Pieter van den Hoogenband sat in the garden back home in Holland, sharing a beer with his dad after Sydney 2000 and explained why he would no longer train to be a doctor but purely as a swimmer. It was the defining moment. The moment a dream was born.
Cees-Rein Van den Hoogenband, father of the triple Olympic champion and Dutch team doctor, explained: "We were sitting in garden and having a beer and we had to make a choice - to go into medical studies or carry on swimming.
"He said 'listen dad, I thought it over and I can pull a trick - only two or three men in the world can do this trick. I want to exploit that trick.' That's the reason he went on (in swimming) and stopped his career as a doctor, as a medical student. I was satisfied with that. There was also the commercial aspect. He was making a good living out of it, so no problem."
From that moment on, Pieter took the "professional way," taking advice from many fonts, taking control of his professional career.
"Before, he was led by Jacco (Verharen, his coach in Eindhoven), by me, and so on, but after Sydney he took it on and he decided what choices to make, how to behave, and so on ... I'm proud of that 'cos now he's able to manage his own life," said Van den Hoogenband senior.
Given that he was there from the moment the swimmer was born, how would he assess his son's nature and how had that contributed to what he has become? "Pieter has always been the same ... Pieter was always a quiet kid, a little bit afraid of the noise around him. He loves training. We never had to send him. He went. We never forced him. We didn't need to. Pieter was always willing to go there."
"Until Sydney, it was all going smoothly, it was fun and it was playing etc, but after the Olympics, he got more professional," said Van den Hoogenband senior.
Having watched his son navigate his way in admirable and professional way through the Dutch press conference, was he proud of his little boy?
"He was my little boy but he's not my little boy anymore. He knows what he's going to do, knows his own minds. I think it's the final lap."
A question was put to the champion about whether he lamented not having won a world title. "This is the event, this is my season," he replied. "The World Championships are very special to me and of course I want to win."
His qualification that the Olympic crowns he holds and held more dear was repeated by his father: "He's not really missing the world title ... he's very satisfied with the three Olympic golds. He's saying 'hey, I don't want to be impolite but I'm a three-times Olympic champion. It won't be a nightmare for him if he's never a world champion."
Here is a man who has perfectly pitched his career to the right moments - Olympics: 3 gold, 1 silver; Worlds: 6 silvers, 1 bronze. For such a man and his dream, little wonder that Beijing counts for more than Melbourne. But, as dad says: "Even then, its a bonus - but i think Pieter has something in mind ... three times ... it would be amazing, and that's in his mind."
It's been a long journey. The young Pieter had shown a love of water and some talent but it was not until the European junior championships in Pardubice, Czech Republic, in 1994 that the Olympic-champion-in-waiting did what Britain's Paul Palmer had done three years earlier in 1991: a triple freestyle triumph, For the Dutchman, success cam over 100, 200 and 400m. He defeated Massimiliano Rosolino and Emiliano Brembilla, of Italy.
"It was amazing," said Van den Hoogenband's father. How could it be that such a skinny kid could swim so fast (50.85; 1:52.47; 3:56.45, 0.01sec ahead of Brembilla)? "That's when we thought 'he's a big talent'," dad added with a smile.
Two years later, Van den Hoogenband raced at his first Olympic Games. At 18, he clocked 49.13sec and, as such, swam under the radar, even though he was actually only 0.21sec beyond Gustavo Borges's bronze for Brazil and 0.39sec behind Alexander Popov's retention of the crown.
His father recalls: "The Prince of Orange was sitting behind me in 100m in Atlanta. I went 'no! Fourth!" The Prince tapped him on the shoulder and mocked him, jockingly saying: That's rubbish!" He then added "But, anyway, congratulations, that was great!"
"I felt the same way," said Van den Hoogenband senior. "I had that feeling too. I knew then that he could become Olympic champion. He had the talent and the right mind for it."
In Melbourne, if he is to claim a title he will, need to get past a host of possibilities over 100m and Michael Phelps (among others) over 200m.
Comments by Roland Schoeman that if he turns in 22.4 he would be unstoppable in the 100m were a little lost in translation. But not much. The South African actually said that he would be "unstoppable"
"He's unbeatable?" asked Van den Hoogenband, the swimmer. "It's good to hear that he's in good shape. We will see what happens in the water. For me the 100 is going well. I was not very happy with the result at the European Championships last summer, but I am very fit and almost in my normal shape."
"I don?t know what to expect, but it's going to be a very, very good 100 freestyle if you see the rest of the field. There's a lot of good, professional swimmers and you're going to need to swim very fast to make the final - the 100 will be a spectacular event."
Last time round, the flying Dutchman watched proceedings in Montreal on a TV monitor near his bedside as her recovered from back surgery. "When Montreal was going, it gave me a lot of motivation because when I was watching the red line on the screen (his record pace) in the 100m freestyle final. I thought it would be fantastic to get back to that level and race those guys and hopefully get the feeling of breaking 48 seconds again."
"That's what I'm training for and it keeps me very, very motivated. That's why it's fantastic to be here. The World Championships are very, very important"
So much so that when Italy's Filippo Magnini won the crown, Van den Hoogenband phoned his father (Dutch team doctor in Canada) from Holland and asked him to go on pooldeck and congratulate the champion for him. "I said to Magnini 'my son is at home in his bed - he says congratulations'."
Magnini replied that he had employed the same tactic with Schoeman as Van den Hoogenband had at Athens 2004: kill him on the way home. Van den Hoogenband's father said that Popov had summed it up neatly when he said this week: It's not the first lap that matters most, nor turns, nor starts - it's the second lap, stupid!
Not, of course, where there are four laps - the place where Van den Hoogenband said he hads had the most fun, racing Ian Thorpe. "That was the biggest fun in my sport ... it was a fantastic challenge to race him." The Aussie crowd in Sydney 2000 appreciated that, holding silence for 5sec to catch their breadth and realise that the young local hero had been pipped.
"It was five seconds silence and then the crowd came up," recalled Van den Hoogeband senior. "That's why Pieter calls it his second country. He feels at home here, relaxed."
Four years later, the preposteroulsy, so-called, race of the century ended with Thorpe beating Van den Hoogenband and both beating Phelps. The champion turned to the former champion and said: "Who's that in lane 3." It was obvious who they had wanted to lock out: the American vying to claim a bigger stake in the pantheon of greats.
In Melbourne, Van den Hoogenband is "really looking forward" to the 200m freestyle, over which Thorpe remains the world record holder and Phelps is the reigning champion and, says the Dutchman. "He's the man to beat, he's in good shape."
Van Den Hoogenband said that he is yet to catch up with Thorpey on the clock and was "disappointed" that the Australian's retirement has denied both the pleasure and challenge of one last titanic clash at international level.
"He really motivated me to train and to swim fast and to give everything. He told me also after we were racing each other that 'it hurts so much to beat you' and that was a compliment," Van Den Hoogenband said. The Australian also said "one, all - see you in Beijing."
It was not to be, nor were morning heats and evening finals. A world turned upside down. One which has disappointed just about the entire world swim community and could cost some the gold medal.
Van den Hoogenband appealed directly to Jacques Rogge, IOC President, but his arguments fell on deaf ears. " It will be to Rogge's eternal shame that he turned his back on the views of the vast majority of world-class swimmers, coaches and nations, in order to bow to the mighty dollar. It will be to his absolute disgrace if anything of the switch in tradition should affect Pieter's dream of the triple crown."
