{"id":471874,"date":"2021-05-10T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T13:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=471874"},"modified":"2021-05-10T07:57:14","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T14:57:14","slug":"olympic-spot-in-hand-markus-thormeyer-chasing-more-at-canadian-trials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/olympic-spot-in-hand-markus-thormeyer-chasing-more-at-canadian-trials\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic Spot in Hand, Markus Thormeyer Chasing More at Canadian Trials"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olympic Spot in Hand, Markus Thormeyer Chasing More at Canadian Trials<\/strong><\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic left Markus Thormeyer<\/strong> out of the water for four months last year. From March through the end of July, through a postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Thormeyer was unable to train. Instead, he and the other swimmers at Swimming Canada\u2019s High Performance Centre at the University of British Columbia were left to train outdoors, cobbling together socially distant dryland workouts for several months.<\/p>\n

Those sessions didn\u2019t just fill a void of physical activity. It also helped make up for the isolation of the moment. Already engaged in the inherently isolating quest to qualify for an Olympics, which Thormeyer gently points out isn\u2019t easy when there\u2019s isn\u2019t the shroud of a world-shuttering pandemic, the camaraderie at UBC<\/a> was a vital survival mechanism through the darkest months.<\/p>\n

\"Markus

Markus Thormeyer; Photo Courtesy: MIKE LEWIS \/ ISL<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI think being close with your teammates is always important,\u201d Thormeyer told\u00a0Swimming World <\/em>recently. \u201cPandemic aside, I think we\u2019ve all been there for each other all the time. I feel like when that happens, the group is just better, so we already have this relationship of we\u2019re super close. When the pandemic hit, it was a support system. I definitely couldn\u2019t do it alone, and probably they feel the same in that we\u2019re all relying on each other. It\u2019s like a little web of support, and we\u2019re all super grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year after swimming and everything else came to a crashing halt, Thormeyer feels good about his standing as Tokyo belatedly approaches. He was provisionally selected in January to the Olympic squad<\/a> in the 200 backstroke, the only men\u2019s swimmer in Canada\u2019s early contingent and the flagbearer for the program<\/a>. It offers a modicum of peace of mind ahead to the now twice-delayed Canadian Trials (Thormeyer spoke to Swimming World<\/em> before last week\u2019s latest postponement of Trials to June<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Though Thormeyer hasn\u2019t raced long-course since before the pandemic, he\u2019s not worried about form. The International Swimming League season last fall helps, but so does the support system he\u2019s embedded with in British Columbia, a group of swimmers that have tackled the pandemic together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not freaking out about having not raced long-course in over a year now, but I\u2019m curious what\u2019s going to happen. \u2026 That time off feels pretty irrelevant. I\u2019ve improved beyond where I was last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Friend for the End of Normal<\/h4>\n

Markus Thormeyer has spent most of the pandemic at UBC. In addition to Swimming Canada\u2019s facilities, the Delta, B.C., native has availed himself of the school\u2019s natural setting: With the campus perched on the Strait of Georgia, beach days were a common lockdown respite.<\/p>\n

The training group as a whole is close, Thormeyer said. But he\u2019s particularly bonded to roommate Emily Overholt.<\/strong> Both 23 and BC natives, they\u2019ve known each other for years. Their connection is so close that Thormeyer struggles to put into words the feeling of security and freedom to be his usual gregarious self around Overholt.<\/p>\n

Their journey together has lasted for years, not just to major international meets but through significant life events away from the pool, from Overholt\u2019s public battle with depression<\/a> to Thormeyer\u2019s coming out as gay in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been there for each other\u2019s highs, and we\u2019ve been there for each other\u2019s lows,\u201d he said. \u201cKnowing that someone like that is there for you, that you have a very strong relationship with, you feel secure with them. You have a stable relationship that, on my bad days, I know that she\u2019s there for me. On my good days, I know that she\u2019ll celebrate with me, and the other way around.\u201d<\/p>\n

