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| Donovan in action |
Yesterday went well, he clawed his way into finals and
finished 7th. Both times the fastest of the year. He was not
expected to medal and finals were a crap shoot, so mission accomplished.
We are staying in a hotel in Clingford, we can take one of 3
buses to the Olympic Park, they come frequently, during the week every 5
minutes or so. I count the buses, the frequency of stops the proximity of train
and tube lines and wonder what the annual bill is?! The price of gas here is
over $2.50 can, thus driving is not a reasonable option. Our trip times to the
pool have varied between 32 and 65 minutes, dependent on traffic or routing.
Not good for by malignant type B personality.
This year, being outside the ropes is more stressful! When
on the team you are in the village. Your pass gets you on the transport from
the village to the pool. It gets you inside the cafeteria, there is little
waiting for meals, no cash changes hands. My responsibilities were to run
Donovan’s pracctises, warm him up , monitor the warm downs, monitor his diet
and fluid intake, get him to his races on time and prepared. Over a ten day
period this can be exhausting, but it is controlled and little interrupts the
routine.
We arrived at our hotel in Clingford after 80 minutes on the
tube from Heathrow, just what the timetable predicted. The hotel is just
outside Wathlamslow, the hotel room clean enough with little in the way of
closets and in spite of a large room no comfortable seating. Internet is 6
hours a day in the lobby outrageously expensive in the rooms!
We walked half a mile towards town, all the eateries were
take out and closing, we stopped at the first pub. The clientele was
predominately male, thankful smokers were outside, the menu grease laden and
overused. The bartender a really nice chap who brought a cold beer and catered
to Deborah’s wine tastes. After 3 attempts the kitchen was able to confirm our
orders. To be frank I was reevaluating the situation quite negatively until the
food arrived. It was up to snuff, but the decorum and cleanliness eliminated
any chance of a repeat visit.
Back at the hotel we started to take stock of the ticket
situation. It appeared we were at least 1 ticket short for Donovan’s first
race! Further inventory investigations other deficits. Review of emails
suggested there should be tickets at the front desk. It was 9 pm and the lady
knew tickets had been given out the night before but there was no Tildesley
envelope. The next morning, further investigations yielded no ticket envelope,
we had a problem.
Enter Pierre Lafontaine, the CEO of Swim Canada, staying at
the hotel. He appeared at breakfast with a mitful of tickets, our problem for
the morning swim were solved.
I have been on 1 international tour with Pierre.
He has non stop energy, a motivator who leads by example and it is fair to say
his leadership has transformed Canadian swimming to previous glories not
experienced since the 80’s. His help in our situation was certainly unexpected
and appreciated. It is precisely situations like these which make me long to be
in the village.
The morning swim went well, Donovan squeaked into finals and
the team swam well. We made our way to Liverpool station and on to the
Paralympic House. There waiting for us was the missing ticket allotment, all
now is in order.
Donovan was to swim finals at 7:09, we left the hotel at
5:30. The bus stopped at every stop, the traffic was typical of a Friday night
anywhere. Off the bus at 6:30, a dash through security and then the long jaunt.
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| Life outside the ropes: a long way from the pool |
It is design flaws such as these that make me think of the
Jobs (as in Steve),description of the entrance to the pool ( this is sh...). The public is
detoured ¾ of the way around the pool before entrance can be obtained. Maybe a
nice walk but not when in a hurry. We took our seats , watched 2 medal ceremonies
and Donovan was introduced swimming in lane 1.
Another situation which made me long for the village!
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| The beauty of technology: Getting ready to race |
He had a good start and was in the mix for the first 65
meters. The 3 medalists all were under 1 minute, the defending champion,
Mohamed from Spain finished 4th. A great race and a credit to blind
swimming.
I reflected on Sydney 2000, Donovan finished 5th, all the
racers were between 5’5” and 5’11”, the winning time was 1.02. In 2012 Donovan,
although 28 looks like a boy, everyone except the Japanese swimmer and the American is over 6
feet. The American, is an ex marine, blinded in combat
exercises and a previous varsity swimmer for Navy. He is 5’11”, the body of a
marine and the time of an able bodied collegian. He won the race in 57.43,
closing in on the world record of John Morgan, another American who went blind but
was an accomplished able bodied swimmer.
We met Donovan after finals, we have not seen him in almost
a month. He is fit, focused and confident. We also met again today, he is
permitted the occasional sojourn from the village but team management wants the
team to stay focused, logistically, limiting excursions is the best way to do
it. In a prison system it is called a “lockdown”
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| Life long friends,Nicola and Donovan |
Nicolla Arroll lived in Vancouver until she was 4 , then moved to New Zealand the original home of her parents. Donovan
and she played together as youngsters and through the magic of technology they have stayed in
touch. They have visited with one another periodically. She made her living as
a model for 4 years traveling the world. She has now completed her masters and
is doing medical research, a very accomplished young lady!
She and Donovan have
followed each other on facebook, thus catching up was easily done. Luck would
have she and her partner in London for a few days and she connected with us for
a short visit.
She is staying at an apartment adjacent to a train station.
I often wonder who and more importantly how can anyone live in such places.
Every few minutes there is the screetching of metal on metal with accompanying vibrations. Also thousands of
people daily look in the window.
One of the roommates at this apartment was on the
throne with privates visible
through an open bathroom and kitchen window when a train inexplicably stopped.
It must be mentioned that the cars are usually whizzing by and his image would
normally be a blur. When he realized his predicament he did what any savy 20
something male would do. He grabbed a towel and covered his face! Oh the threat
of cell phone cameras!
Perhaps only closet exhibitionists rent these places.
Tomorrow is the 100 back, a stronger event for Donovan, he
is ready to go!
The journey is over. He swam his heart our and went faster,
but the world is younger, taller and faster. His time of 2:30.22 was as fast as
he has gone in 2 years, his best time would not have gotten him on the podium. 
