It was 2.65 seconds. That was all that separated the champion from the contender.
When the Southeast Asian Games wrapped last month, Thailand’s athletes sat atop the medal board. While the attention went to the champions who brought home the 95 gold medals, 83 silver medals and 69 bronze medals, many unheralded heroes paddled, boxed, kicked, cycled and ran with heroic hearts.
For one swimmer, 2.65 seconds separated him from those who won the spotlight, acclaim, interviews and attention that comes with winning, despite only marginally different performances than those behind the innumerable medals unwon and dreams uncelebrated.
We’re naturally drawn to the achievers, but what can we learn from those athletes who dedicated their beings but didn’t stand on a podium at the end?
Peerapat “Garfield” Lertsathapornsuk is not a cat. He’d be just another freshy in the university’s Faculty of Sports Science were it not for the words “Thai swimmer” embroidered on the left chest of the gray suit when he flew to Singapore last month.
Garfield is also a teen whose convictions are enough to make many question if they’re really living – or losing – their own dream. For him, with swimming, there’s no chance of giving up.
His best stroke is freestyle, and he competes in the most demanding event: 1,500 meters.
Things looked good for Garfield on June 10, when that event’s two finals were held in that event at the Singapore Sports Hub. He sliced through the water in the first final and finished first, ahead of the next swimmer by nearly 15 seconds. However his dream collapsed in the second heat when three swimmers bettered his time, the third by only 2.65 seconds.
In the end, swimmers from Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia ascended the podium to claim their medals.
Garfield wasn’t in the news nor on the medal table, but he’s not done with his dream either.
It all started when Garfield was 11 at a competition he didn’t expect – but to his great surprise did – win.
Soon a coach asked him how far he’d like to go, and told Garfield that it would mean full commitment and sacrifice along with practicing every day of his life. Garfield agreed.
After all he was a big fish swimming in small ponds and taking home all their trophies.
“You have no idea what it was like to win hundreds of cups in a year,” he said. “You want more, and you know you can get more.”
Garfield sits in class.
Every morning Garfield starts his day as a student. But when the last bell rings, the real pressure starts. Daily practice causes more than injuries, it’s long, exhausting work. Even his mother suggested he walk away and find something else to do.
“I had a talk with my mom about quitting and she asked me what I was going to do after that. All I could give her was silence,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine my life without swimming.”
More than racing another lane, swimming is a daily competition against yourself. Always trying to best your own time. So quitting would be the ultimate surrender to the biggest critic: oneself.
“It’s not about others at all,” Garfield said. “Swimming is about beating yesterday’s record. It’s yourself from every yesterday you have to defeat, and it’s yourself from tomorrow calling you a loser!”
And even if he had that chance to give up, he won’t take it.
“I used to want to be a pilot because they look so smart. But honestly, I know I must end up with swimming. There’re still many things I have to do in the Thai swimming world.”
To get those things done, he knows he can only depend on himself to get there.
“It’s like they won’t teach you how to catch a fish,” he said of the swimming world. “But when you get some fish, they take the very best fish you catch. You’re nothing to them until you win the medal.”
That’s okay, because Garfield says he knows exactly when he will step out of the pool for the last time.
“I did decide about quitting,” he said. “It will be after winning a gold medal from the Olympics.”
Photos: Garfield Loessathapornsuk
