Swimmer thrown in at the deep end

Fallout from Sydney left many athletes disheartened, but GEOFF CUMMING finds one Olympian far from down.

For eight years, Steven Ferguson's life has revolved around a swimming pool.

At Northcote College, on the North Shore, the fledgling breast-stroker would get up every day at 4.30 am and swim for two hours. After school it was back to the Takapuna pool, then usually on to the gym, seldom getting home before half-past six.

Then he got serious. Since leaving school early in the sixth form, Ferguson, now 20, has lived the same daily routine of eating, sleeping, gym work and running - fitted around those repetitive laps of the pool.

His goal was the Sydney Olympics, where he was eliminated in the heats in both the 100m and 200m. His times - 1m 3.06s for the 100m and 2m 19.31s for 200m - were below his best.

Yet, far from being despondent about his own performance and the public fall-out from New Zealand's mediocre Olympic effort, Sydney has left Ferguson determined to represent New Zealand at the next Commonwealth Games in Manchester and the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

"Just standing in front of 18,000 people and everyone cheering when my name was called out - it made every day of training worth the effort.

"I didn't perform as well as I wanted to, but it was just on the day. I did my best, tried as hard as I could every day.

"There were no down moments - everything that happened was exciting."

These Olympics were billed as a learning curve for New Zealand's young swimming squad, providing invaluable experience for future big meets such as Manchester. They were not expected to reach finals, although the failure of most to make semi-finals was disconcerting.

Yet swimming has been caught up in the torrent of criticism over New Zealand's overall Olympic performance. Suggestions from top administrators and ex-Olympians that our representatives lacked passion or didn't try hard enough have hurt many athletes.

Several team coaches this week told the Herald that their charges are now wondering why they bothered and whether it is worth continuing in their chosen sports.

Ferguson says nobody went to Sydney to make up the numbers.

"It's hard when there are people putting you down. I think everyone goes over there to do their best and to represent New Zealand as well as they can.

"Everyone who went there had the desire to win."

If he has any doubts about his own competitiveness, he falls back on fatherly advice. Canoeing great Ian Ferguson won three gold medals at Los Angeles in 1984 and another at Seoul in 1988.

"People forget that before my dad won those medals he went to two Olympics where he wasn't ranked at all. But he wanted to come back so badly each time.

"That's what my Dad told me to do - take every drop out of it to learn and come back again."

He followed the advice to the letter, soaking up as much experience as possible.

"It was a huge blast seeing the best in the world perform. "I definitely want to go back for more."

Ferguson says he would never have got to Sydney without his father and mother, Alison, whose encouragement and financial support allowed him to gain vital international experience.

He has raced in state competitions in Australia and attended the 1998 World Championships in Perth and the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games.

He envies the public money and training facilities that Australian prodigies enjoy and wishes such support was available here. But he has no thoughts of quitting.

"I'm an athlete - I love to do sport. I can't think of anything I'd rather do in my life."