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31 · Friday, July 27, 2012 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com AHEAD OF SCHEDULE: Tera Van Beilen, pictured on the diving board of the swimming pool at her family home in Oakville, did not have her sights set on the London Games until a few months ago. STEVE RUSSELL / TORONTO STAR Van Beilen didn't target 2012 Games until this year Continued from page 30 at the time," he said, "and I remember watching the vigour and energy she played the game with and thinking to myself, `What a monster this kid must be.'" That summer of 2008, DeBoer found out what the `monster' could do in the pool when she equaled a Canada Summer Games record by winning six gold medals. "Nobody really knew who she was and then she set a national record (shattering the Canadian age group record in the 200m butterfly by almost two seconds)," said former OAK coach Alex Wallingford. "When we talked about the meet after, I said `Tera, you could go to the Olympics.' She looked at me and said, `I think I can, too.'" · · · · Van Beilen had always enjoyed watching the Olympics, counting down the days until the opening ceremonies and gathering around the TV with her family to watch any sport, long before she ever thought she would be a part of them. And though she never considered herself more than "someone who can go fast in the water," Van Beilen must have had some inclination she would one day do something great as she practised her signature all through high school -- her T slicing through the V and a big looping B that looked like the number three. "My first Olympic trials in 2008, I was watching all these swimmers who were my idols," Van Beilen said. She continued to improve over the next three years, knocking valuable seconds off her time. She got her first taste of the Olympic experience in 2010 when the inaugural Youth Olympic Games were held in Singapore. Van Beilen won gold in the 100-metre breaststroke and stood atop the (2:24.03). podium as the Canadian flag was raised and O Canada was "I don't know what happened, or where it came from, but played. I had the power (to catch her)," Van Beilen said at the time. Even with London two years away, it still wasn't on the Others knew where it came from. radar for Van Beilen, who targeted 2016 as "She has the kind of personality that she "(After Van Beilen set a her Olympic year. can perform under pressure," says her That began to change last fall when the national record in father. "She loves competing." swimmers who were once Van Beilen's idols 2008), I said 'Tera, you "Her strong faith gives her the ability to were now University of British Columbia could go to the handle the pressure," adds Sharon Van teammates and competitors pushing her Beilen. "It's that added dimension that gives Olympics.' She looked at every day in practice. her peace." As her second trials approached, Van me and said, 'I think I Van Beilen's biggest source of anxiety Beilen slowly allowed herself to begin to can, too.'" since the Olympic trials is the feeling she dream. should be more nervous than she is. Even "I knew it was a possibility at the begin- Former Oakville Aquatic having her luggage go missing for six days ning of this year," she said, "but I didn't want Club coach Alex Wallingford as the Canadian team arrived in Italy for a to tell many people." pre-Olympic camp didn't rattle her. In January, Sharon and Harry Van Beilen went to visit "When the chips are down, she can lift up and rise to the their daughter. They asked her, "Do you really think you can occasion," Wallingford says. "She can go after it like few do this?" people can do." Her answer was simply, "I do." So how does Wallingford think Van Beilen will fare at the Olympics? · · · · Her former coach at first offers a conservative predicThere was good reason Van Beilen didn't want her belief tion. "I don't want to put any pressure on her, but I think she out there for everyone to see. It's one thing to have confidence in yourself, it's another to say you're going to beat the has the ability to get in the final," he says, before pausing and current world record holder (Annamay Pierse) and a bronze reconsidering. "You know, I would not be surprised if she's able to answer the bell." medalist from the world championships (Martha McCabe). That's exactly what Van Beilen did in the 200m breast-- Herb Garbutt can be followed stroke, though, rallying in the final 50m to edge McCabe in what is the seventh-fastest time in the world this year on Twitter @Herbgarbutt