by Manjit Handa
Name: Joanne Malar
Age: Late 20’s
What’s special about her? A champion swimmer who represented Canada three times in Olympics.
Her Life: Full of trials and tribulations.
Of how it feels when you do not get the medal home? Listening to her side of the story. . . Joanne’s father was a teacher and she the 3rd of the 4 siblings. She was introduced to swimming by her father as he loved outdoors and camping. Being a teacher, he always had two months off which he could easily devote on the family and other outdoor activities. Joanne remembers that before the age of three she knew how to swim (including breast stroke and butterfly), long before she joined any swimming class. She guesses that even before learning to walk, she must have learnt to swim. 
When she was three years old, her Dad put her in a competitive swim team and by the age of six she had already started participating in international sports. It was not that her parents did not encourage other activities like dance, piano lessons and skating and not that she did not try them all but it was swimming that came more naturally to her. From six years of age to fourteen years she learned to swim under the guidance of one coach after which she switched over to another professional trainer until about twenty three years of age. Childhood was not just practicing to swim but also full of fun. She remembers long road trips to Vancouver and Las Vegas with her family, when she would be playing with her siblings at the back of the car. A close-knit family, they always had dinner and vacations together. At the age of fourteen, with funding from the province of Ontario, she participated in the ‘Eight Nation Swimming Contest’ and went to Holland where she was the youngest competitor. In hindsight, she thinks, being young was an asset because the more experience you get, the more you become afraid.
As a twelve year old she was already training as an Olympian, for about 18 hrs every week and at that young age (of twelve), she had already made it to the Olympic trials of 1988. Later, as a mature swimmer and competitor she practiced for 25 to 28 hours every week, when at the age of sixteen, she stood 11th at the Olympics in Barcelona. Four years from there, at twenty years, she came 4th in the 1996 Olympics, in Atlanta.
At sixteen, still a teenager, she was happy to be participating in Olympics and scoring a rank, which felt like being on top of the world. Four years later, her life had changed drastically. She was the ‘number one’ going in the Olympics, won World Championships, participated in Pan American Games, had an agent, was in a commercial, and had five sponsors. People knew her and she hoped for a medal in the next Olympics.
But the very first day at the Games in Sydney 2000, was not a positive sign. When she thought it was time to get a medal, things did not work out. She was devastated, lost confidence. Later, although after leaving Sydney, she came to know that the girl who came first had actually cheated.
It was a time she did not want to face anybody. Although her friends were excited on her arrival back home, but the overall reaction of the media and people in general, took a toll on her moral energy and confidence. She was now called “a disappointment” and labeled a “bad person”. It was like undergoing the feelings of a “criminal”. That was the time her Mom supported her and hid all the articles in newspapers that were belittling and hurtful. It all killed her. She had stood 5th in the Games and when she told the media that she was “ok with coming 5th”, the media was surprised as they expected her to be frustrated. Toronto Star published with the headline: “Malar settles for mediocrity”.
Heartbroken, Joanne was now back in University from 1996 to 1997, but somewhere down in her heart, she was not ready to leave it at that. She always knew that media was never anybody’s friend and that their job is to write a story but it definitely made her “recovery from disappointment” very difficult. Hurt as she was, she took time to go to Australia for about 5 weeks, only to come back to Hamilton, Canada, with a renewed interest and zest in giving it another try for the next Olympics in 2004. She wanted to perform in Athens. It was a “now or never” situation and her motto: “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?”
One year was gone and she had three years more. She now went to Calgary to find a new coach and the change of place and environment elevated her spirits. 
During this period she went to Malaysia for swimming contest and won a Gold, participated in Pan American Games and won that too in 1999. She was now twenty four, a lot more confident and smarter.
And then it was 2004. Luck did not favor her this time again as she missed the qualifying standard at home in Canada itself. Athens was a lost dream. Unfortunately she had missed it by less than a second. She had qualified for the Olympian standard but not the Canadian standard because for the first time the Canadian standard was set higher than the Olympics.
Did she learn anything then? Lots. She learned, “how much you can do when your mind is strong”. This period of training was “the best time” of her life, the time when she enjoyed even everyday training. She thinks: “Not everybody can go to the Olympics, but it doesn’t mean you’re not a champion”. And she left the competition “feeling like a success”, not worrying about the results. Because “knowing yourself” is the biggest thing in life. As life would have it, this was the time she underwent a divorce and subsequent emotional turmoil. She was never able to figure out the cause of her divorce but strongly feels that distance (training in Calgary, while her husband was in Hamilton) could have been one major factor.
Her source(s) of inspiration: When young, her inspirational sources were mostly sport heroes or record holders, now her inspiration are people who are “beautiful as human beings”, those who are ordinary and no record holders, but hold virtues like perseverance, confidence, compassion etc. Inspiration now comes from “living” itself. Her so-called “setbacks have been learning experiences and have only made her rich”.
Her plans for the future: Doing everything concerning Health and Wellness and combining media, healthy living and nutrition. On a personal level, working on “relaxing” because she still feels that she is a ‘Type A’ personality.
Her message to the Readers: “Everything passes. When feeling good, enjoy it. When feeling bad, even though it hurts and feels awful, later when you look back upon it, it would already be a fond memory.”
Getting the gold is good, but being golden is the ‘best’. Joanne’s swim towards the latter is a reward well deserved.
BRAVO!
