Took wins Boys 14 yrs 400m Individual Medley final

John Took went to Nationals with modest expectations. Instead, Perth resulted in two gold medals.

Going in to the National Age meet, John had fairly modest expectations. He had an ordinary State meet (by his standards) but had bounced back quite nicely at the Olympic trials, swimming close to his best times again.

John had not swum fully tapered for a year, and knew that he was in an incredibly strong age group. The 14 year boys boasted no less than 4 National record holders, and looking at the form on the board, medals were not considered goals for the meet.

John’s goals were to make as many finals as possible, to swim PB’s and to make the NSW Sharks squad, which this year has very difficult entry times. John was entered in 7 individual events and 2 relay teams.

On day one, John made the finals of the 200 breast (7th) and the 100 fly (8th) in PB times, just missing sub 00 on the fly by 0.12sec. On day two John placed 4th in the final of the 200 fly in a PB time of 2.12.56 but was later given the bronze medal due to the disqualification of Garth Kates (not an Australian citizen).

Day two also saw him win Gold as part of the MLC Marlins outstanding, Australian record breaking, Club Medley Relay team. (Steve Messervy’s report on the race is inspirational reading).

On day three, John qualified 4th fastest in to the final of the 100 back and finished 5th in a time of 1.01.20. Two simmers in that race both smashed Ian Thorpe’s record, and the top five boys all swam faster than last years winner! The buzz on pool deck about the quality of the age group was quite evident.

Day four saw John place fifth in the final of the 200IM, in a time of 2.13.63. Once again the top 5 boys swam faster than last year’s winner. The MLC Marlins relay team placed second in the freestyle relay, led out by John in a time of 26.16 (a massive 1.12 second PB).

By day five the pressure of four days of heats and finals was beginning to tell, but John did well to qualify 4th for the final of the 200 back. The anticipation of the final producing a new record was palpable with Arnamnart and Jovanovich going head to head again. John still had to swim the heats of the 400IM, with medals to be presented to 15 year olds and 14 and under’s. As the fastest ranked 14 year old John new he could not afford to take any risks and had to swim the heat as if it were a timed final. Missing the final could mean missing out on the Gold (or any other medal).

John took it out hard in the fly splitting 1.03.21, and kept it going in the back to turn at the 200 in 2.16.33. His breaststroke looked typically strong and when he turned in 3.39.55, we new that we were looking at a new PB. He came home very strong in the freestyle to finish fastest Australian (14 or 15) in a very slick 4.44.66.

Once again John was the last swimmer to leave the swim down pool and drove home to the hotel that afternoon with his coach. Three fourteen year olds had made the final so we new that the medals would all be contested in the pool that night. What John Bladon did not know was that John was harbouring a burning ambition to win the Gold and get a place on the Fisher and Paykell National Youth Team. There had been no talk of medals all week and no pressure had been put on John to win medals, but this was the one that he wanted badly.

He came back on the final night and swam in the final of the 200 back. Once again the Australian record was smashed by Danny Arnamnart, and John did well to finish 5th in a creditable time of 2.12.42. Once again the top five boys went faster than last year’s winner and as it turned out this was the only event in which John did not PB. In the stands, we had the feeling that part of his mind was on the final of the 400IM!

Swimming in lane five John must have felt the pressure as the names were announced. Going down the first 50 of fly in 28.94 we could see that he was in no mood to mess around, rounding the 100 mark in 1.02.92. He kept it going in the back and hit the halfway mark at 2.15.53 (0.8sec quicker than his morning swim). He was coming 4th in the race behind the two visitors and Michael Hardy, who were all 15 year olds. The early pace and the rigours of five days of racing seemed to be taking their toll as John’s lead was being threatened by a fast finishing Andrew Davis in lane 8. John still managed to finish the breastroke leg slightly ahead of this heat time. Being five or six body lengths in front of his nearest rival John seemed to have it under control coming home and finished well in a time of 4.44.80 to take the gold medal.

In the swim down pool he was informed that he had won a spot on the Fisher and Paykell team, much to his delight and relief.

He then headed off to the disco where it is understood that he behaved quite badly.