Lauren is slowly coming to the Boyle
New Zealand’s top swimmer has been a constant improver, writes Ian Anderson.
LAUREN Boyle was so delighted with her fourth-place finish at the 2012 Olympics, she couldn’t contain her emotions.
Her tearful pool-side interview after narrowly missing out on a medal in the women’s 800m freestyle final was one of the most abiding moments from New Zealand competitors in London.
But the North Shore athlete wasn’t going to be content with a new national record and the pride of pushing the world’s best. Then aged 24, she committed herself to getting better yet – something the majority of swimmers appear unable to do as age takes its toll.
Despite turmoil at Swimming New Zealand and a merry-goround of coaches, the freestyler has got quicker, and will have a major chance at Games glory when she competes in Glasgow next month.
Boyle will contest the 200 metres, 400m and 800m freestyle events, while she’s also a possible part of the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team.
Now 26, Boyle won three bronze medals over those individual distances at last year’s world championships in Barcelona to mark herself down as a Commonwealth Games favourite.
‘‘For some reason after London, I just didn’t feel like I was finished,’’ Boyle told Sunday News from her current training base in Spain.
‘‘I’m so happy that I carried on after that – it’s been a really great experience.’’
While long-distance swimmers tend to have more durable careers than sprinters, Boyle’s continued development is still somewhat of an outlier.
When United States swim sensation Janet Evans set a new world mark for the women’s 800m free in 1987 of eight minutes 22.44 seconds, she was just 16.
England’s Rebecca Adlington improved on that to 8:14.10 in 2008 when aged 19, and when Boyle was third at last year’s world champs, Katie Ledecky of the US swam a new world’s best of 8:13.86 at age 16.
Evans retired in 1996 after failing to win a medal at the Atlanta Olympics, at the age of 25, and had a briefly unsuccessful comeback attempt in 2012. Adlington retired in 2013 aged 23.
At the 2012 Games, Boyle’s time of 8:22.72 to finish fourth behind Ledecky, Spain’s Mireia Belmonte and Adlington was a vast improvement on the national record she already held.
When Boyle was third at last year’s world champs, it was in the stunning time of 8:18.58 behind Ledecky and Denmark’s Lotte Friis. So how has Boyle got better? ‘‘Well, I had a really good coach [Mark Regan] when I left university for two years before the Olympics,’’ she said.
‘‘I did a lot of work that I hadn’t done before and then when he left in January last year I had another really good temporary coach [Bill Sweetenham] who helped me get even better.’’
While David Lyles is now the new national coach, Boyle headed to Spain recently to train with highly-respected French coach Fred Vergnoux and has been pushed to the limit in training.
The University of California Berkeley graduate knows that her dedication to her craft allows her to do little else.
‘‘But I don’t really see what I do as a sacrifice,’’ she said.
‘‘Because I get to do things that a lot of other people never experience in their lives.’’
It has however ensured few thoughts about life after swimming, with the 2016 Rio Olympics a likely target.
‘‘I think if I start having those thoughts I should definitely stop.
‘‘It’s not that I haven’t thought about the rest of my life. I have a business degree so I’m thinking I’ll maybe do something along those lines.’’