[2006 Based on a true story] This 19 year old has the ability to swim faster than anyone in
the world. His start is not the best, but he knows exactly what his body is doing and that is
why he moves through the water than anyone else. It’s been years since he used his swimming skills
though. Today he is just happy to have found this white dress. He found it in the warehouse where he
lives. The other people who also live there are quite peculiar. But even they feel uncomfortable
seeing him wear the dress. He has been struggling with addiction problems, excessive partying
and depression for several years. He is used to sleeping on friend’s couches. Sometimes he just
makes it to the floor. In a few years, this now 26 year old man on the verge of suicide,
will eventually qualify for the Olympics.
Not everything is bad in his life. He has friends who care about him. Many, including his mother,
want him to return to swimming. For now, he is interested in music, tattoos, and spiritual life.
Having his swimming skills is the dream of many swimmers. For him, those skills represented a
nightmare. He remembers how his mother made him go to swim practice even if he didn't want to.
He really liked was competing. He has memories of winning competitions without trying hard in
practice. As a teenager he discovered that he had Tourette syndrome. Tourette syndrome is a
neurological disorder characterized by repeated involuntary or semi-voluntary vocalizations and
body movements. According to the American Tourette Association, those symptoms are just the tip of
the iceberg. Other problems that it entails are anxiety, insomnia, hyperactivity, among others.
He had a lot of those symptoms.
He began isolating himself from the world towards books and video games. He lost all
interest in swimming for about three years. His brother Jackie convinced him that swimming was
fun. But he credits his coach Steve Neal for giving him back his enthusiasm for swimming.
In his life as a young swimmer he enjoyed finding
ways to swim faster using intelligence rather than brute force. He says that sprint freestyle
"is about maintaining stability and rhythm as the upper body rotates through the water.” And that he
did. Better than anyone.
In college, his coach Mike Bottom
was always looking for creative ways to motivate his swimmers specially him. As long as it was
legal and didn't risk the health of swimmers, Mike was willing to try. Things like having the
entire team hold hands and giving them a slight electrical charge to supposedly improve recovery.
At the end, this young man never quite
fitted into the stereotypical swimmer’s life. He dropped out of college and swimming all together.
His extreme lifestyle
led to several close encounters with death. One day he was speeding on his motorcycle. He saw
the police and decided to accelerate to escape. He nearly killed himself when he crashed with a
Corvette. The crash dislocated his shoulder and he lost control of the motorcycle. In a split second,
he managed to put the joint back together and miraculously regain control.
Another dark day in his life was his failed
suicide attempt. After hitting rock bottom, he had a divine revelation or a hallucination. He talked
to himself from the future. The guy from the future helped him get out of the vicious circles.
After years
of not having touched a pool, he accepted an invitation to teach young swimmers swim better.
The life of a rockstar was slowly fading away. The life of a swimmer was coming back.
In 2011 when he announced his return, the media went wild.
Tony, better known as Anthony Ervin, had returned. For 8 years the swimming world knew nothing of the
rebellious swimmer. Anthony had been a talented teenager who broke several world records.
At 19 he had won the title of fastest man in water at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
It was an incredible tie in the 50 freestyle with his teammate Gary Hall Jr.
At the 2001 World Championships, he faced swimming legends like Pieter van Den Hoogenband,
Roland Schoeman and Brett Hawke. And he won again. In the 100 free he even beat
Ian Thorpe and Peter. After that superstar swimmer Anthony Ervin disappeared from the swimming world.
So in 2011, the swimming world rejoiced
when the prodigal son had returned. At 28 he could no longer afford not trying hard in training. In
preparation for the U.S olympic trials in 2012, Anthony was one of the hardest working swimmers.
He trained with the women's team and then went back to training with the men's team as well.
He continued giving some swimming lessons and went back to college to finish a new major in English.
At the Olympic trials he managed to qualify
back to the olympics in the 50 free. Anthony's start has never been one of his
strengths, but in the semifinal something worse than usual happened. When he pulled
hard from the starting blocks, he dislocated the same shoulder as he did some years back.
After the start, Ervin adjusted his shoulder again and managed to qualify for the final.
In the final it did
not go well. After another careful and slow start, he only achieved 5th place. Florent Manaudou would
take the Olympic title.
He had 4 years to improve his dive. During that time his coach David Marsh analyzed his dive
with videos and speed graphs. Together they saw that the problem was the angle at which Anthony
made his underwater kicks.
His hips dropped and his breakout angle was too sharp. His body would just crash into the water
and it would slow him down.
To improve this, Marsh sent him to the shallow pool. He practice the angle of underwater
kicks there.
He continued training but with a renewed joy for the water. He applied all of life's
lessons in training. At the U.S. olympic trials, only the best two swimmers from
each event make it to the Olympics. There were 7 younger swimmers. Among them Caeleb Dressel,
Cullen Jones and Nathan Adrian. But no one had as much control of the body and the mind
as Anthony did.
He qualified to the 2016 Rio olympics one hundredth slower than his teammate Nathan with
a time of 21.52. At the Olympic games he made it to the semi-finals and then to the finals.
Anthony Ervin was back in an Olympic final. With 20 pounds of muscle more than in 2000. His dive
had improved a lot but was still not as good as the defending champion. Florent Manaudou.
It was also slower than the flying South African Brad Tandy. His body wasn't as impressive as
Nathan Adrian's or Ben Proud's, either.
Anthony started the last stroke before everyone else, but Manaudou was taller and had more reach.
It took 16 years for Anthony’s journey to come full circle and it was defined by one
one-hundredth of a second. [Manaudou’s time was
21.41 and Anthony’s time was 21.40.}
It seems that a lot of swimmers that leave the sport and comeback love it more than before.
Do you have a story of coming back to swimming after a long break? Let us know in the comments.
Click here for more amazing swimming stories. See you there! Swim fast!
Anthony is the
youngest and oldest swimmer to win 50 freestyle. The first time at 19 and the second at 35.