01273 581100 | 
01273 575859 | 
enquiries@phcs.org.uk
VLE
Duncan Goodhew Visits PCS
Please click on the image below to see the Gallery
We were honoured to have the Olympian - Duncan Goodhew MBE at PCS on June 30th. He gave an inspirational talk about his life, what motivates him now and when he won his gold medal in the 100m breaststroke at the Moscow Olympics in 1980.Duncan gave a humourous and animated account of his fall from a tree during a PE lesson where he landed face first at the trees roots, giving him a huge swollen lip and a pair of black eyes. This fall maybe to blame for his infamous almost trademark bald head as his hair started to fall out in clumps just weeks later, in fact he has alopecia universalis (total lack of hair, not just on head).
He also explained that he was dyslexic which at that time wasn't as well recognised as it is today, and as an outcome of this one of his numerous nicknames at school was Duncan the Dunce.
Despite these things or because of them he was spurred on and swimming was his forte, he was also encouraged and supported by the people around him, his family, a headteacher called "Boss", his coach Paddy Garrett, all these things combined to help Duncan become a winner. His absolute determination made him a national hero.
He passed his Gold Medal into the crowd and it was passed from person to person, going around the whole room, the PE teachers seemed almost as delighted as the students when handling it. He also answered pertinent questions from the students at the end of the session and was deservedly given a rousing round of applause.
Swimathon
Duncan’s amazing success with Swimathon is well known. From it’s inception in 1988, Swimathon has raised over £10m for worthwhile causes and is a highly regarded sponsorship campaign.Special thanks to Colette Barry for organising Duncan's visit.
