Swimming: Holding on to a dream

By DAVID LEGGAT

Sport is littered with stories of triumph borne from adversity, putting setbacks where they belong and emerging stronger for the experience.

Take Hannah McLean, the North Shore swimmer who gave the New Zealand open championships a flying start this week.

With the championships doubling as the Olympic trials, swimmers have one chance to make the grade for Athens. Plenty of scope for tears and despair, but McLean went out in the heats on the opening morning and bagged an A qualifying standard in the 100m backstroke to book her ticket. It set the tone for a thrilling opening finals night when three of her clubmates - Helen Norfolk, Cameron Gibson and Corney Swanepoel - booked Athens spots.

Four years ago, McLean, then a promising 18-year-old, missed the trip to the Sydney Games by 0.17s in the same event. Years of dreams up in smoke in a little over a minute in the water.

What to do? The easy option was to head for university and move on with life. But McLean found renewed strength to achieve an ambition which was planted in her mind as a primary school student swimming for fun at the Mt Eden club.

"It was a bit of a turning point. I was absolutely gutted to miss out but it gave me more tenacity to get in there and make sure everything I did was at a level that was going to get me the goal I had in mind," she said.

"It made me tougher and gave me more grit to keep going another four years and really make sure I'd got my preparation right. It was another level of commitment. I guess that's growing up as well."

Fast forward to the world championships in Barcelona last July. New Zealand finished fourth in a fast heat of the 4 x 200m freestyle relay to post an Olympic qualifying time only to be disqualified because McLean had left the blocks fractionally too soon. Tough times.

"At the time it was a really hard thing to deal with but it does happen to a lot of people. When you're trying to get the best changeover and the nerves are going it's a matter of judgment.

"But it gave me a lot more resolve for my 200m the next day."

Result: a personal best time of 2m 13.37s, putting her in the world top 10.

Her performance on Wednesday night was the result of serious commitment. But it also served the purpose of enabling her to relax and set her sights on qualifying in the 200m backstroke today and be part of a 4 x 200m freestyle relay team which is awaiting an invitation from the International Olympic Committee, having recorded a time on Wednesday night which should get them into the field at Athens.

McLean qualified in the 100m in 1m 01.55s, quicker than the best Australians at their Olympic trials (including former world champion Giaan Rooney), who swam 1m 01.63s in winning their final.

Matching the Australians is an ambition McLean's coach at North Shore, Jan Cameron, has for all her swimmers. Given Australia's pre-eminence in the water over a long period, that is a decent yardstick and McLean appreciates the significance.

But just getting to Athens is only the first part.

"It's not just about making the team. I want to get over there and do something worthwhile. I want to make sure I'm making gains so once I get there I'm in a position to be really competitive."

The current crop of New Zealand's leading swimmers have seen what is possible in the two gold medals won by Danyon Loader at the Atlanta Games eight years ago.

Loader is a swimmer they can relate to. Top performers of earlier years are largely names in a book. But some of this group swam with Loader, so it's easier to use him as a reference point.

McLean, educated at Epsom Girls Grammar and King's College, finished a bachelor of arts last year, majoring in English. She's still pondering a career path, but everything has gone on hold this year.

She does not want to rush into anything and there's the issue of finding something that she is passionate about that can fit around a training regime which has her up at 5.15am, swimming around 35 hours a week, gym work and only occasional breaks from the pool.

Money has dried up since she finished her degree, for which she received funding through the Prime Minister's scholarship scheme. Sponsorship from Hansells and Regency Duty Free have helped but it's a fair bet that the end of the year will bring a time of hard thinking on what the future holds.

But for the moment, it's a case of the here and now. Dragging herself out of bed on cold, dark mornings takes a measure of self-discipline but McLean knows the potential end result is worth the effort.

"Those times when it's really tough you've just got to hold onto those moments that make it worthwhile and they become very clear in your memory; when you have a great swim, do a personal best, make a team and sharing that with people who are important to you."

In common with many leading athletes, McLean, bright, articulate and thoughtful, is not looking too far into the distance. She knows the groundwork must be right if she is to make the mark she is striving for in Athens.

"Most athletes focus on the process rather than the outcome. It sounds cliched but it's true. The more confident you are in your preparation the more confident you are when it comes to competition."


The only New Zealand woman to win an Olympic swimming medal is Jean Stewart, a bronze in the 100m backstroke at Helsinki in 1952.

Anna Simcic finished fifth and sixth in back-to-back 200m backstroke finals in the 1990s. So there is a backstroke tradition and while it's best not to get ahead of ourselves, McLean is clearly making all the right waves at the moment.