Canada’s women kick-start youth movement
Pull up your socks gentlemen, as incongruous as that might seem while wearing Speedos.
Canada won a breakout six medals at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. They were all won by women, including four by teen sensation Penny Oleksiak of Toronto and one by Hilary Caldwell of Victoria.
“There is so much focus right now on the Canadian women in the pool,” said Caldwell, who will have home-pool advantage beginning today at Saanich Commonwealth Place, in the Canadian trials for the 2017 FINA world aquatics championships.
“Our women’s swimmers have normalized winning. We need the guys to step up.”
That is easier said than done. Even the women’s success at Rio, while seemingly overnight, was after a long and slow climb by Canadian swimming.
“Ryan [Cochrane] carried it for so many years,” said Caldwell, referring to the two-time Olympic medallist and her now-retired Victoria clubmate.
“Canadian swimming won no Olympic medals at Athens in 2004 and only Ryan’s [bronze] at Beijing in 2008.”
There were only two Canadian Olymipc medals in the pool at London 2012, including Cochrane’s silver, abetted by Victoria open-water swimmer Richard Weinberger’s bronze.
Then came Rio and everything changed, thanks to a young group of emerging Canadian women.
“[The 16-year-old Oleksiak] is truly a star who people recognize. Canadians love her,” said Caldwell.
“She has brought so many kids to the pool [new registrations]. That’s good for all of Canadian swimming. Before, it was all on Ryan [Cochrane]. We have a lot more stars now.”
They are mostly female and they are young. At 25, Caldwell feels like a senior citizen among this group.
“These girls are all 16-17 and I’m an old lady who got my first Olympic medal at 25. I’m definitely a late bloomer,” quipped Caldwell. “But I’m not done yet.” Far from it, as Caldwell has clocked the fastest female time in the world so far this year in her 200-metre backstroke speciality.
“That was important to tell the rest of the world field that I’m still here. It’s good to start intimidating the opposition early in the year.”
Caldwell admitted, however, the post-Cochrane era at Saanich Commonwealth Place has taken some getting used to.
“It’s been hard . . . taken some adjustment . . . because we all looked up to Ryan for inspiration,” she said.
“Our Victoria group, and the whole national team, lost our leader.”
Now it’s time for a new generation, which came on so gloriously unexpected at Rio. At least on the women’s side.
“Our women won’t catch anybody in the world by surprise now, that’s for sure,” said Ryan Mallette, who coaches the Victoria high performance centre swimmers, which includes Caldwell and included Cochrane.
“On the men’s side, we are seeing a generational shift after Ryan.”
That leadership mantle is now wide open for the taking.
“A guy like [Victoria’s Jeremy Bagshaw] has a great opportunity,” said Mallette.
There are 401 of the best swimmers in the country at the trials to select the Canadian team for the 2017 FINA world aquatics championships in July in Budapest. It is the first major international meet since the Rio Olympics. The national trials run today to Sunday at Saanich Commonwealth Place with the qualifying races beginning at 10 a.m. each morning and the finals at 6 p.m. each evening. Tickets are $5 for the morning sessions and $10 for the evening finals. A full meet pass is $40.