Aquatics: Kent going for broke in the pool

By CHRIS RATTUE

Dean Kent was barely 2 when he got seriously wet in a pool in his hometown, Levin.

While his mother, Lorraine, and a training partner swam laps, Kent hopped in to retrieve a toy. The startled swimmers found themselves looking down at little Dean. And so his swimming career began.

There had been small but serious rugby threads in Kent's history. He was related through a marriage to Tom Morrison , the former All Black player and selector and Rugby Union chairman, who Kent remembers from his childhood.

Ron Jarden, one of the finest All Black wings, figured somewhere in his mother's family tree.

But Dean Kent - the eldest of three boys and a self-described individualist - eventually rejected team sport and was, after all, born to the swim of things.

Lorraine Kent (nee Shirley) was a representative swimmer and she and Dean's father, Paul, were involved in the swimming/surf life saving scene. Lorraine's training partner was Pamela Croad, a swimming relay bronze medallist at the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games.

Twenty years later, Dean Kent, 23, is a world-class swimmer ready for his first Commonwealth Games.

These Games may not have the status they once did, and the Americans etc will not be at Manchester, but winning a medal there is still a daunting prospect.

Kent, who will swim the 200m and 400m individual medleys, is the best men's medal prospect in the small New Zealand team.

His rough-diamond coach, Jan Cameron, says Kent has "an outside chance of maybe a bronze", although she might be downplaying his chances by a touch.

Among Kent's rivals should be Sydney Olympics 400m bronze medallist Curtis Myden, although the Canadian has just returned after a long injury layoff.

Myden's compatriot, Brian Johns, and Australians Justin Norris, Robert van der Zant and Grant McGregor are among a host of world-class contenders.

But Kent, who did not make the finals at Sydney, has form.

He was ranked behind only McGregor and Norris in the Commonwealth last year in his specialty 400m event, and has beaten both this season.

He also demolished his New Zealand record when he came fourth at the world short-course championships in Moscow in April.

T HIS is a far cry from five years ago, when Kent left Levin for Cameron's North Shore team.

He was ranked fifth in the 200m breaststroke, and Cameron saw the medley as his way into the national team. Initially, backstroke was the weak link.

"I didn't like not being able to see where I was going," he says.

Fortunately, a weak backstroke is the least of four evils in the medley. Now, Kent says that unusually for a top medley artist, he has four even strokes.

So Kent is a medal prospect, but his bank account is nowhere near gold.

He's had trouble keeping his head above water.

The rigours of training and the need for rest mean he doesn't work. He's also given up business studies for now.

It will be this way until the Greece Olympics in 2004, where Kent aims to peak for his likely swimming swansong.

Even last year's $5000 Government grant was reduced to $500 after expenses for two tours were deducted.

He shares a flat in Albany with fellow Olympic swimmers Scott Talbot-Cameron (his great mate and coach's son) and Jonathon Duncan.



Kent has survived on his wits, family support, plus contributions from the likes of Auckland Swimming's incentive system and North Harbour grants.

"It can really get to you ... There were a few times I had absolutely no money at all," says Kent.

"Sometimes you can use it - really blow it out with a hard training. You have to get on top of it. You can't swim well if you're mentally down."

Twice he reluctantly borrowed $2000 from his parents, then scrimped and saved to pay them back.

It's part of the Kent creed.

"I'd much rather have all the responsibility. It was the same with team sports. If someone else screws up, it affects the others. I didn't want to screw up and affect people, especially when some are your best mates.

"If it wasn't for my family ... they couldn't really help in terms of giving me money, but they've helped me get through one way or other.

"But I hate borrowing money. I always want to feel that everything is down to me."

A medal at Manchester should help in that regard.

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