Not a moment of Olympic glory, mind you, but maybe the moment when it became clear I could cross "Olympics" off my list of potential careers paths. Now, I'll tell you up front that this is not one of my favorite stories, but it keeps coming up, what with this whole Olympic swimming thing going on. Plus, it IS my friend Krista's favorite story, so Krista, this one is for you. (Well, I think it's her favorite. She's also fond of one that involves a curtain, but this one is definitely up there.)
When I was about 10 years old, I joined the swim team for the first time (under duress). I was incredibly nervous at my first swim meet, but I didn't know there was anything more to it then diving in the water and swimming. In other words, no one had told me about things like false starts. So, I climbed up on the block, and when I (allegedly) heard the buzzer sound, I dove in. I swam like crazy, and I thought I was doing great - after all, when I looked all around, I couldn't even SEE any other swimmers. Then, this net like thing fell on me in the water. My god, someone was trying to sabotage me! I threw it off and kept going - and it didn't seem to cost me my lead, because I STILL couldn't see anyone. I finished the first lap, and while I was doing my flip turn, I felt hands on my shoulders and someone trying to pull me out of the pool! I couldn't believe how blatant this sabotage was getting, but I tried valiantly to fight them off. No dice - they got me half way out of the water. That's when I realized the person pulling me out of the pool was my coach, who then pointed out to me that all of the other swimmers were still standing on the blocks.
Apparently someone - allegedly me - had "false started", and they had sounded an alarm to let all the swimmers know the race had to be re-started. I didn't hear anything - nor did I know such a thing existed, so I was the only one who didn't get out of the pool. The net was some kind of line they throw down to stop errant swimmers like me. So, I had to climb out of the pool and walk back around to the blocks, crossing in front of the gathered crowd - yes, they were laughing. Then I had to get back on the block and go again.
Last place. Well, I was tired.
And I still don't really know what a false start is.
When I was about 10 years old, I joined the swim team for the first time (under duress). I was incredibly nervous at my first swim meet, but I didn't know there was anything more to it then diving in the water and swimming. In other words, no one had told me about things like false starts. So, I climbed up on the block, and when I (allegedly) heard the buzzer sound, I dove in. I swam like crazy, and I thought I was doing great - after all, when I looked all around, I couldn't even SEE any other swimmers. Then, this net like thing fell on me in the water. My god, someone was trying to sabotage me! I threw it off and kept going - and it didn't seem to cost me my lead, because I STILL couldn't see anyone. I finished the first lap, and while I was doing my flip turn, I felt hands on my shoulders and someone trying to pull me out of the pool! I couldn't believe how blatant this sabotage was getting, but I tried valiantly to fight them off. No dice - they got me half way out of the water. That's when I realized the person pulling me out of the pool was my coach, who then pointed out to me that all of the other swimmers were still standing on the blocks.
Apparently someone - allegedly me - had "false started", and they had sounded an alarm to let all the swimmers know the race had to be re-started. I didn't hear anything - nor did I know such a thing existed, so I was the only one who didn't get out of the pool. The net was some kind of line they throw down to stop errant swimmers like me. So, I had to climb out of the pool and walk back around to the blocks, crossing in front of the gathered crowd - yes, they were laughing. Then I had to get back on the block and go again.
Last place. Well, I was tired.
And I still don't really know what a false start is.
