It happens to every athlete. Ryan Cochrane is at a career crossroads regarding his future.
“I am going to give myself time to see how I feel and what [those feelings] mean,” said the 27-year-old Victoria swimmer.
“I am definitely not too old. It will be more of an emotional decision [whether to retire or keep swimming].”
Cochrane will be making a public appearance today at 10:30 a.m. at the RBC main branch at 1079 Douglas Street, along with Rio Olympics relay bronze-medallist swimmer Emily Overholt of West Vancouver and rower Will Dean, who trains in Victoria.
Cochrane won bronze and silver medals in the 1,500-metre freestyle at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics before fading to sixth place this summer in the 2016 Rio Games.
Both Cochrane and fellow-Victoria swimmer Hilary Caldwell, who won Olympic bronze in the women’s 200-metre backstroke in Rio, are committed to the world short-course championships in December at Windsor, Ont.
“I will figure out the rest after that,” said Cochrane.
Caldwell, meanwhile, arrived back on the Island late last week after an extended post-Rio travel adventure with Cochrane and two other friends through Nicaragua. She was met at Swartz Bay by a sign-toting greeting party.
“It’s still not quite sunk in, yet. This [Olympic medal] is what I’ve worked for my whole life,” said Caldwell.
“Penny [Oleksiak] won four medals and sometimes you think this [single bronze] is not as important. But then it hits home: I have an Olympic medal. I am disappointed it’s not gold and it would have been great to hear the anthem playing. But it is validation for a lot of years of hard work. On the day, it was everything I had to give.”
The 25-year-old Caldwell, a two-time Olympian, is back training with Cochrane and readying for the world short-course championships in Windsor.
“Look how far our Canadian swim team has come with the six medals at Rio. In 2004 at Athens, there were no Canadian swim medals, and in 2008 at Beijing there was just Ryan’s,” noted Caldwell.
Next year offers the 2017 FINA world aquatics championships in Budapest, Hungary, and 2018 the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
“I proved I can do it. Success gives you confidence. I will take it one year at a time. I will swim the [2017 Budapest] world championships,” said Caldwell.
“I am not ruling out Tokyo [2020 Olympics], but that’s a long way away.”
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
