Our team of three have competed and done their best efforts at Trials.
Audrey Jackson experienced her first Olympic Trials and soaked up the atmosphere. Audrey made the most of her opportunity, warming up in the competition pool in her first training session. Audrey spent time watching her peer’s race and enjoyed sharing the marshalling room with the best swimmers in the world. Audrey dared greatly in the 50m freestyle getting a taste of the performance environment. Well done Audrey!
Zac Attard was our last swimmer to reach the qualifying time, doing this in May, in the 100m Freestyle. Zac’s performance was consistent at the meet. Whilst Zac would like to go faster at the meet, he balanced his scheduled and illness to give his best. Zac enjoyed the familiar vibe of energy and pressure that a trials event provides. Well done Zac!
Shaun Champion had three events at the meet, with the final event being the 100m butterfly on the last day of competition. Shaun swam a lifetime best in 50m freestyle and showed his intent at the meet winning his heat from lane 9. Next was the 100m freestyle where Shaun’s heat swim was equal to his season best efforts in this event.
Now…onto the main event, as it turns out and you most probably know…Shaun finished 3rd. Shaun represented Abbotsleigh bringing all his energy and effort qualifying 4th into the final. We put our plan together for the finals swim and both truly believed in the plan. Shaun executed the best race he could and fell short on the wall, finishing in third place.
Only one swimmer went under qualifying (by 0.02). So there would be no Olympic representation for Shaun this time. This is the sport of swimming. We know the requirements, the objective is clear and it is brutal and harsh and epic at the same time. The courage it takes a person to step into this space and put themselves in a position to reach their cababilities requires deep belief and strong will…our swimmer Shaun, was ready and we just came up short. Shaun gave his best performance putting himself within reach on his last stroke. We are proud of him, as he oozed our values. This is what life is about, and what we dearly respect wholeheartedly.
For now we remember that one minute on Saturday night where you all watched and support Team ABB fly home against Australia’s best. People were at parties and concerts and in rooms with “do not disturb” or restaurants…all taking this moment to watch one of the most anticipated races of the meet…our race…the 100m butterfly. Seeing your teammate dare greatly had you screaming and shouting madly at the screen as you cheered Shaun on.
Shaun is a person who took the time to challenge himself. To see what was possible. In doing this he has become a high performing star, adding more strings to his bow each year. He has grown throughout his 15 years at Abbotsleigh from a young boy to a wonderful young man. Shaun is highly respected amongst his fellow dolphin teammates and amongst the swimming community. He has received messages of support and congratulations from our broad swimming community as the excitement of the possibility of a dream coming true really did draw us in to support our hero.
In the near future we will take time to congratulate Shaun on his performance and share the emotions and feelings we carried during the event and post. We thank him for bringing us along for the ride…what an adventure! Congratulations Shaun! Thank you
