and just so you know a lot of that's lighting in that video with the way I
walk and it was a guy who shot it and produced it so I I was a little
uncomfortable was like can you stand against the wall and we can just we just
want to get your body and then I didn't know he wags zoomed in on every piece of
my body off the text I'm after this but anyway it's so nice to be here thank you
for having me and I actually started off as an intern at NBC Sports with three
other guys back in the early 90s and was a runner at Wimbledon and and also a PA
before I got back into swimming again so I had a lot of great memories at NBC
well back in 2000 as you guys saw on there and I won five medals there and I
remember walking out of the arena after getting my last medal and I was crying
as you guys saw and I didn't finish my drug testing and I'm walking out and
just want to go enjoy Sydney and the reporter stops me and says miss tourist
can we ask you a question I'm like sure no problem and turn on the
cameras took the microphone in my face and he said this one asks you one thing
I was just wondering are you to do this again in eight years at 41 and I turn
around look to them I said that's the stupidest question I ever heard and I
walked off and Here I am again snow I think I need to find that guy and
apologize to him but anyway it's funny when you finish swimming there's two
kinds of swimmers there's the type that doesn't want to get near the water hates
the water when you're done you're done that's it you move on with your life and
there's the other type where you probably exercise a little bit maybe
some a little bit masters and sort of enjoy it in a different way than you did
growing up and I was the first one I when I retired I wanted nothing to do
with the water so the second retirement after 2000 I wanted nothing to do with
the water I wouldn't get near it and I got pregnant with my daughter Tessa and
I loved working out as you guys saw in there although I'm not that psycho when
I'm not when I'm retired when I'm not swimming but I love to exercise and so I
got pretty with my daughter and I don't know you know about six seven weeks
along I had gone to a trainer to see what I can and can't do while pregnant
and went to my doctor and asked them what my parameters are and
I hopped on a Stairmaster and started working out I'm feeling pretty good and
all of a sudden I started to feel nauseous and I'm like okay now am I just
sicker is this like a pregnancy thing and next thing you know I'm over the
side of the Stairmaster throwing up and I had a few stares from
some people in in the gym and I thought you know what I think I need to find a
different form of exercise because if this lasts at least for three months
this isn't gonna be a good thing so it took a little while but I light bulb
went off finally went off of my head and I thought wow you know I can swim
there's a gutter I can get to get sick in the gutter no one's gonna notice you
know so what the heck so I decided I was gonna swim and my partner who lived in
the area I just moved there recently and I said you know is there any pool around
here we live in South Florida on Coral Springs and he's like yeah there's a
great Olympic sized pool now look at him I don't know how much he knows about
swimming and and you know your first thought in your head is when you go to a
hotel that says Olympic sized opponents like 20 yards long and so I wasn't
really expecting a final epic sized pool but he gives me directions and I go to
this Sports Complex in Coral Springs and I walk in and sure enough there's this
beautiful 50 metre pool and a 25 yard pool and a diving well and a kids pool
like wow this is great and I walk into the office and there's an elderly woman
in there and I said excuse me I'd like to find out about your swim programs now
my job was about six seven weeks long so I wasn't showing it all and she said
well what are you looking for and I said I'm not really sure yet I said I don't
know maybe something with kids and I got this ridiculous looking like or masters
I could swim the Masters and I've never somewhat masters before and I definitely
fit the age for it but I'd never swim with them before so I threw that in
there also and she's like well have you ever swum before and I'm like yes
and she says she says we'll have you ever been any swim meets like yes and
she just tell you what why don't you look at these brochures over here and
you can see maybe what you want to do and we can take it from there so I start
looking at the brochures I'm like you know I really don't know what I want to
do she and she said we'll tell you what here's a piece of paper why don't you
write down if you've been in some swim meets what you've done I can give it to
the coach and he can decide if you know what program you're in and I'm like okay
so for Olympic Games nine Olympic medals World Championships pan-american games
and then I started to feel bad I thought well you know maybe I'd better fold this
I don't make her feel bad and then she goes one I make sure you put your name
and number down there I was like I'll do that and I did that and I folded up and
hand it to her and about two hours later the coach calls and starts laughing he
said I want you just tell her who you were and I said I don't want to ever
assume that people know who I am and so I he said once you come by and we can
discuss what you want to do I said great so I go to the pool and we starts
talking and he just really did not want me swimming with the kids and the
teenagers and I don't think he really yeah I didn't know I was gonna be
eventually training for Olympic Games and he just thought it'd be best of us
some of the Masters and I said that's fine and so I started my first workout
and and you know felt pretty good and continued to work out and then some of
these middle-aged men start racing against me and let me tell you when you
think being competitive like will die as you get older it doesn't happen it stays
with you so I start doing these sets and I remember my coach said now don't get
your heart rate up you know if you can't breathe the child can't breathe and I
was like okay but these guys over here are racing me and they're looking to see
where I am they touch the wall and see if I'm there and I just can't help but I
start racing them and I got this like you know they see the six-month belly
but they don't seem to care and my coach my coach finally stops me he's like
Darrell what are you doing I said I can't help it these guys I keep racing
man and he goes tell you what why don't you just go like 30 seconds behind and
you'll be fine I said fine so I wait so they go wait 30 seconds