This may be of some limited interest to some STers out there. Yesterday I happened to be leaving the pool just behind this girl who swam in the Oly a few years back. I have seen her teaching and coaching in the pool several times over the past month since I joined this pool but had never had the chance to talk to her, especially not what ended up being about a 45-50 min conversation. It started out pretty casually but our shared love of swimming, plus it being a sunny Sunday afternoon when neither of us had to be anywhere else, enabled a longer, in-depth discussion. I knew that she had won a silver in 100 fly, but I did not know any of the rest of this story. In the Oly Trials at age 16, she finished first in her best event but, when in the finals at the Oly, the other girl rose to the occasion and swam faster. She got to swim in the prelims of the medley relay, and in the final of the free relay, both of which won gold. While a silver and 2 golds would not be disappointing to most people, it was pretty disappointing to her. So, after this, her coach told she was going to swim at the U.S. Summer Nationals, which many Oly swimmers skip since they just need a break after the Games. So, at the Nationals, she swims exactly 0.01 sec faster than the time that won the gold medal 3 weeks earlier, and wins the event (the gold medalist skipped the Nationals.) This was her best time up to that time and I think it ended up being her career best time. She said she was much more relaxed at the Nationals vs being too tense at the Oly. After this meet, she goes back to finish her HS swimming career and goes on to swim for Stanford. After 4 more years of hard training, she failed to make the next Oly team at age 20, swimming about 2 sec slower than she had at the previous Trials. (And yes, I know that girls' bodies change as they get older such that they peak at 15-17, but that does not make the disappointment any less.) After finishing her college career, she retired at age 22. Despite the passage of several years since her retirement, despite getting married and having a couple of kids of her own now, I could tell from her tone of voice and the look in her eyes that those Oly Games were really the defining moment of her life.
Maybe none of the above is of interest to anyone other than me, and maybe "you had to be there", but the wistfulness in her voice when talking of her swimming career made it clear that those years of very hard training and racing were the peak years of her life. It was very cool to hear that passion for sport directly, and at some length, from someone who has actually competed at that level.
"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."
Maybe none of the above is of interest to anyone other than me, and maybe "you had to be there", but the wistfulness in her voice when talking of her swimming career made it clear that those years of very hard training and racing were the peak years of her life. It was very cool to hear that passion for sport directly, and at some length, from someone who has actually competed at that level.
"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."