He actually took out a loan to finance the tour
himself, and attended every meet from Beijing through to the finale in Paris,
a total of seven meets in all.
But organizing the tour on his own was not easy,
and Myers tells amusing tales of waking up at 3 a.m. to fax the Beijing
swimming office, or of calling U.S. Swimming collect when he was lost between
airports. "They told me never to do that again!" he laughs.
While Myers liked the idea of the travel, there
was also the possibility of winning some money. "That's another reason
I decided to give it a shot," he added.
But Myers took a while to warm up on the the tour.
Competing in the 50, 100, and 200 breaststrokes, he had his best results
in Sweden, tying for first in the 200 (2:14.98) and placing second in the
50 (28.43).
There were ups and downs: the banding together with other "loners" like himself, luggage lost on the way to Glasgow, and the expense of the hotel in Germany that took some wind out of his sails. But Myers came out of the whole experience smiling. "Americans don't even know this exists," he said. "This is great. I love this. I'd do it again."