Donovan Report 2012: First Swim

Donovan in action

Yesterday went well, he clawed his way into finals and finished 7^th. 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.

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!

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 4^th. A great race and a credit to blind swimming. 

I reflected on Sydney 2000, Donovan finished 5^th, 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”

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!