Swimming: Master stroke

Promising New Zealand swimmer Te Rina Taite has an unusual claim. She is one of the few international swimmers who can say that she has made the grade even though she was forced, at one stage, to swim with one arm.

The 21-year-old Taite suffered a serious accident and head injury on a flying fox which reduced use of her limbs and nearly cost her life. She almost died and sustained brain and severe trauma injuries which affected her motor skills.

Her promising career - was curtailed as she struggled just to get back in the water, let alone compete. It was a mark of her absolute determination to compete at top level that she forced herself to swim, even though only one arm worked properly.

Taite, who has just moved to Auckland from Feilding so she can join most of New Zealand's elite swimmers training with Jan Cameron at the North Shore Swimming Club, swam at the New Zealand Summer Short Course Championships in West Auckland this weekend. She finished third in the 100m freestyle, behind Olympian Alison Fitch, second equal in the 50m free, second in the 100m medley and won with the record-setting womens 4x100m relay team.

Her goal now is to compete at the World Swimming Championships next year, and to win a medal as part of the New Zealand 4 x 100m relay team at the Commonwealth Games in 2006.

The women's relay team, including Taite, won the 4 x 100m freestyle at the Oceania Swimming Championships in June and finished fifth at the World Short Course Championships in the United States in October. Taite was also fourth in the 100m freestyle at the Oceania Champs.

She began competitive swimming as a seven-year-old and was in the top two or three in the country aged 10. She continued to develop steadily until her accident in 1996, preventing her from training for three years. She is considered lucky to have full use of all of her limbs.

She started to build herself up again in 1999 and when she placed third in the 100m freestyle at the 2002 NZ winter championships, she thought she was back. She was then diagnosed with glandular fever and did not regain form in time to make the team for the 2003 World Championships.

That would have drowned all hope for many swimmers. Not Taite. She picked herself up and went to Australia to train with well-known high performance coach Ken Wood, with the aim of making the New Zealand 2004 Olympic team. However she didn't quite make it and has moved from Feilding to train with Cameron.

"I've had a lot of things put me back," she says. "At one stage I even got help from a sports psychologist to help me through. I kept thinking something was going to go wrong and I would feel lethargic."

But experience has hardened her. She now swims 10 sessions a week with Cameron, 30 hours a week, with just one day off - as well as working part time and finishing a Bachelor of Arts.

"I'm focused so much on going faster and getting my strokes right. You don't think about all the time in the water," she says.

Cameron has adjusted Taite's technique and she is enjoying the passion and focus of group training. Her dedication has won over Cameron, a vastly experienced coach who is not easily impressed.

"She has got something special," she says. "She has the talent combined with the commitment to move to Auckland and join an enriched group of aspiring Olympians."

Cameron doesn't see Taite's age as a barrier. Most female swimmers peak in their mid 20s, and Taite has commitment.

"The challenge is hanging on to the girls to compete against the women," Cameron says. Taite is enjoying the chance to train and prove herself. She feels now is her time.

Taite has another point of difference, as few Maori swim at elite level.

"I watched the Maori Sports Awards this year and thought 'yeah, I want to be up there in a two years'," she says.

"I have plenty to motivate me, but that is just one more thing."