News

Randy Bennett had a story to tell about Canada's first Olympic swimming medalist in eight years.

It seemed that one morning, Bennett, the coach and director of Island Swimming in Victoria, arrived at the pool to see Ryan Cochrane goofing around the way all 14-year-olds do.

"He was being a little bugger," said Bennett, who promptly ordered what he called "a ridiculous" workout that required Cochrane to swim 8,000 metres in 1 hour 45 minutes.

About an hour into the workout, Bennett had a change of heart, figured he was being too tough on Cochrane.

"I went to check on him," Bennett recalled with a wry grin. "He finished the set, got out of the pool … and he flipped me the bird and walked out. He's stubborn, but that's what makes him great."

Cochrane produced a symbolic flipping of the bird on Sunday to those who thought Canada was going to leave Beijing without a podium finish in swimming. The 19-year-old Victoria teenager swam in the 1,500-metre event against Australian Grant Hackett, who was out to make history as the first man to win the event in three consecutive Olympics.

Cochrane started fast and was leading the race for 1,100 metres, only to be passed by Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia, who won the gold medal, and Hackett, who took the silver. Cochrane's bronze was Canada's first swim medal since Curtis Myden finished third in the 400 individual medley at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Cochrane served notice he'd be among the leaders by posting a world-record time in his semi-final heat. Hackett took it back minutes later, but the message had been sent: the last man in the pool for Canada wasn't going to be so easy to ditch.

"It took a lot out of me going into the final, but that's what I had to do to make it," Cochrane said of his strategy. "It was such a fast event that I knew everyone was going to be tired. … I took it out just as hard as I could. I paid for it in the second half, but that was what I needed to do to get to the podium."

Cochrane's showing was a splendid end to what had been a successful Olympic meet for Canada, but not so successful as to narrow the gap created by the top countries (the United States, Australia and France). Overall, Canada blasted its suspect efforts at the Athens Olympics of 2004 right out of the water.

With the aid of Speedo's LZR Racer swimsuit and a pool described by insiders as "bullet fast," the 27-member Canadian team set 26 national records and 30 personal bests and advanced to 10 finals. That Cochrane reached the podium while others on the team hadn't (Brent Hayden, the men's 4 x 200-metre relay team, and Mike Brown) validated Canada's progress in a tangible way.

The trick now is enhancing that progress to the London Olympics of 2012, where Swimming Canada has promised to triple its output and deliver three medals.

"It's working," said Pierre Lafontaine, the chief executive officer of Swimming Canada. "The [swim] clubs are working and the plan and program are coming along. We have to keep developing our coaches and help communities open the pools to clubs without being too expensive [so more kids can swim longer]. We want to bring our teams together often, for little camps. In four years, we need to get ready to win."

Canada has several swimmers who will be at their prime in London — Erica Morningstar, Julia Wilkinson, Mathieu Bois and Joel Greenshields. But Cochrane has already stood on an Olympic podium and basked in the limelight. If he's stubborn enough, he may be back in a bigger way. His coach thinks so.

"I think he's the fastest improving 1,500 freestyler in the world over the last couple of years," Bennett said. "If you track his progression, he's been on that curve. There is no replacement for hard work and Ryan dives into the pool and swims hard every day. There's no quarter."

Cochrane made the final in the 800-metre event at last year's world championship and owned the Canadian 1,500 record before heading to China. He routinely swims 70 kilometres a week and does so 45 weeks of the year. It's a lung-bursting, arm-aching schedule, but Cochrane's bullheadedness has taken him to the first step of greatness.

The hope is that others will follow, and quickly.