2012 Summer Olympics: Canada’s swim team riding a wave of optimism into London

By JIM MORRIS

VANCOUVER - After being dead in the water at the Athens Olympics the Canadian swim team is riding a wave of confidence and excitement heading into this summer's London Games.

It has taken eight years but Canada's swimmers will take a swagger onto the London pool deck. Simply making the Olympic team isn't enough anymore. Now it's about making finals and bringing home medals.

"We realize the world is not waiting for us and we have to step up our game if we want to win medals,'' Scott Dickens of Burlington, Ont., said while competing at last weekend's Mel Zajac Jr. International Swim Meet at the University of British Columbia. "We believe we can. We may be underdogs but don't count us out. We want it just as bad as anyone else.''

The 2004 Athens Games were a disaster for the swim team. It was the first time Canada failed to win an Olympic swimming medal since 1964 in Tokyo.

National coach Dave Johnson become a lightning rod for criticism. There were demands that Swimming Canada, the organization that oversees the sport in this country, be remodeled.

Pierre Lafontaine was hired as Swimming Canada's chief executive officer in April 2005 to clean up the mess. A former coach in Canada, the U.S. and Australia, Lafontaine combines the enthusiasm of a motivational speaker with a philosopher's talent to send the right message. He healed the organization's pride by preaching to the athletes they could compete on the world stage. At the same time he increased funding to develop a strong junior team and spent money to hire more coaches.

"He's ingrained in our head you have to swim fast to win medals,'' said Dickens. "Having someone believe in us and tell us to believe in ourselves really helps.''

Randy Bennett, the Olympic team head coach, said the team turned a corner when Brent Hayden of Mission, B.C., won the 100 metres at the 2007 World Championships.

"We actually believed we could win,'' said Bennett. "We seemed to build off that. We walked in the door at every meet with the expectation of winning medals.''

The next hurdle was cleared when Victoria's Ryan Cochrane won the bronze medal in the 1,500 metres at the 2008 Beijing Games. The ghosts of Athens were finally scared away.

The goal for the 31-member team heading to London is to win at least three medals and have 12 to 15 swimmers reach the finals. Lafontaine believes that remains obtainable even though Annamay Pierce, the world record holder in the 200-metre breaststroke, and veteran breast-stroker Mike Brown both failed to qualify at the Olympic trials.

"It's a team that is more solid on its feet about the outcome they want,'' said Lafontaine. "In 2008 we were hoping. In 2012 we feel we have certainly set the team so we are knocking on the door on so many more fronts. We have much more depth in the program. We don't rely on one or two kids only.''

Hayden and Cochrane are Canada's best medal hopes this summer. Other contenders are Martha McCabe of Toronto, Tera van Beilen of Oakville, Ont., and Dickens, all in breaststroke.

"I think we are going to surprise a lot of people,'' said Dickens.