George Bovell Candidly Describes Nomadic Lifestyle of a World Cup Professional

PHOENIX, Arizona, November 21. IN a recent blog hosted by Trinidad Express Newspapers, Trinidad and Tobago’s George Bovell blogged about his crazy experiences on the 2013 FINA World Cup tour this year, including some last minute adventures in updating his passport.

Although some of the travel issues surrounding the circuit can be difficult at best for professionals looking to make a run at the big money by attending all of the events, the daily grind is what is more impressive in terms of what a pro swimmer has to deal with.

Bovell accurately describes the monotony of what it takes to get through the gauntlet of the FINA World Cup.

Wake up and pack, breakfast, bus, hot shower, stretch, warm up, suit up, race, warm down, bus, lunch, nap, bus, hot shower, stretch, warm up, suit up, race, warm down, drug test, bus, dinner, bed. Throw in some traveling, and you get a vague idea of what it was like.

Bovell also does a good job of explaining how swimmers have to strategize in terms of event choices and which rivals will hurt their chances the most in terms of race earnings. Vlad Morozov just so happened to be the person that blocked Bovell the most throughout the circuit with his strong appearances in a variety of the sprint events that Bovell calls his home.

One day to travel and another to recover and prepare before the final showdown in Beijing. This time I intended to use a different strategy. I feigned tiredness in the morning and purposely qualified in eighth position, so as to race in lane eight where I could make a big push on the third lap without being seen so as to catch everyone off guard. To add to the excitement, butterfly and IM specialist, Olympic gold medalist, and world record holder Chad Le Clos, was swimming the IM. Out there in lane eight, I swam my own race, everything according to plan and touched the wall only to see that I was second again to Morozov despite swimming incredibly fast. I had done everything I could. But somehow on the last stop of the tour when everyone was the most tired, he had dropped half a second to go his best time. Wow.

Trinidad Express article.

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