OLYMPIAN, written by Dr Basil Ince, was published in 2011. The book examines, in detail, the history of Trinidad and Tobago's Olympic

participation. Included in OLYMPIAN are profiles of the country's eight individual Olympic medallists, between 1948 and 2008. Between July 17 and August 9, excerpts from those eight profiles are being featured in the pages of the Trinidad Express.

The profiles, in their entirety, are being published on the Express website (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/olympics).


Today, we feature swimmer George Bovell. He captured bronze in 2004, in Athens, Greece. Here he was at the start of the 200m Intermediate Medley (IM) final, all 6'5" of him, before the crouch of course, along with the seven other finalists, all carrying with them, on their finely tuned bodies, their hopes and

spirations, and at the same time the hopes and aspirations of their coaches and their nations.

The ritual of the early morning workouts, and the afternoon workouts had all come down to this. George had already been quoted as saying "I am excited at the prospect of swimming against the best in the world at the Olympics." He tried to block it all out. He had already done all that was required of him, and now found himself in lane 2, trying to focus on the task at hand. He had gone this route already in the preliminaries and in the semi-final.

Yes, the day before at the Olympic Aquatic Center in Athens, Greece, the birth place of the Olympics, George had started his trek to the final. Drawn in lane 4 in the fifth heat, George came home third in 1:59.46. Already he had gone farther than any other national at the Olympic Games. All that earned him was an opportunity to return in the evening at 20:44 to race again in the semi-final. The pressure was off a little. He knew what he could do.

Drawn in lane 5, he finished in 2:00.65, ahead of him the Hungarian, Lazlo Csech in 1:59.50. All was going to plan. Exactly six minutes before his semi-final, two serious contenders had already qualified for the final. Michael Phelps, the hot favourite had won in a relaxed 2:00.01, while the other American, Ryan Lochte, had coasted home in 2:01.41. Everyone was holding back for the big one. And so, the battle lines were drawn for the next day.

That's how George found himself in lane 2, poised to win the nation's first Olympic medal in swimming, and the nation's sole medal at the Games.

The race was off. Phelps grabbed the lead from the start and never relinquished it in a wire to wire win. At the end of the first 50m Lochte was back in fifth, George in sixth. At the end of the second 50m, the backstroke, George maintained his position.

Generally, George has a pretty good idea where he is in a race. As he put it, "I checked my rearview mirror." What his rearview mirror showed was that he was still in sixth position. Half of the race was over and it was time to make a move.

Checking the rearview mirror isn't the only thing on George's mind during the race. All in a flash, he considers if he is doing his stroke properly, how hard he is pushing himself, and how he judges the distance from the wall so that he can execute his turns smoothly. At the same time, he is checking out the opposition. Who's out fast, and from his experience, who's a fast finisher. In other words, George has a panoramic view of the race.

At the start of the third leg, the breaststroke, Lochte's and George's positions remain unchanged. It was on the third 50m that George made his move, swimming powerfully into second position. He traversed the third phase of the race in 33.95 seconds to move him into second spot behind the flying Phelps. Lochte remained fifth, but not for long. At this point, George seemed to have a lock on the silver. That was until Lochte made his move slicing through the last 50m, the freestyle, in 28.19 to George's 28.64.

George and Ryan Lochte were no strangers. They had swum competitively on several occasions, and George had had the better of him. Not today in the Olympic final when it counted most. Lochte's surge carried him from fifth to second, just enough to grab silver from George by two hundredths of a second.

George was on cloud nine. "That was sweet," he exulted. "I've been in a couple of world championship finals, finishing in fourth or fifth. So I'm just ecstatic about finally finishing in the top three, especially at the Olympic Games. It's just surreal; a dream come true. It's bittersweet though having been so close to second."

His Trinbago coach, Anil Roberts explained: "His freestyle hasn't been that great at this meet because of the shoulder blade. We didn't work the freestyle too much, so I was just a little worried about George getting home."

Anil's reference was to George's shoulder injury a few days before.

George's parents and coaches were ecstatic. They felt that their sacrifices for their son had been justified. Trinidad and Tobago was agog with its first medal of the Games and its first ever in swimming.

In years to come, other nationals may win Olympic medals in swimming, but George Bovell III will always be the first.

www.trinidadexpress.com