KNACK FOR THE LIFE AQUATIC

(This story was excerpted from Guts in the Clutch. See below)

By

Richard J. Noyes

Jason Lezak, former University of California, Santa Barbara swimmer was a 2004 and 2008 Olympic gold medalist. Lezak’s greatest moment came in the 2008, 4 X 100 freestyle final when he accomplished not the impossible but the unthinkable. By moving to the right side of his lane and drafting on the leader, he made up a half-body length on 100-meter freestyle individual gold medalist Alain Bernard in the final 25 meters to give the U.S. another gold medal in Beijing.

Like running speed, the ability to displace water at a world-class level can be improved through coaching and practice, but you can either run or swim faster than most people or you can’t. It’s an ingrained quality.

Jason Lezak not only had the knack for speed, he also had the ingenuity to invent a strategy under pressure, like drafting on the leader, to win the race of his life for his teammates. Lezak’s heroics also gave Michael Phelps, another swimming savant who was born for the life aquatic, his eighth gold medal at the 2008 Olympics, a record that surpassed American swimmer Mark Spitz’s seven at the 1972 Munich Games.

Note: During his pre-Olympic years, Spitz was fortunate to have had three of the greatest swim coaches the United States has known: Sherm Chavoor, Doc Counsilman, and George Haines.¹³ There is a story, and it may be apocryphal, about Mark Spitz swimming for the University of Indiana under the coaching of the legendary Doc Counsilman. Although he was a fish once in, Spitz didn’t like the initial plunge. So Doc would chase him around the pool until Spitz finally jumped in. In the whatever works department, perceptive teachers find ways to reach talented athletes, especially temperamental ones like Mark Spitz.

¹³ Courtesy of the International Swimming Hall of Fame,

  http://www.ishopf.org/77spitz.html, available as of 10/28/05

Richard J. Noyes, former Associate Director, Center for Advanced Engineering Study, Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a consultant to public and private sector organizations.

Noyes is the co-author with Pamela J. Robertson of Larceny of Love, a provocative print and eBook novel that traces the interwoven careers of three men in jeopardy (one is a professional pitcher who experiences sudden, unexplained, career-threatening wildness) and the unforgettable women in their lives.  http://larcenyoflove.com/ 

“Whenever dramatic storytelling about people you like is created around business, sports and film, I'm a happy reader. I'm sure you will be as well.”  –Kevin Marcus

Another recent print and eBook by Richard Noyes and Pamela Robertson: Guts in the Clutch: 77 Legendary Triumphs, Heartbreaks, and Wild Finishes in 12 Sports, with a Foreword by Drew Olson of ESPN.   http://gutsintheclutch.com/           

“The best compilation of fascinating sports stories I have read.” -David Houle, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer of documentaries on Hank Aaron and the Harlem Globetrotters.