McIsaac dominated in the pool

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/06/2020 (1923 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Upsets are what make the NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament so terrific. It seems like every year there’s a Cinderella team that busts up brackets, coming out of nowhere and knocking off a Final Four favourite.

It turns out Sports Showdown, the Free Press sports department’s March Madness-style bracket to determine who readers choose as Manitoba’s greatest athlete of all time is no different as it featured an underdog story of its own.

Tim McIsaac, a blind Paralympic swimming legend from Winnipeg, was surprised when he got a text from his sister last month informing him he’d been included in the 32-person bracket. But the 14-time Paralympic gold medallist definitely proved he belonged as he defeated hockey star Jennifer Botterill in the first round before pulling off an unexpected victory over Canada’s most decorated Winter Olympian, speedskating icon Cindy Klassen, in the Super 16.

In the Excellent 8, McIsaac had the second-most votes that week. The only problem was he had fewer than speedskater/cyclist Clara Hughes, the athlete he was matched up against. “That’s not a bad person to lose to,” McIsaac said recently.

“I always wanted to be in a sighted club. I think it’s great they have the Paralympics because I don’t think you can compare an athlete with a disability against an able-bodied person any more than you can compare a man against a woman because of the physiology, but that doesn’t mean their accomplishments are any less.”

McIsaac had a wealth of supporters, with family, friends, co-workers, the Para-sport community and some of the volunteer groups he’s been involved with offering a collective push. Some of his support came from as far away as Brazil and Australia.

“It probably was more important to me than some of the other people in it. Obviously, I’d never be able to compete on an equal footing to any of the people in there due to me having a disability and them not. Partly it was because I thought I could stand against them in something and win. Partly it was because I thought if I did win, it would command more respect for Para-sport, the Paralympic movement and the sport of swimming,” said McIsaac, a 61-year-old who works as an accessibility co-ordinator for the Manitoba government.

“I’m not making the kind of money Jonathan Toews does, I don’t have people coming to me and saying ‘Be the face of our corporate citizen campaign’ like Clara Hughes has, I’m not a Lou Marsh trophy winner like Cindy Klassen is, and if I could’ve been the last one standing at the end, as a Paralympian, and a Paralympian who competed several years ago… I thought it would really be an accomplishment if the kind of love, respect and admiration that got me this far could take me the rest of the way.”

You can’t win ’em all, but McIsaac nearly did back in his swimming days in the 1980s.

In addition to his 14 Paralympic gold medals, McIsaac won four silver and five bronze. He also dominated the World Games, racing to five gold medals, four silver and eight bronze between from 1979-86. In 1982, he was named the Manitoba male athlete of the year and Canadian athlete of the year.

Despite having so many awards and medals he can’t even keep track of where they all are today, McIsaac said it’s not uncommon for his accomplishments — and those of other Paralympians — to be downplayed. He believes things have gotten better over the years, but there’s still a ways to go to change people’s perspectives on Para-sports.

“Maybe not so much now, but back when I was doing it, and I think there are still some people who think this, that Para-sport, sports for the disabled and the Paralympics are just some recreational, rehabilitation thing to give us something to do and help us overcome our insecurities, our challenges and all that kind of stuff. It never was that for me,” said McIsaac, from his Charleswood home.

“I always wanted to be in a sighted club. I think it’s great they have the Paralympics because I don’t think you can compare an athlete with a disability against an able-bodied person any more than you can compare a man against a woman because of the physiology, but that doesn’t mean their accomplishments are any less.”

“It was kind of like I could see. The pool was the one place out of all places I went in the world where my blindness was the least limiting to me.”

McIsaac was at his most comfortable in the pool — a star athlete representing his country around the world. However, when he retired from swimming in 1992 and got a job at a bank, he had a difficult time adjusting to life without competition.

“It was kind of like I could see. The pool was the one place out of all places I went in the world where my blindness was the least limiting to me,” said McIsaac, who began swimming as a youngster in his uncle’s backyard pool.

“Now I’m out in this work world and things like work ethic, motivation and all these other things just didn’t help me. They weren’t working. It just seemed like there were so many things beyond my control. Try as I might, I couldn’t impress people and I couldn’t be successful.”

McIsaac wanted to help others avoid the same challenges he did. He returned to school and obtained his masters in arts and disability studies at the University of Manitoba in 2011, and is now toward his masters in education with specialization in counselling psychology. McIsaac is a part of an initiative, led by performance psychologist Dr. Adrienne Leslie-Toogood and the Canadian Sports Centre Manitoba, called Terrific Tuesdays, a virtual support group for athletes, coaches and sport administrators during these uncertain times caused by the pandemic.

“I feel like I have an obligation to give something back, given all the privilege I’ve had in my life and the opportunity I have in my life.”

McIsaac was also behind Beyond The Glory, a group aimed to help athletes who are currently retired or about to retire from Paralympic Sport.

“I feel like I have an obligation to give something back, given all the privilege I’ve had in my life and the opportunity I have in my life,” said McIsaac, who has a 31-year-old son, Stephen. McIsaad has been married to his wife, Heather, for 20 years. “I know some of the things I’ve suffered in silence with for a long time and I feel like the way to pay forward that opportunity is to try and see if I can help people have an easier time.

“Not necessarily that it’ll be easier to train or easier to compete, but hopefully they can manage those things mentally better than I was able to because we didn’t have the kinds of supports that are out there now. I’d like to be one of the people out there that does some of that supporting. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be athletes. I’m happy to work with anybody.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31