Annamay Pierse on retirement

Over the past weekend at the Mel Zajac Jr. International SwimSwam had the opportunity to catch up with Canadian Olympian, World Championship medallist and former world record holder Annamay Pierse.

On the Friday night of the competition, before the finals session, Pierse was recognized for her accomplishments and her contribution to Canadian Swimming, “It was just quick,” said Pierse.

“This is Annamay in the pool, this is what she did, here is a big picture, but it was cool, my parents were there, my friends were there, my sisters were there, it is nice to be recognized for what I have put into the sport for the last 23 years.”

“It was just something small, but it was great.”

“Afterwards it was fun because all these little girls and little kids were coming up to me and saying ‘Oh my god you are my hero!’ I haven’t heard that in a long time,” she said with a laugh.

“It is cool because you realize what you did had such a big impact on all of these other people, a younger generation.”

“People look at the top swimmers and they think they have something amazingly special, but a lot of the time it is we just worked our butts off. So to be able to come here, have that retirement ceremony and than have people coming up to you and talking to you afterwards, you get to get your message out there and say you can be here, you can do what I did.”

“I don’t think a lot of people in the Swimming Canada world realize how good they can they be.”

For many athletes retirement can be one of the hardest times in their life, when they face some of their biggest challenges and that has definitely been the case for Pierse, “Being a retired athlete I am trying to figure it out, it is not easy at all,” says a wide eyed Pierse.

“I am not going to lie, I thought it was going to be easier, you have all these connections, you worked so hard and I understand you are not going to be given the top job, but trying to find anything is hard.”

“I think it is good to have to go through that, because I had to go through that in swimming to try to figure out how to be the world class swimmer that I was. As hard as that is I know that it is good.”

When things get to be the most challenging though Pierse has the skills she has learnt as an athlete to help her stay positive and focused, “Obviously there are times that I say, ‘Oh my God I wish it was easy.’ But it doesn’t work like that. It is an adventure. It is frustrating and you can feel like a failure at times.”

“But I have to take a step back and say you can’t talk like that to yourself, you have to believe in yourself, that things are going to work out and that you have all the right things to be successful.”

Even though she is finding the transition challenging she is excited about the different opportunities she has, “I am looking into different avenues, maybe teachers college, maybe broadcasting, maybe fashion, all these different things are fun,” says Pierse.

“It is stuff I have never been able to do. I was always training, I was always in that zone, so it is fun.”

“It is cool to be somewhere where you have to prove yourself again.”

When asked about her biggest adjustment in life since retiring she talked about the challenge of finding structure and simply staying fit, “Working out!” Pierse said with a chuckle.

“I avoided all exercise and than all of a sudden 20 lbs later you are like, ‘Oh God, crap!’ So just realizing you are not the athlete anymore, you have to watch what you eat, exercise and take care of yourself.”

“Also making goals for yourself. In swimming it was easy, you had goals, where as not having swimming anymore I get overwhelmed sometimes. It is organizing my life again and finding structure.”

And when asked what she missed most about being an athlete, “I miss Joe (Nagy, her coach) so much, seeing him everyday, he was such a good friend.”

In the second part of SwimSwam‘s interview with Annamay Pierse you will hear about her ideas of how to develop a winning culture in Canadian Swimming and how she hopes her experiences can help the next generation of young Canadian athletes.