Log in & Sign up
You are not logged in.
Most Commented
Oriwol swims for Canada in the men's 200-metre backstroke in Beijing today. (DAVID GRAY/Reuters)
Huntley Addie: Tobias Oriwol makes Pointe Claire proud
Swimmer competes in Beijing today
Huntley Addie
The Gazette
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Oriwol swims for Canada in the men's 200-metre backstroke in Beijing today. (DAVID GRAY/Reuters)
My name is not Huntley Abbey, but …
My sister-in-law, Kim, while checking up on the Swim Canada website in order to see when Tobias Oriwol might be swimming his 200-metre backstroke event at the Olympic Games in Beijing, noted that a “Mr. Huntley Abbey” was footnoted as one of Oriwol’s coaches. She called me up to let me know. It sent shivers down my spine.
Now, Oriwol might have had a coach by the name of Huntley Abbey, but somehow I doubt it.
By the way, if you are curious to see Oriwol represent Canada swimming his event, turn your TV on right now. He might be on the block swimming in the final this instant. I sure hope so.
The Beijing Olympic Summer Games are well under way at this point, and Toby’s event was slated to have had preliminaries earlier today (6:54 a.m., our time, to be exact) with the finals tomorrow.
As he and the other athletes (quite a few of them West Islanders) give their hearts and souls competing on the world amateur athletic stage for Canada, I wonder how many of us truly appreciate how they got there.
After I got over my shivers from Tobias’s semi-acknowledgement (albeit poorly spelt), I started to remember the first time I ever saw this little big man in the water.
At the time, I was one of the Bout de Chou coaches at the Pointe Claire Swim Club, coaching the 9- and 10-year-old age group. Tobias, in a Blue level swimming class, had a radically noteworthy streamline push-off and natural butterfly kick that sent his lithe form rocketing away from his instructor. I was drawn to him.
His already supportive parents were sitting, quietly chatting, behind the wall on a bench facing the pool as I approached them. In the wake of Toby’s push-off, I had asked the little guy how old he was. He earnestly hopped out of the pool and distinguished himself as being six years of age.
Meanwhile, I gawked incredulously at his flipper-size feet.
“Have you considered the swim team?” I asked.
He and his parents had a brief few words. Tobias was out of the “Blue” and on his way.
I like to imagine “on his way” to be culminating now as he streamlines to Olympic glory.
I haven’t seen Tobias since he was about 12or so. I coached him for quite a few years at Pointe Claire, and was constantly honoured by his “coachablity.” He was like an information sponge. As we coaches “experimented” on him (and all of his teammates) with techniques and ideas, they consistently rewarded us with win after win and record after record.
I never took this for granted and always respected that in order for these swimmers (and athletes, period) to do anything big at all, they needed staunch parental support from home.
Victor Davis, my late, great friend and Olympic champion, awarded his father with one gold and two silver medals he had won in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. This was no small testament to Victor’s legacy and character, but also proof of undaunted respect for the sacrifices that his family gave for his success.
What it takes nowadays to get to Beijing is far more than just a love of a sport. This is the starting point. Then, innate physical talent, intense commitment to conditioning combined with superior coaching and no small amount of luck add to the mix. Sprinkle in the unwavering support of family and we’re getting closer.
To truly get there, though, regardless of all of the above, it honestly takes a truckload of money.
For example, Tobias is probably wearing a bathing suit that many Olympians (and a strong proportion of those who will be standing on the podium) are going to be wearing: the Speedo LZR (pronounced 'laser'), or a facsimile of it. These suits are high performance, tried, tested and technologically true. In some eyes, they are necessary if you want to go big.
They last roughly 10 to 15 swims, and run from $300 to $600.
Cha-ching!
And the suit is only a side-bar on the cost panel.
The bottom line is that swimming, which was at one time considered one of the cheaper options of sport to pursue competitively, has caught up in the grand pay scale of things.
This certainly begs the question: are these or any Olympic Games actually pitting the best amateur athletes in the world against one another in the honour of sport? Or rather, just the most fortunate?
Huntley Addie is immeasurably
fortunate to have coached and taught much brilliance.