Personal Statement - Tianxin L.

Splash! I dive in the water pushing as hard as I could with my legs off the diving block. The cold water splashed against my skin, cooling me down from the humid pool room I was in. I could hear cheers from my family, friends, and coaches shouting “Go Tian!”

This was my 3rd swimming event at my first swim meet of this year. I was already exhausted from the first two events, which I had no more than three minutes in between to rest. The event I was getting ready to swim in was the 200 IM Relay which consists of the strokes backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle, 50-meters of each stroke. I was the third one up and I was swimming a 50-meter butterfly. I was nervous, so nervous that I could feel myself trembling.

The moment I hit the water my goggles fell off. I started to panic and started to rethink everything that happened right before I dived off the block. Memories were just racing through my mind but at that moment I knew that I had no time to think about that, all I needed to do was swim, and fast because my entire team needed me since we were already falling behind.

At that moment I wanted to keep my eyes closed tightly away from the pool water, but from the inside I knew if I wanted to swim fast then I needed to first swim straight, so I had to open my eyes. My arms and legs were sore, and my eyes were hurting from the chlorine water but with everyone cheering me on I couldn’t let them down.

Then finally I finished my part in the 200 IM. I was out of breath and could barely speak. My team was shouting at me, but it was so noisy I could not hear what they were saying. I looked at the final heat of swimmers in the lane and realized that I had caught my team up in first place! I was thrilled! I couldn’t believe it. I pinched myself on my cheek. “Ouch!” Everything was real! I wasn’t dreaming!

In the end our team got 2nd place, we were just 0.2 seconds slower than 1st place. Our team was disappointed but then cheered up quickly because everyone had tried their best so there was nothing to be upset about. Ramana Maharshi said “No one succeeds without effort… Those who succeed owe their success to perseverance.”