Interview With a Local Sports Hero
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Travis Pollen, a swimmer for Swarthmore College, set a Paralympic record for the 100 meter freestyle. (see the article). Recently, we had the chance to ask Travis some questions:
Q: At what age did you start competitive swimming?
I joined my high school team along with my two best friends our sophomore year. Prior to my first day of pre-season practice, I had no competitive swimming experience whatsoever, a huge disadvantage compared to the other kids who’d been racing since they were eight and under. That first day, I swam my first lap and was winded beyond belief. The next day, I came into school and I could barely move my arms. Fortunately, no cuts were made from the team that season. Five years later, along with countless hours spent bulking up in the gym, I am swimming over two hundred laps per day and keeping up remarkably well with my able-bodied college teammates. In the water, I’m at a pretty substantial disadvantage compared to my able-bodied peers due to my lack of an effective kick, but hard work and year-round swimming goes a long, long way. On February 21, the third and final day of my college Centennial Conference Championships, I set the new American record in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 54.80 seconds, eclipsing the previous, six-year-old mark by 0.18 seconds! In just over a month I will be traveling to San Antonio to compete in the U.S. Paralympics Spring Swimming Nationals. At this meet, a team will be selected to compete in the World Championships in the Netherlands in August.
Q: At what age did you become paraplegic an amputee?
I was born, August 1, 1989, with an extremely rare congenital abnormality called Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency (PFFD). This physical difference resulted in the absence of my left hip and femur. A small residual bone chip from my left knee became fused with ligaments and tissue at the site of my nonexistent hip. Thus, my left leg consisted of a tibia and foot parallel to my fully formed femur on the right side. For labeling purposes, I am considered an above-the-knee amputee, though I have a very small residual limb and no functional hip. At three years old, my parents opted for a Syme’s amputation to remove my left foot. This enabled me to be fit with a prosthesis (artificial leg) with the artificial knee approximately level with my sound right knee.
Q: Are there any competitive advantages for an paraplegic amputee swimmer?
In short, not really. I’m at a pretty significant DISadvantage because I don’t have much of a kick behind my pull, and I don’t get as far off my starts and turns since I’m pushing off with only one leg. Nevertheless, on “pulling sets” in practice where we put pull buoys between our legs to prevent us from kicking, I flourish, handily beating many of my teammates because I’m so used to having to do all the work with my arms.
Some more info:
Oftentimes when discussion of my disability comes up with my friends, they tell me that I’m the least disabled person they know. They sometimes even admit to forgetting that I have one leg, although I’m not sure how truthful that is considering that I walk with a rather pronounced limp, despite extensive work with a Shriners physical therapist during my teenage years to correct my gait. Also, during the summer, I always wear shorts, proudly displaying my physical difference. It’s possible to get a cosmetic cover for the metal knee, but I’ve never had any interest. This has led to plenty of little kids staring at me. I remember in particular our family vacations to Disney World when I was a child. Kids would give me funny looks, wondering what had happened to my leg, and my dad and I would give them funny looks back, as if we were saying, ‘What happened to YOU?’ right back at them. If asked, I cycled through the truth (“I was born with a short leg so I wear this to walk”) or some version of “a snake/alligator bit it off” if I want to scare them!
