochrane’s hope for another Olympic medal is unreasonable, but after closer examination the fastest time that he posted before the 2012 the Olympics was a 15:09.80. He then went on to win the silver in a time of 14:39.63.
In a new series of commercials by Sport Chek, which are entitled What it Takes (#WhatItTakes), Cochrane talks about his 13 year relationship with Bennett and how he wants to make him proud, “Randy was all about getting to work,” said Cochrane. In Randy’s words ‘We can do it again.’
Randy was my coach at camp in the late 80s … I applaud Ryan and the Victoria based swimmers who are continuing on.