Fastest man in the pool

He’s one of Britain’s greatest sprinters but put him in open water and Mark Foster admits that without a pool tank or lane ropes his mind immediately thinks about Jaws. Ella Foote talks to him about luck, humility, and finally telling his whole story

Mark Foster doesn’t really like open water swimming. He will do it, a sea dip just off the beach, but he won’t “go out, out.” He blames Jaws. He was just 11 when Steven Spielberg’s thrilling monster movie was first shown on UK television. He shouldn’t have watched it but if he hadn’t, he may not have become the sprint swimmer he is famous for.

A five-time Olympian, six-time World Champion and eight-time World Record holder, Mark Foster has been the fastest man in the pool many times in his career and in his new book, My Double Life, he shares the highs and lows of his impressive career in and out of the pool, including crediting Steven Spielberg for moulding him into a sprint swimmer.

The morning after watching Jaws, Mark became gripped with fear while swimming over the drain gate at the bottom of his local pool. We have all been there, swimming with just our own thoughts and on this day Mark’s thoughts were about what could come out of the drain grate. As with most pools, there were several grates to swim over and not wanting to admit to his coach what was going on in his head, he decided to sprint whenever he got near to one.

As he resumed the gruelling length training, he sprinted every time he neared a drain. Over time, he realised he could produce these sprints again and again with thoughts of a great white appearing in the Southend Pool. Sprint swimming became fun and a break from the endurance training he was used to and he could really move in the water. He became the world’s fastest swimmer in his age group and remained fastest in the world every year as he swam towards senior swimming.

“This just shows you the power of the mind,” he says. “It can be a positive tool, but we can take ourselves to some weird places.” Jaws made him a sprinter.

It is a very funny and very human thing for one of Britain’s greatest ever pool swimmers to admit, but it is also a great example of the kind of man Mark is. Despite being extremely good at swimming, he never takes that or himself too seriously. His humility and grace are what makes him such a sportsman; it’s also what makes his book such a joy to read. It was the people around Mark that made him who he is today. His mother getting him up at 5am daily and recognising his talent. The coaches, swimmers, friends and fellow Olympians throughout his career who showed him the way, or a new approach to his swimming, fitness or personal life. He talks about luck and talent with gratitude rather than something he was owed.

“I feel incredibly lucky to have had the career I did,” he says. Even when discussing his skill at the short course, 25-metre, he puts it down to geography rather than talent. “I was better at the short course because of the pool where I trained,” he says. “Back then there was a lack of 50-metre pools in the UK, we used to joke there were more 50-metre pools in Paris than there were in the whole of the UK. I swam in a 25-metre pool year-round until it came to competitions.”

The book follows Mark’s career from his 25-metre pool sessions in Southend, Essex, where he grew up, through a 20-year career in the pool to appearing on Strictly Come Dancing. He shares countless stories of his time growing up with other sporting heroes as his mates, including almost drowning Linford Cristie and how Colin Jackson shaped his dryland-training when he lived in Bath.

There lots of personal stories, too, including grief after losing friend and fellow-athlete Ross Baillie as well his ongoing struggles with hiding his sexuality.

“I had often thought about a book and had been approached a few times,” says Mark. “Everyone has a journey and a story, but I am not someone who often shares a lot about myself and I had hid my life for so long, why would I want everyone to know about it now? But, when I have shown vulnerability, often when I am doing speaker events, it is amazing what people will share back and what people can take from it. I told my Ghost Writer (Tom Connolly) I needed a why. I needed there to be meaning, so I wrote this book to help somebody who might be struggling with identity. There might be a person in the world who is struggling with identity, whatever that is, not just sexuality. A lot of people go out in the world hiding their sexuality, faith or trying to fit in – if I can help one person by sharing my story then I have done my bit.”

While there is a lot of great personal anecdotes alongside swimming stories, there is a lot of brilliant content around swimming itself and how the sport has changed and developed over the years. If you are into your competition swimming, this book is a joy with many tales and technique flowing through the years of Olympics, Commonwealth Games and championships.

It is a great reminder of the people and community in swimming. But it is also a tale of life, and how our mistakes and successes shape us. I ask Mark if he thinks he could have achieved more if he wasn’t having to expend so much energy masking who he really was. “When you are fully present in any situation, whatever you are doing, you’re better,” says Mark. “If you are happy, you are better and it all comes down to performance. My performance was against the clock and hundredths of seconds made the difference between winning and losing, so clearly there may have been some effect. How much, I can’t say.”

“A friend of mine once said to me the reason I never won an Olympic gold was because I was always afraid of the spotlight; I never wanted to show the real me. If I were to be seen on the greatest stage, everybody was going to see me. If I wasn’t subconsciously carrying this stuff, would I have achieved more? Maybe not the difference between getting gold, but it would have probably freed me up to enjoy those moments more.”

Mark Foster is the author of ‘My Double Life’, published by Bloomsbury Sport