| Saturday, May 27, 2000 Malar swimming in the fast
lane
Hamilton native puts the past behind her as she heads to Sydney with confidence
SHAWNA RICHER
Quebec Bureau
The Globe and Mail
Montreal -- Joanne Malar is too dedicated to approach the
Olympic swim trials as even a mini-vacation. But perhaps she should cut herself some
slack.
After all, one of Canada's best hopes for a gold medal at
the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, this fall dealt with the bothersome business
of qualifying for the Canadian team months ago at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg.
She did not hold back, either. The 24-year-old from
Hamilton smashed her own Canadian, Commonwealth and Pan American Games records in the
400-metre individual medley to win the gold medal in 4 minutes 38.46 seconds.
But she admits that the excitement of qualifying in August
of 1999, with an eye toward the Olympics this September, would be tough to sustain. Riding
the wave of hype and adrenaline that performance produced for more than a year was not an
option. Staying on an even keel and working to improve even further was her plan.
"To get that awesome time at the Pan Ams with the
Olympics still so far in the future was, in a way, difficult for me," Malar said in
an interview this week. "There's no way that you can carry that excitement for that
long. You have to get your feet back on the ground pretty quickly. But I think I have. My
approach to this week is to keep my times fast and try to relax a little bit and have
fun."
The 2000 Maritime Life Olympic Trials open tomorrow in
Montreal and run until June 4, with Canadian swimmers vying for spots on the 36-member
Olympic team. This is the second-to-last opportunity to qualify before the final trials
are held in Winnipeg from Aug. 2 to 5.
Malar (No. 1 in the world in the 200-metre IM and No. 2 in
the 400-metre IM), Calgary's Curtis Myden (400-metre IM) and Vancouver's Jessica Deglau
(200-metre butterfly) have already qualified.
Malar was sweet 16 and a first-time Olympian at the
Barcelona Games in 1992. Four years older in Atlanta, she was, perhaps unfairly, touted as
Canada's Golden Girl and a sure-fire medal contender.
That she was, but Malar finished fourth at an Olympics that
saw Ireland's gold medal winner Michelle Smith caught in a drug test and subsequently
banned from competing. Afterward, Malar crashed emotionally and came close to quitting the
sport.
She switched coaches, simply to gain a fresh approach, and
left her Hamilton home to work out of the National Training Centre in Calgary.
Malar will head to Sydney older, wiser and more mature,
with the baggage of Atlanta finally stored away for good.
"Definitely, this time feels different already,"
Malar said. "There was so much hype around Atlanta and, with what happened, I was
definitely a little heartbroken. But I don't think about it as much now. The only people
who don't seem to let me forget is the media.
"It kind of hurts when people think or suggest that
maybe I failed when I came fourth in the world and the person who came first cheated. But
I feel really good. I am refreshed and I am swimming for myself. I don't let the pressure
get to me in the same way."
Jan Bidrman, Malar's coach, feels that if she can maintain
her current level of performance, and perhaps improve just slightly, she will be difficult
to keep off the medal podium at Sydney.
"I hope she will perform well here [in Montreal] and
use the opportunity to make slight improvements," Bidrman said yesterday. "This
is a chance for her to stay fast and gain confidence and compete against some fast, fast
people."
Malar has been dating Hamilton Tiger-Cats slotback Mike
Morreale for the past eight months (they aren't engaged despite the rumours) and has
talked to the fellow Hamilton native about what it feels like to come close to winning it
all, and falling just short.
Morreale got to the Grey Cup game with the Tiger-Cats in
1998, but lost to Calgary. In their 1999 rematch, Hamilton captured the Cup.
Malar says Morreale's advice has helped her put what
happened in Atlanta in perspective. She has even stopped wearing the gold toe ring that
she's had since 1996 to remind her of how close she came to the podium.
"I'm not putting it back on," she said.
"It's off for good. It's behind me."
"I think Jo has really matured and grown a lot since
the last Olympics," Morreale said. "She has a really amazing way of keeping
things in perspective and keeping focused on her goals, even with four years between what
are her Grey Cups.
"I think she always felt a little hurt over how people
thought she let them down in Atlanta, but she didn't. She came fourth in the world. I
think if she just treats it [the Olympics] as another race, she will be able to handle any
pressure."
Does the soon-to-be three-time Olympian finally see a level
playing field, with the dirty business of doping having been dragged into the open after
Atlanta?
"I'd like to think so, but I don't know if it's going
to play out that way," she said. "I hate to sound like a pessimist, but it's
been a long time since there has been a clean Olympics, and I really doubt that this is
going to be the one. But you hope. You have to."
Sydney will likely be the final Olympic Games for the
swimmer, who wants to try a career in sports broadcasting when she retires.
"I think it might be my last," she said.
"I'm trying not to think about it because I don't want it to be a distraction. I'm
going to take some time off afterward for sure and think about it and relax. I haven't
been home in 2½ years.
"I'd like to have the race of my life in Sydney,"
she said wistfully. "But it's not like I've dominated the rankings for many years
now. I've only been up there in the last year or so. But you know, I'm going to try. I
dream about the podium. That's an image that I've never let go of."
OLYMPIC SWIM TRIALS
When: Tomorrow through June 4.
What: Canada's largest swimming event in four years draws 500 athletes to Montreal
to determine the Olympic and Paralympic swim squads for Sydney.
Who's qualified: Joanne Malar of Hamilton (200-metre and 400-metre individual
medley), Curtis Myden of Calgary (400-metre IM) and Jessica Deglau of Vancouver (200-metre
butterfly).
Who to watch for: 1996 Olympic 200-metre IM silver medalist Marianne Limpert of
Fredericton; Rick Say of Salmon Arm, B.C., who set a Canadian 200-metre freestyle record
at the spring national championships in March; 100-metre freestyle Canadian record holder
Yannick Lupien of Sainte-Foy, Que.; 100-metre and 200-metre backstroke Canadian
record-holder Kelly Stefanyshyn of Winnipeg and Jennifer Button of Waterloo, Ont., who won
this year's World Cup circuit 200-metre butterfly title and broke the Canadian
short-course record twice in World Cup competition in that event in February.
On the Web: If you're not able to attend the event,
you can tune into the live Webcast at http://www.swimming.com
Repinted with permission.
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