Olympic gold-medal swimmer speaks from the heart

     I attended Clarke (College) University, graduating in 2009. The college, like many others, hosts several lectures throughout the school year, bringing in well-known figures to speak on various topics. These events are open to the public who choose to purchase tickets. In the past, some of the speakers I’ve heard include actor Danny Glover and journalist and activist Lisa Ling.

     Last week, I went to Clarke to hear from Olympic gold medal winner Anthony Ervin. (He even brought his most-recent gold medal with him!)

     Ervin has competed in three separate Olympic Games: 2000 Games in Sydney, 2012 Games in London, and 2016 Games in Rio.

     He’s won a total of three gold and one silver medal in his career. In Rio, he won gold in what he terms “his event,” the 50-meter freestyle. This qualified him as the oldest individual Olympic gold medal winner in swimming, at the age of 35. He also won a gold in the 4x100-meter relay for Team USA.

     Ervin wrote a book, “Chasing Water: Elegy of an Olympian.” It’s about his life growing up in an African-American and Jewish household, his rebel years in college with drinking and drugs, and his Olympic career.

     “I’m just one person and I try to do good,” Ervin told the crowd at Clarke.

     Ervin said he hopes people learn from his mistakes, rather than making the wrong mistakes themselves.

     Ervin also struggles with Tourettes, though you would never know it watching him speak for over an hour. He’s been able to manage the symptoms.

     He said in high school, those he thought were his friends distanced themselves from him due to having Tourettes. Once he joined the swim team in high school, he quickly learned who his true friends were.

     “I felt alone and isolated,” he said. “That’s not a healthy position you want to be in.”

     Ervin’s speech at Clarke was about morality and wellness. He said when he was in college, he definitely wasn’t well when he took a downward spiral due to drugs and alcohol. He said he felt free being in college, away from home, so he drank every day. He stopped going to swim team practices, and was benched during meets.

     “I credit my coach as an educator and a person,” he said. “He found a way to help me in my own way.”

     After getting back on track, Ervin started competing again and his wins and notoriety went straight to his head.

     When he competed in the 2000 Sydney Games, Ervin already thought he had the gold medal in the bag. He led the 4x100-meter relay, an event Team USA had not lost for decades. Due to his lead and cockiness, Ervin lost the relay for his team to rival Australia.

     “That forced me to deal with reality,” he said. “The minute you worry about someone else, your opponent, you’re done.”

     He said he allowed the other teams from around the world get into his head.

     After winning his first gold in the 50-meter freestyle in 2000, Ervin said something an NBC reporter asked him stayed with him. Rather than remark on his win, he was asked how it felt to be the first African-American swimmer to win a gold for Team USA.

     “I didn’t know how to respond,” he said. “I was reduced to the lowest common denominator as possible by the media.”

     After the Games, he went back to college with the same mentality: sleeping in and drinking. He said it was his way of escaping his identity.

     “I couldn’t be what the public wanted me to be,” he said.

     He had thoughts of suicide. Took a handful of pills.

     He took a break from swimming and started expressing himself through his music.

     Then, he needed a job. He was hired by a friend to teach at a swimming school in New York. Though he lacked confidence, Ervin said the kids quickly grew to love him.

     At the age of 27, he re-enrolled in college. Then, he went on to graduate school. There, he was assigned a self-reflection paper that really made him look back at his life.

     “There were things I never told people about,” he admitted. “It was quite a journey inward.”

     In 2011, he started working out again and competing in swimming trial events. This led to trying out for the 2016 Rio Games, and the rest, as they say, is Olympic history.

     After winning his gold in the 50-meter freestyle, Ervin said the media again bombarded him with an awkward question: “How does it feel to be the oldest swimmer to win gold?”

     “I just said that I did it for my team, my country, and my people,” he said. “The people who care about me, the people I choose to surround myself with.”

     Ervin’s message that night: Know where you’re coming from and who stays with you through it all.”