Down Under Kid With a Gould-en Past

Harvard men's swimming Co-Captain Tim Ford didn't have to be taught to be a champion.

From a very early age, he lived with one.

For four years beginning at age eight, Ford often stayed with female swimmer Shane Gould in his native Australia.

"I would stay with her on weekends, because I lived 50 miles from the swimming facility," Ford recalls.

In 1972, during the period that Ford was occasionally Gould's boarder, the elder swimmer won three gold medals, a silver, and a bronze at the Munich Olympics.

"I learned a lot by staying with her," Ford says.

And while Ford was attending Turramura High School in Australia, just a few years after his stays with Gould, he became a several-time national champion.

Ford is obviously a good learner.

When Ford was participating in a meet in Japan, Harvard swimming Coach Joe Bernal approached him and encouraged him to apply to Harvard.

"I always wanted to come to America," Ford said. "It came down to Harvard, Princeton, and Yale but I felt Harvard had the best swim team and academics."

But Ford's transition to Harvard and to the New England weather was not as smooth as his decision to attend school in Cambridge.

"I was homesick and I had just come from the middle of the summer to the middle of winter," Ford said. "It's hard coming to a college during the middle of the [year]."

Ford also felt out-of-synch with the people and the routine of Harvard. But his association with the swim team enabled Ford to make the adjustment more easily.

But while the Eliot House resident found the Cambridge weather harsher than he was accustomed to, he found the training regime lighter. Back Down Under, Ford's daily practice consisted of swimming 18,000 to 20,000 meters in a 50-meter pool.

At Harvard, however, Ford's practices consist of swimming only 12,000 to 14,000 yards in a 25-yard pool.

"Here, there is more emphasis on speed than back home," Ford said. "The big adjustment was getting used to swimming in a short pool."

Success Story

Two of Ford's highest honors came before he arrived in Cambridge. Ford was ranked 17th in the world in the 1500 in 1981 and rose four places to number 13 the following year.

He also participated in the Commonwealth and World Championship Games during 1982.

Coming on the heels of these successes, Ford's arrival at Harvard turned into a nightmare.

Ford caught a severe case of mono. He raced in the Eastern Conference Championships and placed fourth in the mile--with his worst time in several years.

"The coaches were expecting a lot from me," Ford said. "I felt a lot of pressure, but I wasn't fit enough for competition.

"I'm grateful to my coaches, because they were very understanding during my first couple of years," Ford added. "They didn't put any pressure on me--they were hoping that things would click, and luckily they did."

Things clicked for Ford in his junior year when he won the mile in the Eastern Intercollegiate Seaboard Conference meet and placed second in the 500. "Our team won for the seventh consecutive year," Ford said. "It was the icing on the cake.

"I'm the sort of a swimmer who does not have natural talent," Ford said. "But I think I make it up with hard work."

Ford also gives credit for his success to working with good coaches and teams.

"If Tim had lived 500 years earlier he would have been canonized," senior swimmer Lars Reierson said. "He's a man with no vices."

Ford's ultimate goal could be making the 1988 Olympic Team. "I'd like to keep on swimming and if I'm still swimming, I'll try for it."

"Tim has been the backbone of the team for a long time," Reierson said. "He is soft spoken, but when he does say something everyone listens."

"I just like swimming--so I will continue with it," Ford said. "When I stop enjoying it, I will stop swimming."