That last event came at an interestingly timed juncture. Thormeyer penned an essay for OutSports in February 2020<\/a> about coming out as gay and what that process has meant for him as a swimmer. Putting his thoughts into words was a long process, something he started and stopped several times over a couple of years.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t think much of it when he finally hit send and didn\u2019t attach expectations to how it would be received. Even now, he self-effacingly credits much of the response to people being bored online during the pandemic. But he\u2019s been encouraged by the response, not in the larger sense of social media shares and readership but in the granular and personal interactions it\u2019s led to.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to write something that I\u2019m proud of and hopefully one person would read it and be inspired by it,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I kind of just submitted and didn\u2019t really think about it and moved on. And then all that stuff happened with the pandemic (in March) and my story got picked up and spread around a little bit, which was really nice. I got a lot of messages of, \u2018thank you for sharing your story; you\u2019ve inspired me,\u2019 or, \u2018I\u2019m going through a tough time and that really helped.\u2019 I think me doing that gave an element of LGBT representation in swimming and sport, and I realize now that\u2019s such a big thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thormeyer says he didn\u2019t feel discriminated against or targeted for his sexuality growing up. But he hopes the essay can go further than the absence of discrimination for LGBTQ representation. Instead of a masculine swimming culture defaulting to an assumption that every swimmer is straight, telling his story offers others a different role model for people who don\u2019t see themselves in that archetype. And, as he says, if it has helped just one person, it would be worth confronting the fear of being an out athlete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere also needs to be swimmers who are expressing this and who young people can look up to and say, oh wow that swimmer is an international-level gay swimmer; maybe I can be that too,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just straight people in sport. It\u2019s literally anyone. I think being a role model and inspiring other young, gay swimmers to swim, and they don\u2019t even have to be international level. But if they swim and are out and proud of who they are, I\u2019m hoping those swimmers can also inspire other people to be who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Budapest and Beyond<\/h4>\n

For all the training disruptions in Canada, the ISL season was an oasis for Markus Thormeyer.<\/p>\n

First and foremost was safety. Where a positive test would send everyone in the training group home for a week of quarantine in Canada, testing was constant in the Budapest bubble. It gave Thormeyer the equanimity to know he was in a virus-free environment.<\/p>\n

\"Olympic

Markus Thormeyer; Photo Courtesy: Scott Grant\/Swimming Canada<\/p><\/div>\n

The full-time immersion in a swimming-focused setting also helped reignite Thormeyer for the stretch run to Tokyo. He settled in well with the expansion Tokyo Frog Kings, which made the semifinals in their first season.<\/p>\n

Thormeyer posted the ninth-fastest time in the 200 back in the league and was in the top 25 in three other events. He also lowered the Canadian record in that event<\/a>. Perhaps most enlightening for Thormeyer was swimming alongside three-time Olympic medalist Ryosuke Irie<\/strong> every day, training with someone he hopes to occupy the Olympic final with in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always looked up to him, so training with him, I was like, \u2018oh I\u2019m actually kind of keeping up on some stuff,\u2019 even sometimes at full speed,\u201d Thormeyer said. \u201cI had this complete image in my mind of him being an absolute god, and then to be there and be like, \u2018oh I can actually do this too, I\u2019m not too far back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his ticket to Tokyo, Thormeyer said his approach to Trials won\u2019t change. He\u2019s the leading men\u2019s swimmer in the Canadian program, one that has promising young talents but is a clear second fiddle to the ascendent women\u2019s program. (Hence the five women added to the Tokyo roster and Thormeyer as the lone man.)<\/p>\n

While Thormeyer\u2019s place is set in the 200 back, he\u2019s after bigger fish. He could make the Games in the 100 back and 200 freestyle. That would put him in contention for two men\u2019s relays, and barring a sudden surge of sprinters, he\u2019ll likely earn a place on the 400 free foursome. (An 18-year-old Thormeyer made the 400 free relay in Rio for his Olympic debut).<\/p>\n

Thormeyer swam three individual events and four relays at the 2019 World Championships and nabbed a bronze medal in the mixed 400 free relay at 2017 Worlds. His specialties make him a candidate all over the board.<\/p>\n

Part of his mentality for Trials, should they happen, is to go into them with a mentality befitting such a dominant swimmer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have a spot on the team,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really change it. I\u2019m going to Trials to swim fast, and I need to qualify for more events. Olympic Trials is still Olympic Trials to me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Olympic Spot in Hand, Markus Thormeyer Chasing More at Canadian Trials The COVID-19 pandemic left Markus Thormeyer out of the water for four months last year. From March through 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