8:00 PM
Shweta Pandey
MONTREAL—Ryan Cochrane and his coach Randy Bennett kept it secret the last time around.
They were convinced the Victoria native could win a medal in the men’s 1,500-metre freestyle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but they never declared anything publicly as it made no sense to place extra pressure on a 19-year-old. His bronze medal there was seen as a delightful surprise.
There’s no going through the back door this time, though.
As the six-day Olympic swim trials wrapped up Sunday night, it’s clear the slightly built Cochrane is the Canadian swim team’s standard bearer, the go-to guy with the best chance to reach the podium at the 2012 London Olympics.
“There’s definitely ups and downs with it,” said Cochrane, who easily won the men’s 1,500 metres at the trials Sunday. “You’re responsible for it and at first it’s easy to just say, but you have to make sure that you perform.
“I mean the pressure is getting bigger as the days go on, but I think I’m really going to use that when I’m on the blocks. You know that 30 million Canadians are behind you. It’s unmatched by anything else.”
Olympic swim champion Mark Tewksbury, who as chef de mission for the Canadian team in London helped introduce the 31-member team (18 women, 13 men) at the 1976 Olympic pool at the end of the event, thinks Cochrane is the right guy for the job.
“I don’t think there’s a coach in the country who’s better prepared his athletes for the Olympic experience than Randy Bennett,” said Tewksbury. “Him and Ryan now have four more years under their belt of what it takes to be a high-performance athlete and now they’re not afraid to go out there and be that.”
The six-day trials showed a Canadian team with a lot more depth on the women’s side and more medal chances than they had heading to Beijing four years ago, but this country remains a mere minnow when compared to the real swimming powers.
The realistic medal chances are Cochrane in the men’s 1,500-metre freestyle with an outside shot in the 400-metre freestyle; world silver medallist Brent Hayden in the men’s 100-metre freestyle; and then there’s the women’s 200-metre breaststroke, where world bronze medallist Martha McCabe of Toronto and fast-rising 18-year-old Tara Van Beilen of Oakville should be in the hunt.
“Four years ago, it was a young team and we talked about it being a building year,” said Cochrane. “There was way less expectations on us as a national team, where this time around it’s still a young team but I think we can expect great things. It’s not as though they’re inexperienced. A lot of these young kids have raced internationally many times. That will really help them when they get to the Games.”
He’s referring to swimmers like 18-year-old Sinead Russell of Oakville, who broke her own Canadian record Sunday in the women’s 200-metre backstroke with a time of 2:08.04. She was a finalist at the world championships last year.
“I know I was ready for a best time,” said Russell, whose previous mark was 2:08.80. “I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I was hoping for a little faster, but I’ll take it for now. . . . We’ve been training hard back home and I know the training’s not going to get any easier going back.”
Hayden won the men’s 50-metre freestyle in 22.16 seconds — a time he noted wouldn’t have any of “the other guys in the world going, ‘Oh my God’” — but he says it’s faster than he’s gone at this time of the season before, as was the case in the preliminary and final of the 100-metre freestyle.
“I’m going to just keep the ball rolling and keep working on it and fine tune over the next four months,” said Hayden.
Cochrane said he’s happy to see the Canadian team vocalizing its goals more.
“Now that I’m a leader on the team, I can really carry that on my shoulders a bit. I’m just happy that everyone’s expectations match my own.”
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