Huge medal haul in Brazil for swimmer

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This article was published 04/07/2012 (5177 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thomas Osborn is just starting to establish himself as a competitive swimmer at the national level. But in the world of deaf swimming, he’s already world-class.

Osborn, a 15-year-old from River Heights, recently returned from the Pan American Games for the Deaf in Santos, Brazil, where he won seven medals for Canada in the pool.

The Manitoba Marlins member was part of gold medal-winning teams in the 4 X 200-metre freestyle relay and the 4 X 100-metre medley, in which he swam the freestyle leg.

Individually, he won silver in the 400- and 1,500-metre freestyle and the 200-metre individual medley, and bronze in the 100- and 200-metre freestyle.

Osborn said much of the success was because of his prior experience at the World Deaf Swim Championships in Portugal last year.

“I had a taste of what it was like to be away from a familiar pool, so I wasn’t as nervous,” said the Kelvin High School student, who was the youngest Canadian swimmer in Brazil.

Considering he didn’t taper his training specifically for the Pan Am meet, Osborn was thrilled to come home with so much hardware.

“I didn’t know how fast the competition was going to be,” he said, modestly pointing out that the U.S. didn’t participate and many of the top deaf swimming nations are from Europe. “I was ecstatic. The whole team came back with medals.”

Osborn has already posted fast enough times to qualify for next year’s Deaflympics in Budapest.

While Osborn can hear and communicate quite well with a cochlear implant and hearing aid, he has to take them off when he’s in the pool. Without those devices, his world is one of virtual silence.

That means having a significant disadvantage when racing against swimmers who can hear, as Osborn is forced to watch for a light to signal the start — a light that isn’t easy to see from several lanes — rather than listening for the buzzer.

Training is also a challenge for Osborn, who can’t take verbal feedback from his coaches the way his teammates can.

“Because I can’t hear, I don’t get the best technical development,” Osborn said. “I keep doing the (incorrect) technique sometimes because I don’t get it.”

Osborn and his family have nothing but praise for the Marlins’ coaching staff, which has done everything in its power to give him the same level of instruction as anyone else.

Special software allows head coach Dave Guthrie to dictate instructions into a headset and have them appear on a computer monitor for Osborn to read as he swims by.

“In training, 99% of my job is communicating,” Guthrie said. “It was a struggle in the beginning. I try to monitor swimmers’ speeds and call out how fast they’re going. Before, Thomas never knew how fast he was swimming.”

The next tests for Osborn will come later this summer at the Canadian Age Group Championships in Calgary and the Western Canadian Championships.

Guthrie said the longer events, in which the start isn’t a major factor, are where Osborn could make his mark.

“He just winds up and keeps on hammering,” Guthrie said. “He’s not afraid to hurt.”

avi.saper@canstarnews.com