One of the biggest myths in sports is about the post-Olympic-year letdown.
About the only post-London dip is the collective one being taken into Saanich Commonwealth Place pool by the 456 swimmers who have gathered there from 109 clubs for the Canadian trials this week for the 2013 FINA world championships July 19-Aug. 4 in Barcelona.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no post-Olympics letdown at all,鈥� said Alec Page of Cortes Island, an Olympic rookie at age 18 in the 2012 London Summer Games.
鈥淪eeing [fellow Victoria Swim Academy member] Ryan Cochrane and [Mission鈥檚] Brent Hayden win medals at London motivated me to do more this year,鈥� added the University of Victoria student, who is highly versatile in the pool as medley swimmer.
鈥淢edalling is my next step. So these world championship trials are even more important than the Olympic trials last year. I want to keep moving up and not be stuck in place and caught by other kids like I caught others last year. I don鈥檛 want to be the best in sa国际传媒 but the best in the world.鈥�
The national trials run today through Saturday. The preliminary qualification sessions each day at 10 a.m. are free to the public. The finals begin at 6 p.m. each night and are $10 at the door or $30 for an event pass.
Sportsnet will webcast live all sessions.
In the quadrennial leading to the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, the big events by year for the swimmers are the 2013 world championships in Barcelona, 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and 2015 world championships in Kazan, Russia.
Cochrane, two-time silver medallist at the 2011 world championships in Shanghai and silver medallist in the 1,500 freestyle at the London Olympics, has his own ghosts that are motivating him post-London.
鈥淚鈥檝e had a lot of second places and silver seems to be my colour,鈥� chuckled the Victoria star.
Cochrane, who also had sa国际传媒鈥檚 lone swim medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics with bronze and double gold at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, has the goal of reaching the top of the podium at the worlds in Barcelona this summer and Rio in 2016.
Many say his great distance-freestyle rival, Sun Yang of China, is unbeatable. Cochrane isn鈥檛 buying it.
鈥淭hey said that in the past, too, about Grant Hackett [the Aussie legend whose world records Sun Yang eventually eclipsed],鈥� countered Cochrane, the Claremont Secondary grad who attends UVic.
鈥淓very record is beatable. I鈥檒l keep chipping away.鈥�
