Starting Over from Scratch - Amy Van Dyken 

Colorado Springs Gazette, July 9, 2001.

By Meri-Jo Borzilleri/The Gazette
Reprinted with permission

Starting over from scratch
By Meri-Jo Borzilleri/The Gazette

MONUMENT -- Amy Van Dyken, six-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming, stood on the lake's edge at the start of the Saturn Triathlon at Monument on Sunday.

Van Dyken, 28, wore a white swim cap, black triathlon shorts and top, and her number (469) Magic-Markered onto her upper arm, just like the other 600 competitors standing in the sand along Lake Woodmoor.

The 600-yard swim was followed by a 15.2-mile bike ride and 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) run. It was Van Dyken's first conventional-distance triathlon since she retired from swimming following the Sydney Games.

Her first was the Winter Triathlon at Colorado College in February, where she finished sixth. Triathlons are more than just a hobby. She wants to make the sport her new career.

From the start of the triathlon, just like her early years in swimming, her mom and dad were there to cheer her on. They were joined by her husband, Denver Broncos punter Tom Rouen.
"When she first started swimming, we'd start by looking at the bottom of the results and go up," said her mom, Becky.

On this day, it was much the same. Van Dyken finished 28th of 32 in the women's 25-29 age group with a time of 2 hours, 10.5 seconds.

For Van Dyken, of Englewood, a swimming career filled with accomplishment is for now in the rear-view mirror. After so many years as queen of the pool, she was just one of many in a race-issue swim cap, nervously toeing the water while waiting for the start signal.

Sunday marked a new beginning, and Van Dyken couldn't have sounded happier.

"I was best at swimming for a time there and that was great," Van Dyken said. "Now let's move onto something else."

That is triathlon, where competitors have the privilege of pushing themselves to exhaustion in not just one, but three ways.

"I'm learning new things about myself," said Van Dyken, the only American woman to capture four golds in one Olympics when she won the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly, along with two relays, in 1996.

"First of all, I always thought I was a wimp," she said. "If I had to (swim) anything over 400 meters, I'd always whine and cry. I got used to the pain in swimming. With this new stuff, it's totally different. When you're jumping off the bike and running, there's pain."

Triathlon became an Olympic sport for the first time at Sydney. Van Dyken, her golds spread over two Olympics -- she added two relay wins in Sydney -- acknowledges the Games are "addictive." So, Amy, Athens in 2004?

"No, not right now," she says. "I don't think I can get that good that quickly. I don't know that me being a triathlete will get me there."

Instead, Van Dyken has set her sights on someday completing an Ironman, triathlon's ultimate endurance test: 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run.

Rouen, however, knows his ultra-competitive wife, the one who in her swimming days would work so hard in the weight room she'd throw up.

He says aloud what both might be thinking.

"Right now, it's a way to stay in shape and compete," he said. "Who knows? A lot can happen in 3½ years."

Van Dyken wasn't thinking about the future Sunday. She just wanted to get through the day. The swim came most naturally, but it still wasn't all that familiar. Big orange buoys, not lanes, marked the course.

"That was so weird to me," Van Dyken said. "I kept thinking, 'Where's the wall? I have to do a flip turn.'"

Her swim time was 8 minutes, 35 seconds, 119th-best overall. This was open water, not a climate-controlled pool.

"I jumped in and said, 'This is freezing,'" Van Dyken said cheerfully.

Then came the cycling leg. The Monument triathlon, in its 10th year, is infamous for its rugged bike course, which includes lots of hills. Van Dyken took 1:09:51 to finish, behind several competitors who looked decidedly un-Olympian.

Still, Van Dyken was upbeat. On one downhill, "I was flying. I actually screamed. We were having such a great time," she said.
Van Dyken has set her sights low for now. She sounded most proud about two things. One, she managed to cross the finish line running. Two, "I did not throw up."

Her run time was 38:12, 510th in the field. Van Dyken finished about 37 minutes behind her age-group winner, 46 minutes behind the overall winner.

Susan Williams (formerly Bartholomew), a pro triathlete on the U.S. national team, won the women's race in 1:14:28. Jennifer Gutierrez was second in 1:14:54. The men's race was won by another pro, Conrad Stoltz, in 1:06:08.

Williams said if Van Dyken wants to be an Olympic-level triathlete, it's no pipe dream. There's a precedent: Sheila Taormina, who won a swimming relay gold in 1996, made the transition to triathlon. She was sixth at Sydney. Van Dyken has spoken with her a few times.

"It can be done," Williams said.

Yet Williams said Taormina's body type, 5-foot-3, 115 pounds, smaller and lighter than Van Dyken, helps.

"I think it's easier to be a fast runner and be smaller," Williams said.

Van Dyken can't get shorter, but her body has undergone a transformation since Sydney. She still has a swimmer's wide shoulders, but is leaner overall. She figures she's lost 30-45 pounds since September.

"She can buy off the rack now," Rouen said.

Van Dyken looks different in high heels, too.

I actually have calf muscles," Van Dyken said.

And a tan. And some relief from her exercise-induced asthma, which has gotten better for the first time since she was diagnosed with allergies at 10 months old. Van Dyken has carried an inhaler for as long as she can remember. On Sunday, she stuck it in her sports bra, but didn't have to use it.

Day after day spent breathing chlorine fumes are over.

"A lot of people say I look a lot happier," she said. "The different types of exercise, getting out into the fresh air ... as hard as it is, I'm having a blast."

Psychologically, she no longer carries the burden of being the best. It's a different world for Van Dyken, the self-described "nerd" from 1996 and comeback story from 2000. She didn't spit in anyone's lane. She didn't trash-talk other competitors. Triathletes shared tips. One asked Van Dyken to sign a swim cap for his daughter.

She's a huge fan of yours," he said.

Van Dyken likes the attention. She also likes the anonymity that comes with being a neophyte.

"Having won six gold medals, people look at you as the person to beat," she said. "Now being in this new sport, I have people to watch. I'm not the best."

Van Dyken plans to compete in another triathlon Aug. 5, and perhaps a third this summer. It's a long way from here to an Ironman or Athens, but Van Dyken enjoys the view from below. For now, anyway.

"It's refreshing to be able to start at rock bottom and try to work your way up," she said.

Meri-Jo Borzilleri may be reached at 636-0259 or merijo@gazette.com