Part 1: Never Panic

Summary

Gold in the Water starts out by introducing Tom Wilkens and Kurt Grote, two national level swimmers training to make the 2000 Olympic Team. Tom Wilkens is the "rookie," just starting to make a name for himself in the sport. Kurt Grote is an older and much more refined swimmer, described by Mullen as a modern Renaissance Man. The two train together at Santa Clara Swim Club in Santa Clara, California, with their coach, Dick Jochums. Both men are breaststrokers, but Tom, pushed by Jochums, starts to set his sights on the 400 I.M. as well. Mullens spends time at the beginning of the book giving background information on Wilkens, Grote, and Jochums, as well as the sport of swimming in general. He sets the stage for a grueling year of training, and explains how monumental the road to the Olympic Games really is.

Tom Wilkens

 

Kurt Grote

 

Review

I love this book so far! As a swimmer myself, I find it fascinating to read about high level swimmers and how they got to where they are in the sport. Mullen does a great job of integrating factual information about the sport so that people who aren't as familiar with competitive swimming can still follow and understand what is going on. He also writes in an engaging way that makes the fatual information read like a novel. Also, it is clear that he has spent a lot of time with Grote, Wilkens, and Jochums, because it is almost like he knows their thoughts. When Jochums is giving a speech to a group of Olympic hopefuls, Mullen describes his actions with precision and insight: "He wasn't ready. Even the smallest of life's moments should be paced correctly. Once he opened his mouth, there would be no turning back. You don't ever ask to be a part of people's dreams and then later change your mind. But did he really want this?" (46). I like how Mullen gets inside the heads of the men he is writing about, and helps give the reader insight into what they are thinking and why they do what they do.

The pool at Santa Clara Swim Club

Focus

The focus for this week's reading was "questions." Here are some of the questions that came to me as I read:

• Will Wilkens and Grote both make the Olympic Team?
• How did P.H. Mullen (the author) decide to write this book? Does he have a swimming background, or did he just decide this would be interesting to follow?
• How will the new men that Jochums brings over from Stanford fit in with Wilkens and Grote?
• Will the book focus on any women swimmers as well, or just the men?
• What would it be like to have Jochums as a coach? How would I react to his leadership style?

Sources

Here are links to both Kurt Grote and Tom Wilkens' wikipedia pages. I think this is a good place to start to learn more about the men.