It was another fresh July morning in 1975. And the 10-year-old was standing in a school assembly, attentive, as the principal addressed the students at St Thomas High School in his native Pala, a lively town in Kottayam through which river Meenachil flows on its way to the Vembanad Lake.
Over the noisy atmosphere, a message crackled out of the speaker: “If there is anyone interested in swimming and want to try for a place in the district camp, please raise your hand.”
Wilson Cherian pricked up his ears; he had not attempted systematic swimming, had not even seen a pool yet, still he vowed to attend the trials.
Wilson was the only one who really bothered, and so, naturally, he was one of a few who were picked up for the camp. It turned out to be the first in a series of incidents in the life of the youngster now known both for his swimming skills and coaching expertise in the country.
From such a start to a career in swimming, and till he coached the Kerala team for the 35th National Games, Wilson was on his own - creating records and breaking them later before helping others do the same as a coach post retirement.
“It has been over 4o years now, and still I am not tired,” says Cherian.
“I began swimming in the Meenachil river like any other child living on or near its banks would. But never in my mind had it crossed that I could make a career out of it if I wanted to. For me, swimming was a pastime and it’s a coincidence that I turned to real swimming when the chance came calling.”
The now Chennai-based veteran champ - who marked his entry into the sport by winning a senior national title at the age of 14, an age when most others only begin to try to find their balance in the pool - has charted new history by holding his record in 200 m backstroke for 20 long years – a feat he considers the high point of his career.
“That has been the longest record held by an Indian. I was also the first Indian to swim the 100m backstroke in under 60 seconds. I have been the national 100 m backstroke champion for 13 years. Swimming gave me enormous happiness,” says the swimmer, who shifted to Chennai in 1990 after he married middle-distance ace Shiny Wilson.
Wilson stands up to six feet and an inch, and considers himself the tallest among the swimmers who competed with him from the country. He believes his big body aided him to swim with ease and comfort during competitions.
“I possessed a height that gave me some advantage in the pool,” he observed.
At the Asian Games in 1982, the prolific swimmer was placed fourth in the 100m backstroke event - his all-time best at an international event – but the Arjuna awardee is still disappointed he could not replicate his form in later international meets.“I might have won a medal in Seoul Asian Games but for bad luck,” he reminisced. Even while admitting the superiority of swimmers at the international level, he does see a ray of hope for Indians in the pool.
“The physicality and body of a world class swimmer is different from that of Indians. They have big feet, height and more flexibility, something Indians lack. But there is enough talent here, and we need a scientific training system to groom them,” he points out. Serving as a sports officer with Southern Railways in Chennai, Wilson wants to achieve a feat that he attempted and failed 10 years ago. But for him, there is still hope that he would be able to give it a good try. “I want to swim from Talaimannar in Sri Lanka to Rameswaram,” he says.
Sebastian Xavier, these days, is plotting a swimming academy in Kerala. That’s a long leap for the Olympian, for swimming was initially forced upon him as an essential life skill while growing up in the village of Edathua in Alappuzha; mandatory in the sense it was a prerequisite for survival necessitated by the waters of the Vembanad Lake, on the shores of which he spent all of his childhood.
“My home was located on the shores of Vembanad Lake. To move around the area, I had to wait for a boat or swim across the lake. Things have changed considerably nowadays, but back then, we did not have a choice,” says Sebastian, who was born as the tenth of 11 children in the Manamayil House.
His talent was spotted by “Antony sir” and “Valsamma teacher” during his pre-degree days at St Aloysius College, Edathua.
“But it was only still later that I saw a swimming pool for the first time,” says Sebastian, now a sports officer with Southern Railways in Chennai.
That was thanks to T J Thomas of the Thoppans’ Swimming Academy based at St Thomas College, Pala.
“Thomas sir, who was the coach of Mahatma Gandhi University, was the one who taught me the nuances of the sport,” Sebastian, who held the national record in 50m freestyle from 1998 to 2009, recounted.
He burst into the national scene winning a silver in 100m freestlye in the 1987 junior nationals and repeated the feat in the senior nationals at Kolkata later that year. That was to be bettered by five yellow metals at the Thiruvananthapuram nationals in 1989.
And so prospered the illustrious swimming career which would eventually see him bagging 36 gold medals at continental level competitions, along with 66 in national meets. However, it is an occasion where he finished a long way behind the leaders that he believes was the highlight of his career - the 1996 Summer Olympics at Atlanta.
“Those days, we had to settle for whatever we were provided by the association. My requests for foreign training and a specialised coach were turned down,” remembers the veteran of two Asian Games, in 1994 and 1998.
“It was a dream come true for me and an occasion I will never forget.”
Though he finished 32nd in Atlanta, Sebastian had the chance to meet and watch Russia’s Alexander Popov, who won the Olympic gold in 50m freestyle that year and was his idol alongside USA’s Matt Biondi, from close quarters.
He feels he could have done better had he received proper care prior to the Olympics, but is aware of the contrast in quality between Indians and the world’s top swimmers.
“Today, our swimmers make use of better facilities, but I think they are less motivated and look for the easy way out,” he says.
“Many of them are unwilling to take responsibility and choose water polo where they can hide behind their teammates after a failure. But swimming requires hard work and perseverance individually.”
Living in Chennai since 1989 with his wife Molly Chacko, a former athlete whom he met at the 1994 Asian Games camp, and two children, Sebastian’s thoughts are now trained on nurturing future talents from the state.
“We have a huge talent pool in the state and there was a time when eight out of 10 in the national team were from Kerala,” Sebastian says.
“I have been zeroing in on a plot to start an academy somewhere in Kottayam or Pathanamthitta. I would like to give something back to the sport and I hope this venture will help me do so,” says the man who also coached Indian Railways between 2004 and 2010.