Aug 11, 2010
PICKERING -- It is all coming together for Warren Barnes. The 25-year-old Pickering swimmer recently won three gold medals at the Canadian Summer Nationals in Victoria, B.C., earned a spot to the National Team and booked a ticket to compete at the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, California later this month.
"I was incredibly happy," Barnes said of making the National Team. "It's been a long road to get to this point. I am 25. Usually swimmers make it on the National Team around 18 or 20. I am a little bit older and it took me a little bit longer, but I think i just needed to find the right training centre and right coaches. They helped me get to where I am right now."
Watching the Winter Olympics in Vancouver earlier this year also helped Barnes reach his goals. You see, it was at that point that the former Dunbarton High School student and swimmer at the University of Pittsburgh realized that he wanted to put more into the sport that had given him a fair bit over the years. After toying in the past with thoughts of stepping away from the sport, Barnes says watching Canada come together and support their Olympic athletes back in February helped change his mindset.
"We train twice a day, every day except Sunday with weight training sessions in between. There were lots of times I woke up in the morning and I thought why am I doing this?" said the six-foot-three Barnes who works out a the UT High Performance Swimming Centre at the University of Toronto, under the tutelage of John Rogers and Byron MacDonald.
"We don't make that much money either so I thought about just getting a job. But after watching the Vancouver Olympics, it just really inspired me because it brought Canada together, really united Canada as a nation, I thought. I really want to be a part of that in the summer of 2012."
And while he looks every bit the part of a late bloomer at this point, Barnes feels he keeps posting results like he did at Nationals in winning three golds, one each in the 50 metre, 100m and 200m breaststroke events, then the Olympics may be a realistic goal.
"I think right now I just need to de exactly what I am doing," he explained. "I am taking little baby steps. I came into Nationals and achieved two life goals I'v wanted to do in win Nationals and make my first Nationals A Team. So I think that I am just going to go back to my training centre and keep pushing forward."
In the 100m event, a swim Barnes calls his specialty, Barnes posted a personal best in the morning swim, clocking a 1:02.00 before taking gold with a 1:02.07 just hours later.
"It was a little off, but I was still pretty happy with it as it allowed me to get the victory," he said.
The Pan Pacific's will offer another opportunity for him to show the swimming world just how far he's come. And it's an opportunity he plans to make the best of.
"This is a chance for me to race the very best in the world in my event," he notes. "I am going to go there and learn from the best, watch them, see what they do, see how they warm up, see how much they drink, see if they do any dry land before they race. It's going to be great."
A top finish at Pan Pacific's will put Barnes in a position to earn a spot on Canada's Commonwealth Team, he says. Barnes's progress can be tracked through his Facebook group 'Warren Barnes 2012' or on his website at www.warrenbarnes2012.blogspot.com
-Shawn Cayley
Durham Region News
