The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION
Synchro senior Bilan looks forward to travel and competition in Scandinavia
Ona Bilan has swam in pools from Germany to New Zealand. She has seen the wildlife in the brush of the Australian west coast.
She's seen a lot, and the 75-year-old synchronized swimmer says she owes it to her sport.
Bilan will add another country's stamp to her passport when she leads her Calgary Aquamums team into competition at the 2010 FINA World Masters Championships in Goteborg, Sweden.
Synchro competition starts Monday. Other events start this week.
"I would never have travelled if I hadn't become involved with synchronized swimming," she said prior to leaving Wednesday.
Her travels this time won't stop in Sweden, as she has plans to take in Denmark before ending up in Edinburgh.
"We already have plans to see the Tattoo," she said.
Born in December 1934, Bilan is the oldest of the 90 Canadians competing in synchro at the FINA Masters.
The meet, which also features swimming, diving, water polo and open-water events, has attracted some 6,600 competitors from 74 countries.
Staying strong and healthy has driven Bilan to keep swimming at 75. So have the connections she has made with her teammates, who range in age from 37 to 71.
"We're friends," she said. "We'll go to dinner or go to the theatre. We stay in touch."
Bilan says she wasn't an avid swimmer before she got into synchro. It wasn't until she was in her 30s, when she took synchro lessons to help her earn her Bronze Cross lifesaving certificate, that she became hooked. Eventually her coach, Carol Fitzsimmons, convinced Bilan and her classmates to form a team and start competing.
Bilan's team doesn't participate in elite-level events. Her goal is to have fun competing, and to meet other swimmers from around the world.
"We see swimmers we recognize from other countries at the events," said Bilan, adding that it's common for swimmers to trade national souvenirs with one another. She'll be taking a collection with her to Sweden.
"I have a bunch of coasters that say 'Eh' on them. We have T-shirts, towels. I remember one time trading towels with a swimmer from Britain. I got a towel with the British flag on it and she got one with the Canadian flag."
Bilan's team will be competing in the team and combo events but will be shorthanded in the team competition, which is supposed to have eight swimmers per entry, and so will be docked points.
"But were going there to win," Bilan says with a laugh. "You have to have a positive attitude."
The other members of her Calgary team are Judith Boswell, Stella Faubert, Lynne Hulse, Dot Padget and Lori Pollock.
Bilan says synchronized swimming is a great way to stay fit — and not just for women. She said men are getting into it too, and that she recently saw a team of male synchronized swimmers from Montreal in action.
"They do the bent knee . . . all the same figures," she said.
She also saw a man and a women compete as a team.
Do the guys have an advantage?
"It's easier for men to lift women," she said. "We have to get underneath and sort of push."
Bilan has no plans to retire any time soon.
"I'll keep doing it until I can't do it any more," she said.
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