Come Back Queen

Olympic distance legend Janet Evans has announced her comeback and was back in the pool this weekend at the Janet Evans Invitational U.S. Masters meet in Fullerton, Calif. There, she broke the Masters world records in the 35-39 women’s 400m and 800m freestyle.

We caught up to Janet the day before the swims and asked her a few questions about what this comeback means to her and about her goals in the coming year.

Why the comeback?
I think it’s always been in the back of my head, but I was never really in a position in my life where I could do it. I’m finally at a stable place in my life. I’m probably most likely done having kids, and I have a really supportive family. I feel like I’m in really good shape, and so it was time. It works.

What are some of your goals?
I need to test the waters here in the next couple weeks, no pun intended. I’m just kind of taking it as it comes for the rest of the summer. I don’t have any specific plans as to exactly what meets I’ll be swimming in, but mostly I’m looking to get my feel back in terms of racing and swimming in meets. I want to continue my training, which has surprisingly gone really well. So mostly I’m just kind of sticking to the game plan. The game plan tends to be fluid at times, but so far we’ve reached all the points we want to reach, so I think it’s nothing specific yet, but just continuing to go for it.

For someone as competitive as you, certainly the Olympic Trials is on your mind. Is that on the horizon?
Obviously, I would love to swim at Olympic Trials, and that’s my goal.  So there are things I need to work on that I haven’t gotten to yet in order to get to Olympic Trials. But I feel like I’ve got a lot of time. I feel like I’ve really been out there training for six months and I have about a year. I feel pretty good about that.

When we talk about comebacks, everyone instantly thinks of Dara Torres. Was she an inspiration to you at all? Have you talked to her about it at all?
I have not spoken to Dara. I think that women these days – women who are mothers – I think this very empowering for all of us. We’re able to stay home and raise the kids, but we’re also allowed to have our own dreams and to try to fulfill those dreams as well. I think it’s happening more often now, so that inspires me. It’s a question of balancing my family life with my personal goals, and I feel great about it. I feel very blessed that I have the courage to do this, and also that I have this amazing family that has kind of rallied around me and supported me.

How has that balance between training and being a mom been working out for you?
I was 35 when my little girl was born, and my son was born on my 38th birthday. I had accomplished a lot before I ever got married and had a family. So while I love every second of being a mom, I also really enjoy swimming. It’s something I really enjoy doing, and something I always wanted to get back to. But to me, when I retired from the sport in 1996, I was 24 years old. I wanted to see the world. I wanted to live in different cities. I wanted not to get up every morning, and I did all that. I got married, and I had a family. I feel like now there’s this certain level of stability that I can go back to doing something that I really love, and yet I can still come home and be with my kids and be a great mom. Yes, I’m tired, and I think it’s taken a lot of courage, but it’s something that has worked for me. It’s exceeded all of my expectations, and it’s actually brought our family really close, because we’re all working together to make our schedules work. We’re all eating really healthy, and it’s just been a really positive experience. No matter what comes of this, it’s just been an awesome experience for all of us.

What obstacles have you encountered so far?
Physically, I haven’t. I’m training really well. I still have a ways to go. I still have some things I need to do in the water, but like I said, I have 12 months. I think my biggest obstacle is the naysayers. There are always people who are going to doubt me, or say it’s strange or whatever. But people always said I couldn’t beat the East Germans. I think for me the hard part will be not listening to that, and I think I’ve gotten pretty good at that through the years. People were always telling me I was too little, or to young. I think for me it’s just putting the negativity out of my mind and realizing that if I never swam again, it would never take away what I’ve a accomplished. I’m really doing this for myself.

Somewhere down the road – if your Olympic Trials goals come to fruition – you may compete against some of the young women like Kate Ziegler and Katie Hoff who have looked up to you since they were little girls. What’s it going to be like knowing you’ve been a mentor to some of them?
I think it will be really kind of fun. I’ve watched these girls swim for a really long time. I’ve watched Katie and Kate swim since 2004, or even before that. I’m really excited about it. I’ve been fortunate to get to know some of the kids who have been on the National Team. I consider them friends, and it seems like a really great group of kids, so it will be fun to be in the mix. It will be fun to be in the warm-up pool at Nationals. Can you imagine? I think it’s pretty exciting.

Everyone kind of remembers you for your high-turnover, windmill stroke. Are you making any changes to that in light of advances in stroke technique since you retired in 1996?
For me, my stroke is really driven by turnover. When I was swimming my best, my turnover was really high. When I was swimming at my worst – when I was heavier and bigger – my turnover was slow, so I think with me, with age has come wisdom. It’s a question of putting together what it was like when I was swimming well – what my body is like; what my strength to power ratio is; where my turnover’s at; where my peed is; where my endurance is – and kind of taking a good mix of all the things I did that made me successful, and kind of integrating that into what I have been doing in the pool. People say I haven’t swum in so long, but you have to remember I have a lot of experience with all those things. I feel with age has come this ability to look at things from the outside looking in. So I realize the mistakes I made going into the Atlanta Olympics , and I realize the mistakes I made at the Barcelona Olympics, and I realize what I did really well at the Seoul Olympics, and I’m banking on taking those great experiences and kind of finding the best of it.

Your American record still stands in the 800m free at 8:16.22? Do you still have that in you?
An 8:16? I think if everything came together… You never know, but we’ll see.

From USA Swimming