Water - splash, swish, people swimming dolphin-like, warming up, getting ready for the contest to come. Venue: "Swim Oper", the largest indoor pool in Hamburg. The tribunes are full of spectators, it's difficult to get a seat, all the tickets are sold out. The reason: German swimming championship are taking place.

A few days earlier a friend had called, saying he'd be in Hamburg for a few day to support his son Johannes, who will be participating in the championship. Sure, I knew that Johannes had been training, swimming every day ever since he was 12 years old. I had seen all the medals and awards in his room, and recalled conversations we had had over the years: Johannes attending school and swimming, training and travelling to championships, Johannes' trainer who comes twice a week.

But my going to the championship was surely a very different thing…. It made me aware of how much all these participants train year round to qualify for the championship, and, after swimming in the competition, crawl out of the pool to go home and continue training - most of them disappointed not to have ranked in one of the first three positions. Johannes swims a minimum of 5 hours a day. Now that he has graduated from school and holds a job (something his parents insisted on) he swims 3 hours before and 3 hours after work. Just because he simply loves to swim.

Johannes finished third here in Hamburg. This means he was 2/100 of a second slower than the second-place contestant. He was disappointed! He had so wished that he would be second. Why? This would have meant that he could have been an individual swimmer at the up-coming world championship in Barcelona. But winning the third position meant that he would be only one of the 4 swimmers on the German relay team. And he had his heart so set on being a member of the German Olympic team next year in Athens!

A few weeks later while I was driving home I heard on the radio that the World Swimming Championship in Barcelona was taking place. I got home and saw that that someone had left a message on my answering machine: "Johannes Oestering is on TV". I turned the TV on just in time to see 4 guys all smiles. One of them was Johannes. They had actually swum and the team won the bronze metal in relay swimming! Which means they are the 3rd best relay swimming team in the world!

Athens - you bet!

Where can I get tickets?