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Longest month of my life
Posted: Thursday May 18, 2000 10:03 AM
Currently ranked No. 9 in the world, Australian triathlete Miles Stewart began competing in triathlons in 1985. Since then he has won a World Championship and World Cup title. The triathlon will make its Olympic debut in Sydney, and Stewart will be there competing for Australia. Check out Stewart's diary every other week on CNNSI.com.
May 18, 2000
Well without doubt this has been one of the longest months of my life. Two words... Strep throat. What timing. I was having the best year of my life, winning everything I went in, and all of a sudden... WHACK. I woke up on the Tuesday morning before Sydney and had a sore throat, and by that afternoon I could hardly keep my eyes open. Wednesday I was in the hospital. I had a massive fever and tonsils so swollen I could hardly breath. Pure agony. What was going to happen? I tried to put it all to the back of my mind. I still hoped everything was going to be okay and this was just a 48 hour thing. Not likely. The results came back -- STREPTOCOCCUS PNEUMONIAE. That was it, I thought, game over. I withdrew from the race in Sydney on the Friday after consulting five different doctors and having them all say that racing was out of the question, as I would only make myself worse. Unfortunately to qualify for Olympic selection I had to get on the start line and attempt to do the race to enable the disadvantaged athletes clause. This meant that because I couldn't race on equal terms, my previous results were looked at when the team was being selected. So I flew to Sydney on the Sunday morning and started the race, I made about 500 meters in the swim. My throat had swelled to a point where I could hardly breath, and I withdrew. Now I had one more chance in Perth.
I had two weeks before Perth, the second and last selection race. Not being able to eat anything but Kate's (my wife) soup due to my enlarged (and unbelievably sore) throat left me feeling pretty weak. The trip to Sydney knocked me around more than I expected and caused a secondary infection. Things weren't looking good. By the time Perth came around I'd managed three short training sessions. I decided to rest the days before and just give it my everything. I would either do really well or kill myself trying. I started the race and after a few hundred meters I realized that it wasn't looking good, I was dead last in the swim and was pushing hard to stay there. Out on the bike it just got worse. I had no energy or power and had to just watch as everybody went past. My chances of automatic qualification had been taken away from me, now it was up to the selectors to look at my previous performances and see if I deserved to be in the team. After Perth the selectors disappeared to their secret location to do their job. Select! The following nights were long and sleepless. All my Olympic dreams were in their hands. There was nothing more I could do, just sit tight and wait. And wait. Then the call came. Two words... "Your in!" I can't describe how it made me feel. A flood of emotions. I'd done it. I made the Olympic Games. My immediate thoughts were hard to Describe. I guess it is more relief than anything, then after a while extreme joy. This is the goal I have been aiming at for the last eight years when triathlon was first trying to gain Olympic selection. I had been there since day one when the sport was being looked at by the IOC, when it was inducted, and now, to be actually going to race the Games, it's just a dream come true. I still have a smile from ear to ear. It doesn't get any better than this.
-- Miles
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