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Sports Oakville Beaver 25 · Thursday, December 6, 2012 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-632-0588 (ext. 294) email sports@oakvillebeaver.com So what? How narrowly missing on the Olympics has reshaped swimmer Zack Chetrat's views on sport By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLEBEAVERSTAFF N ext week, Zack Chetrat will climb atop the starting blocks at the World Short Course swimming championships in Istanbul, Turkey. He'll stand tall, then move his right foot back about 10 inches, bend his left knee slightly and dangle his arms in front of him for several seconds. Finally, he'll reach down and grab the starting block with his fingers and think to himself, "So what?" If that makes it sound like the 22-year-old doesn't care, well, who could blame him? After all, he took an entire year off school to prepare for the Olympic trials. For months leading up to the event, his thoughts were consumed by making the Canadian Olympic team. He trained relentlessly. On the second day of the trials, Chetrat squared off against Canadian record holder Stefan Hirniak of Victoria in the 200-metre butterfly. As they made the turn at the 150metre mark, the two were even. Coming down the stretch, Chetrat could see that he was ahead. He touched the wall thinking he had won, but when he turned back to look at the board, he saw himself in second place. David Sharpe, in lane eight, had edged Chetrat -- given their average speed -- by three centimetres, or about the width of your thumb. After all his hard work, Chetrat had missed a trip to London by two one-hundredths of a second. Three days later in his final attempt to make the team, Chetrat, still reeling from his near miss, finished fifth in the 100m butterfly final. JILL CLARK / UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO NEW OUTLOOK: After coming two one-hundredths of a second from qualifying for this year's Olympics, Zack Chetrat has changed the way he looks at competitive swimming. He took the loss hard. After missing out on his goal, he found himself missing the motivation that had fueled his workouts for the previous 12 months. "There were times I felt like I should be at practice," he said, "but I couldn't get myself to go do it." Even more troubling than the lack of motivation was what else was missing. "At the end, I just lost the fun in the sport." For the first time since Chetrat started swimming, the thought about giving it up crossed his mind. The one thing that drew him to the sport was now a factor in him questioning his future. kids his own age with ease, he began chal- championships in Mexico, where he finished lenging older kids and held his own against ninth in the 200m butterfly. them. Chetrat made an immediate impact with When Chetrat was nine, his parents the University of Toronto and continued to decided to take him to the Oakville Aquatic be a key contributor over his first three years Club (OAK), where he with the Varsity Blues. excelled. When he was 16, he "There were times I felt At the 2011 Ontario established 13 club records like I should be at University Athletics champiin a single season. The fol- practice, but I couldn't onships, Chetrat broke four lowing year, Chetrat got his get myself to go do it... meet records that had stood for an average of 16 years, first taste of international At the end, I just lost including one that was competition, first at the established before he was Australian Youth Olympic the fun in the sport." born. He followed that up Festival and then at the with gold medals in the North American Cup Zack Chetrat, reflecting on 100m and 200m butterfly at Challenge in Los Angeles, the weeks after he missed the Canadian Interuniversity where he won the 200m but- qualifying for the Olympics Sport (CIS) championships. terfly. U of T coach Byron MacDonald marveled Chetrat's continued success took him around the world to Switzerland and at Chetrat's stamina. "In swimming, you're only supposed to Luxembourg. In 2008, he earned a spot on See Results, page 26 the Canadian team for the world junior R acing has always been the part of swimming Chetrat has enjoyed the most. Even when his parents took him to public pools, he'd find someone to race against. When Chetrat was beating the