Tokyo Olympics 2020: How God is powering Elijah Winnington to golden prophecy
Once likened to Ian Thorpe, the burden of being labelled Australian swimming’s next big thing nearly crushed Elijah Winnington - only divine intervention resurrected his career.
Every time he races, just before the gun goes off, Elijah Winnington drops to one knee to say a quick prayer.
One of the favourites for gold in the 400m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics, Winnington doesn’t pray to win, or to ask for any favours, he does it to say thanks for what he’s already been given, not what’s coming next.
“It’s massively important,” Winnington said. “You’ll see me give honour to God once I finish my race too.
“Faith is massive in my life and I believe it is something that gets me through the water.”
Trusting in his own ability has also helped Winnington revive his swimming career after his self-belief started to sink.
Just two years ago, he was left questioning his future in the sport after a rare disappointment, then 12 months ago, he faced the heartbreaking prospect of leaving his lifelong coach, who he regards as a father figure.
A child prodigy who had been likened to Ian Thorpe, partly because they both race in middle distance freestyle events, Winnington has carried the burden of being labelled the next big thing in Australian swimming for as long as he can remember.
He was also told, for as long as he can recall, that a lot of boom teenage swimmers burn out before they get to the senior ranks, a prophecy that he feared had come true when he missed out on making the Australian team for the 2019 world championships.
“It’s always something that stuck in the back of my mind,” he said. “It’s almost like I believed those rumours or those accusations to be true.”
Rattled by that disappointed then unable to practice during the pandemic lockdown, Winnington decided to leave the Gold Coast and his long time coach Richard Scarce to join Dean Boxall’s squad in Brisbane
It was a decision based on gut instinct more than anything else and breaking the news to Scarce was the hardest conversation he’s ever had.
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“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t crying,” Winnington said. “Me moving had nothing to do with him as a coach or his program, I just felt like I needed to do something different.
“It’s like breaking up with a girlfriend or a partner that you still love and you have no reason to break up with them so it was difficult for both of us. Richard will always be someone that I hold very close to my heart.”
Whether by design or coincidence the move to Boxall’s squad has already produced the results Winnington had hoped for and he heads into Tokyo ranked No.1 in the world in 400m freestyle. He will also swim the 200m freestyle and the 4x200m relay.
His winning time for the 400m at the Australian Olympic trials was 3:42.65, the fastest in the world for two years, but that wasn’t what pleased him most.
Australia currently boasts four of the six quickest 400m swimmers in the world but with only the two allowed to swim the event in Tokyo, the trials were a true dogfight.
When they turned after 300m, Winnington was in second place, behind the 2016 Rio gold medallist Mack Horton, with just 0.33 separating the top four, but he dug deep and stormed home to get his hands on the wall first.
“That’s given me a lot of confidence because it shows that my training is paying off and that I‘m a tough racer because that’s exactly what I’m going to need to be, come Tokyo,” Winnington said.
“I‘ve worked for this my whole entire life. A lot of people may not have heard of me but I’ve been working in the shadows making sure I’m doing everything right to get to where I am today.
“I have full confidence in myself that I can show Australia and show the world the type of athlete I am.
“I’m not going to buckle under the pressure and I’m just going to do the best I can for my nation and my friends and my family and my coach because that’s all I can really ask for.”
Mack reveals annoying Sun Yang itch
Regrets, Mack’s had a few. But then again, too few to mention.
And just like the hit song made famous by Frank Sinatra, Mack Horton did what he had to do.
Revered by everyone who believes in clean sport for his unflinching courage in and out of the pool, Horton has opened up about his one regret for the Tokyo Olympics.
He’ll never be sorry for protesting against the decision to let Sun Yang compete at the 2019 world championships, even though he paid a high price for his bravery – hounded by thousands of Sun’s crazed supporters and rejected by cowardly sponsors afraid of upsetting Chinese consumers.
But Horton does have one misgiving about his hot-headed Chinese rival – that he won’t have the chance to beat him in Tokyo, just as he did at Rio in 2016.
As crazy as it sounds, Horton has been bugged by the idea that his victory over Sun in the 400m freestyle final in Brazil was a fluke.
Of course, it wasn’t anything of the kind – Horton won fair and square with an incredible performance – but he finished second behind Sun at the 2017 and 2019 world titles.
“It was so long ago and I never really took it in,” Horton said. “And it’s like, being the first one, was it a fluke? Did I get lucky?
“So I’d love to be able to just do it again and just feel like it’s not a fluke, that I actually can do it.”
That won’t happen in Tokyo, for two reasons. Sun has been banned for over four years for tampering with his samples before they could be tested for drugs.
And Horton didn’t qualify for the 400m after finishing third at the Australian Olympic trials behind Elijah Winnington and Jack McLoughlin.
Unlike Sun, Horton still made it to Japan though, as a member of the Australian 4x200m freestyle relay team, and he has a great shot at winning another Olympic gold medal.
Two years ago, the Australians won the same event at the world championships, with Horton clinching the gold with a blistering anchor leg. And with no individual races in Tokyo, he’s doing everything to be in shape for a repeat performance in the Japanese capital.
“I really wanted to be on that relay, because what happened at the worlds was unreal,” he said.
“That was one of the best international swims I’ve probably done, that anchor leg, so I want to be a part of that again.”
Missing out of the 400m stung, but Horton was a little unlucky because his time at the trials was the third fastest in the world this year – however, with countries only allowed to enter up to two swimmers in individual events, Winnington and McLoughlin got the Australian spots.
Still just 25, Horton was always planning to keep swimming after Tokyo and he has already set his sights on the next Olympics in 2024 – where he could be reacquainted with Sun, whose ban ends just before the Paris Games.
“You just don’t know where you’re going to be mentally after an Olympics, but three years sounds a lot easier than four, doesn’t it?” Horton said.
“It sounds more achievable, but at the same time, there’s also an understanding that some things don’t last forever. It could end tomorrow if you had a bad injury or something went wrong.”
Horton has also started planning for life outside of the pool.
He’s close to finishing a business degree – which he’s been studying for seven years and is now at his third university – and is considering diving into architecture once he graduates.
“I thought about doing it when I was at school, but it was just never something I could do while I was swimming,” he said.
“But the more I think about it, the more I’m keen to do it. And as I get a bit older, swimming is probably becoming less and less, not yet, but eventually it will become less and less of a priority. And I’d like to find something else that I love just as much.”
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