Believe, Breathe and Deliver sums it up for Brian May
Believe, Breathe and Deliver exceptional results. This sums up Brian May who took home nine medals in Masters Swimming at the 18th Maccabiah Games. Brian speaks frankly to Maccabi News and says, “It may have been my first Maccabiah but hopefully it won’t be my last”.
Margot Mann, Brian May, Trevor Wainstein, George Lazarus, Warren Kotkis, Karen Hoplloway, Jeff Sher and Clive Aaron
Brian, aged 47, walked away with an astounding four gold medals including 50m Butterfly, 50m Breastroke, 50m Backstroke and 100m Breastroke. Three silver medals in 200m Individual Medley, 100m Butterfly and 100m Breastroke and to top it off two silver medals in the Freestyle and Medley relays. Brian has a lot to be proud of but he attributes his success to a great Maccabi coach, Guy Eylon, a fire in his belly to succeed and most of all, a very disciplined routine of heavy training.
Brian’s description of swimming is one that is recognised by many … it is a very lonely sport. As Brian explains, “you are out there on your own, training by yourself and at all times you need to keep the level of motivation right up there. It’s you against the clock, especially in the Masters division.” “Training is repetitive and hard work and the great thing about Maccabiah was it forced me to get fit.” For the last four months Brian was swimming an impressive 15kms per week.
On a personal side, his Maccabiah experience just brings smiles all round. He says, “It was a fantastic experience made even better by the mateship within the Masters Swim team.” His affection for Israel is evident as he describes his unexplainable spiritual feeling that connected him from the time he got on the El Al Plane in Bangkok to arriving in Israel. The stories, the history of Israel and the Israelis themselves make it a vibrant place to visit.
The highlight for Brian was certainly doing personal best times in every event he entered… you really can’t beat that from any sportsperson’s perspective. He is now ranked amongst the best in Australia and worldwide in his 45-49 age category and he now looks forward to the World Masters Games in Sydney in October this year as his next challenge. After that, the Maccabi Australia International Games, MAIGS in December 2010 where he hopes not only to participate in the pool but is looking forward to competing in the Ocean swimming as well.
