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Pantheon For Peirsol, Swimmer For Life

Feb 2, 2011  - Craig Lord

The retirement of Aaron Wells Peirsol, the backstroke ace of the decade past who made his first Olympic podium at 17 in Sydney 2000, is not yet official in terms of the paperwork required by anti-doping agencies but his coach and mentor Eddie Reese, of Texas, has let it be known that the show is over, and the swimmer's mother too has confirmed to us that her son intends to move on.

In an interview with Swimming World TV, Reese confirmed that the swimmer had decided that his race days were over. Born July 23, 1983, Peirsol, of Irvine, California, was 17 when he made the Olympic team for the 2000 Games by defeating world champion and record holder Lenny Krayzelburg at trials. In Sydney, Krayzelburg won the double, in the 100m and 200m, while Peirsol claimed silver in the 200m.

By the time Peirsol lined up in Athens 2004, he had three world titles to his name, in the 200m in 2001 and the 100m and 200m in 2003. In Athens, he won the 100m title and then added the 200m title but, for a short while, lost the crown: a turn judge said that the American had turned over on his front at the turn too early but that initial disqualification was almost immediately overturned when FINA could not interpret the judge’s scribble on the race DQ form. 

When I asked Reese about the Texas Trio of Peirsol, Brendan Hanson and Ian Crocker in 2007, he told SwimNews: "Aaron is a technique genius, knowing more about his stroke than anyone I have been around. Brendan is the strongest physically, able to move a lot of weight in the weight room. Ian is the most explosive. His starts and turns are really amazing. Beyond all of that, they are fierce competitors, loving the race and hating to lose."

That was days before Peirsol took the world record in the 100m below 53sec for the first time. "I always thought of being a good swimmer as someone who is consistent over their whole career and that's what I'm trying to do," he said after lifting the world crown.

Consider that speed: it was 1964 when Alain Gottvalles, of France, dipped below 53sec on freestyle for the first time. Pablo Morales did the same on butterfly back in 1986 and it took submarinery, an easing of rules and nine years to get past him. It took shiny suits to get past Peirsol, and Peirsol stayed the course. His vortex-yielding torso-roll was a wonderous thing to watch, a height of technical efficiency.

By 2008 Peirsol had retained the 100m world title twice, in 2005 and 2007, the latter in a world record of 52.98 - the first sub 53sec effort - and the 200m world crown in 2005. In 2007, for the first time in seven years, he lost a major 200m race when defeated at the world championships by teammate Ryan Lochte, who also claimed the world record.

In 2008, Peirsol lost the 200m Olympic crown to Lochte but retained the 100m title. A year later in Rome, at the height of the shiny suits circus, Peirsol donned an arena X-Glide, the reply of his sponsor to the Speedo LZR Racer and FINA's flip-flopping on the issue of suits, and became the first man (in a suit now banned) to crack 52sec when he lifted the world title. He had intended to swim on, telling SwimNetwork (the site now closed after USA Swimming pulled out) last year that he was working towards the world titles in 2011 as a springboard to 2012. He won the Pan Pacs 100m crown in August at home in Irvine, an appropriate moment to bow out, he may have thought.

Asked by SwimNetwork about the records of his career last year, Peirsol said: "Every single one I can pretty much go back and tell you about! So yes, I remember every one. I could tell you every time I’ve broken a world record. I could tell you which ones felt good, and which ones didn’t, which ones I knew I could do better on, and which ones I was completely content with. It was always about trying to go a best time. For a while I was kind of alone - by that I mean it took a while for some competition to show up. But gosh, it did and it shocked me, because it had been a while. But that helped me. I have started to look back on my career, and there have been various phases. But all you do is find little ways to get better, working harder or smarter, and move forward."

He described that odd 2004 DQ that was ruled out, the gold confirmed as "the most interesting and memorable moment from a meet I have had in my career", while the question of suits and records and the ability to chase a clock when swimming in altered race conditions, elicited this response: "Every year I find it a little bit more difficult, especially when I have had the kind of swims I have had the past year, to try to figure out how I can keep going. The emphasis is always on trying to get better. I always feel I’m capable of getting better, so I just go."

Perhaps he will go no more in that direction but Peirsol will not be leaving the water, even if what Reese revealed turns out to be official, as is most likely. Peirsol is a big campaigner for oceans, through such organisations as Oceana and is heavily involved in developing his house in Costa Rica, where he likes to spend time by the beach, in the ocean, surfing and swimming part of his life for life.

In a fine feature by Mike Gustafson, formerly of SwimNtework, Peirsol said: "The central constituent to myself, more or less, is the ocean. It always has been. It is why I started swimming. It was kind of the inevitable route to take. When I’m done swimming in a pool, there are countless number of things that I can do in the water that don’t have to be me swimming over a black line. It’s a very narrow way for me to express my love for the water. When I get the time, I try to head down to Central America or to Orange County and get my fix, so to speak."

Laid back, popular and now heading for the pantheon as one of the greats of backstroke, Peirsol set the standard for a decade. He was the man to beat, the leader of the pack, the king of back, a boy who answered a calling for the aquatic environment and emerged a sportsman of high achievement.

"I always felt like I was going to be pretty good," Peirsol told Gustafson. "Maybe this is just that hard-headedness, but I always felt that I could race the guy ahead of me. When I was young, I always felt that was the advantage I had - that I was young. And now that I’m old, I feel the biggest advantage I have is being old." Win-win.

Peirsol possessed the Pilgrim Spirit, as described by Reese to me in 2007: "I do believe that every pilgrim, the first and the now, has a very strong competitive gene. If someone else can do it, we can too, and it's all right if we work even harder than anyone ever has to accomplish it. Swimmers, and coaches, don't worry about diminishing returns."

Last year, Peirsol had a tip to those who follow in his slipstream: "Make sure to love what you do. If you can't enjoy yourself, you won’t last long. I can't tell anyone to love swimming. That’s person by person. But in life, just find what it is what you like to do. You'll last a long time."

Peirsol did last a long time. He prefers to go quietly on his way, no fuss, no flashlights. Wonderful to think of Peirsol out there on the wave and in the depths living the life he was meant to lead.