Katrina Radke met Olympian John Naber at a young age. Later, she’d meet Tracy Caulkins, in Radke’s eyes, the best female swimmer ever.

Nowadays, fans seek out Radke.

You see, Radke played the Olympic stage too. In 1988, she placed fifth in the 200-meter butterfly.

“The East Germans finished first and second,” laments Radke, “so who knows; I still might get a bronze medal.”

Rumor has it that some athletes were taking performance-enhancing drugs back then too; shocking.

In any case, Radke, who cut her swimming teeth swimming for Eden Prairie-based Team Foxjet, said it’s not about the medal.

“In reality,” she said, “the Olympics is one of the easiest meets you can ever swim in.

“Trials,” she adds, “that’s where it gets nerve-wracking.”

Commitment

Rewind some 25 years ago and you find Radke in Morris, Minn., traveling to Eden Prairie on weekends just so she could swim with Team Foxjet.

Eventually, she’d stay with friends in St. Paul, traveling to Eden Prairie for practice.

Soon, these friends would be replaced by friends living in Anoka and still, she’d be traveling to Eden Prairie for practice.

“I remember being asked to write a paper in third grade,” she said. “The topic was: “When I’m 25 I’ll be …”

“What I wrote,” adds Radke, “was that I’d swim in the Olympics, win a medal, have a boyfriend and get married.”

Bet you thought Notradamus lived during the sixteenth century?

Big splash

 At the age of 14, Radke’s 4 X 200 freestyle team set a national record (two of her teammates were Olympic gold medalists).

Her reaction, at the time, was that of disappointment.

“Mine was the slowest split,” she said.

She’d swim on the U.S. National Team from 1985-87. In 1988, she’d make the Olympic Team, not in the 200 freestyle, the event she considered her best, but in the 200 butterfly.

“It’s no different today,” she said, of her disappointment of not making it with her 200 freestyle. “Look what happened at this year’s trials? The World Record holder in breaststroke didn’t even make the team.”

So yes, that business of putting it all together on one particular day does indeed apply to swimming.

Big crash

She didn’t know at the time, but Radke’s swimming career would take a turn in 1986 after a bout with mononucleosis.

After mono showed up again in 1990, Radke was said to have chronic fatigue syndrome.

“My body was shutting down,” she said.

In 1993, she stopped swimming all together, never mind the fact that 1992 should’ve been her year.

“In theory,” she said, “that should’ve been my best Olympics. I would’ve been 21 and I would’ve been at my peak.

“Its times like that,” she adds, “that you appreciate what you’ve accomplished.”

Always a test

Having had that 20-20 perspective, Radke admits that she would’ve made some changes.

The biggest, she said, would’ve been listening to her body; i.e., probably not training so hard.

What she wouldn’t have changed was the challenge.

“I’m one of those people that wakes up and says, “Let’s see what’s possible today,” said Radke.

The impossible, according to Radke, is what separates contenders from pretenders  

“Not only are World Class athletes fearless,” she said, “but they’re willing to fall flat on their faces. To these people, there is no fear of failure. They have a dream and they have the guts, and the commitment, to go after it.”

That being said, she can’t wait for 08-08-08 and the start of the 2008 Olympics.

“I’ll watch because I love watching swimming and I love watching sports,” she said. “What I’ll appreciate is the amount of work each of these athletes has put in to getting there.”

She should know.

 

Editor’s note: Trina Radke lives in Victoria with her husband and two children. Together, they operate Olympic Performance, Inc. They can be found at www.wecoach4u.com [2].