Wrong body, the right attitude

When I read about athletes who are dissatisfied with what their “natural” bodies are able to accomplish and determined to do nearly anything to perform better, I reflect on my own experience with a body that was not perfect for what I longed to be -- an Olympic swimmer.

I was good. I swam the distance events for my age group and competed in the top contests. But by age 14, it was clear that I was not bound for glory -- at least not in the standard areas of athletic competition.

I did not, however, quit sports. And I did not take performance-enhancing drugs. I concentrated, rather, on what my body could do and expanded my notion of the sport of swimming, of what I was physically capable of doing and of what I had a passion for. That year, I swam from Santa Catalina Island to Los Angeles. At age 15, I set the record for the fastest swim across the English Channel. Looking back, I see that my experience as an athlete may offer a lesson for others.

As I gained attention for my accomplishments, the issue of performance enhancement began to haunt the sports world. I knew athletes who used performance-enhancing drugs. Today, I believe the use of these drugs is even more widespread in sports and across society as a whole than has been reported.

I don’t admire the achievements of people who use technological advances to boost their performance. To me they are cheaters. And they are dumb, ignoring side effects that can include major damage to the athlete and his or her offspring.

My father is a physician, and when I was a child he explained that for every drug someone takes, there is a side effect. The more drugs taken, the more the side effects compound. I’ve always wanted to succeed with what I could find within my body, mind and spirit.

As the years passed, my goals expanded and I succeeded in a series of swimming firsts: first across the Strait of Magellan and around the Cape of Good Hope. First across the Bering Strait from the United States to the Soviet Union. First to swim the frigid waters of Antarctica, from a boat a mile offshore.

I’ve found joy in each of these athletic endeavors, and I still take pride in my accomplishments. I feel lucky to have learned early that for success to satisfy, it must be real.