This was my first practice back in the buildup towards the 2012 Olympics next summer. I eased into it with a leisurely open water swim at Maracas Bay.

This is the first part and into of a multipart season long series about preparing for the upcoming 2012 Olympics.

SWIM from George Bovell on Vimeo.

I would like to take the time to thank all of the people who have stood by me and have wished me a speedy recovery over the last few days. I would like to thanks Andrew Potts, Imran Jan and Dr. Mohammed who assisted me on the roadside after my accident.

I am currently resting at home and restlessly looking forward to resuming my training.  I have had a headache like a bad hangover for a few days and some vision problems but I see perfectly again and the headache is now very faint and improves daily.

I firmly believe that you can’t always affect the circumstances but can control your attitude towards them. In some ways this down time, so far its been 1.5 weeks, may actually be a good thing. It was an incredibly arduous year with two seasons rolled into one long one with no rest. This is  because of the Pan American Games falling in October in between the World Champs and the upcoming Olympics. This forced rest will make me come back more hungry, fresh and both physically and mentally and tougher as I build up again and start the Olympic season. Woah!, that word Olympic just gives me goosebumps.

I haven’t yet ruled out the Pan Am Games in October but currently I am of the opinion that refocussing on the Olympics next year and getting into my base training again might be the more prudent move. I have already been to three Games and have won 5 medals, am deep down inside seeking a 6th. I will see how things go next week when I start to ease back into training and then play things by ear.

Have I learnt anything from this? Yes, I need to strive for more balance in my life. Time for family, enjoyment and working towards goals. I have tended to become too focused on the end result of desired success to much and have neglected other aspects of my life. I need to make success the by product of enjoying the process and striving to be the best I can be.

For those of you who don’t know I was recently in a terrible car accident, and luckiy walked away. Below is an  fairly accurate exceprt form one of the local newspapers, the Newsday.

Olympic bronze medallist George Bovell III cheated death yesterday morning after he crashed his car in an accident while on his way to spearfish at an oil platform in Mayaro.

Bovell was in the Manzanilla area at about 7.05 am when his car collided with a truck proceeding in the opposite direction.

The three-time Olympic swimmer, who was diagnosed with a concussion, was assisted by passers-by including former national cricketer Imran Jan and his wife who is a doctor.

The former Sportsman of the Year, who was unconscious, was rushed to the Sangre Grande District Hospital where he received initial treatment and was stabilised.

A CAT (CT) scan was done which showed no major damage except for “one area of concern”. He was then transferred to the St Clair Medical Centre in Port-of-Spain where he was warded and neurosurgeons there carried out additional tests which revealed he was concussed.

The 28-year-old, who initially was unable to recall the accident, also suffered cuts and contusions to his head, lacerations on his left ankle and complained of blurred vision while at St Clair Medical Centre.

He is however, resting comfortably at the institution with his relieved family and is expected to be kept overnight for observation.

A nervous-looking Minister of Sports Anil Roberts as well as former national swimmer Paul Newallo were present at St Clair Medical Centre awaiting Bovell who arrived in an ambulance, at about 12 noon, and spoke briefly to Roberts who is also Bovell’s personal coach.

“I thank God that he is alright. Trinidad and Tobago, we can say a prayer that he is okay. They are going to observe and we await for the final report on the little portion (of concern identified in the CT scan). You know once you are dealing with the brain, I will always be a little concerned but the good thing is his memory has come back and there are no broken bones,” said Roberts.

According to Roberts, Bovell, after an early training session, was driving by himself to Mayaro to spearfish, one of his favourite hobbies, with a professional free diver.

“The car that he was driving (there were) some little problems with the brakes. When he was coming around a corner, the brakes locked up (and) he lost control. There was an oncoming truck, I believe, he saw it coming (and) luckily because he is an athlete…he was able even though his seatbelt was on…to shift his entire body weight to the passenger side. From what he tells me, the entire driver side was crushed and caved in. Had he been trapped in there, it could have been much worse,” Roberts exclaimed.

The Sports Minister said he was lost for words when he heard the news but immediately began making calls to get apprised of the situation.

“I was speechless,” Roberts stammered, “I asked about four times if it was his father (George Bovell II) because I know George (III) trained last night (and) this morning (yesterday) and everything was okay. Immediately I was in contact with his uncle Richard (Bovell) and I was getting full reports and updates so about five minutes after I was calmer knowing he was alright,” he said.

Bovell earned TT’s first-ever Olympic swim medal, claiming bronze at the 2004 Olympics in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley in one minute, 58.50 seconds.

Roberts was reluctant to say whether the injury could curtail the former Sportsman of the Year’s preparation for the Pan Am Games scheduled for October 14–30, 2011 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

“I have to see under their bandages how much stitches there are (because) if there are stitches he won’t be able to go in the water which will hold us back a little bit because October is right there. If that is the case and he can’t go in the pool, we will have to be creative and do (training) in the gym and cross-training,” he explained.

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HEAD SWIMMING

So I arrived in China with my coach Anil Roberts and my Physio Ian Sharpe 12 days early to acclimatize, overcome the jetlag and settle into a routine. They say one day is needed for every hour of time change. I enjoyed by 28th birthday during this time.
Things came together nicely, good food, good rest and fine tuning. I was becoming more optimistic about my chances every day, the energy building up in me much in the way a hurricane picks up strength out in the Ocean as it moves closer to the land.
The storm hit the coast on the 29 at 9:17 am. I came out of the blocks blazing with a stellar first 25, perfect, on pace for something special. Looking back I guess I realized I was in front and let my mind drift from the moment and became complacent in the 2nd 25. I tied for 1st in my heat and qualified first for the semifinals in a three-way tie with Nathan Adrian of the United States and Cesar Cielo of Brazil. It was a good place to be.
I came out really aggressive in the semi finals, with a type of energy that i would not describe as my cool calm fight confidence but rather an angry, impatient, macho, sort of energy. I beleive this resulted in one of my worst dives ever. I used this impatiennce to what i thought was an advantage by reacting very quickly off the start but in doing so I pulled my self down with my arms. This resulted in a trajectory that was short and deep. To avert disaster and diving to the bottom of the pool i had to change direction sharply to aim back up to the surface. When ever you have a sharp change of direction like this it kills your speed. I had to push the panic button and storm back into the race, coming from behind right up until the finish. But man what a stellar finish i pulled out. A left hand finish that was timed perfectly to fit to my cadence and hit the wall flush. Just thinking about makes me smile. I was on track to miss out on the final but I dodged that bullet when I out-touched Sergiy Fesikov of Russia and he took the bullet in the face. It was payback for Dubai when he got the bronze and me 4th. From 3rd – 8th all squeezed into .1 of a second. Its crazy when you think about it. Talk about stress and details.
The final was a solid effort, I came out with my cool, stoic calm but I made a conscious bad call during the race that I believe cost me the race. I could feel my stroke rate slowing down with about 15m to go. I decided to try to keep my stroke rate high at the expense of my distance per stroke and rotation. This was ever so slightly slower and caused me to arrive at the wall and awkwardly between strokes resulting in a slightly longer reach and glide to touch the wall. I was 7th and so disappointed. Once again just like the semi finals 2nd-7th all squeezed into .12 of a second. When things are that close its hard to let go and stop thinking about what slight detail you could have changed. in all those months of training and the 21-22 seconds of the race that would have given you that edge.
My times were. 22.03 heats – 22.02 semi final – and 22.04 for the final.
No I am taking an extra week to take in the vibe here in Shanghai. I really like this city.