Jim the Swim: A Story of Determination to Live Life to the Full

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© 2015 James Anderson O.B.E. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/17/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-9405-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-9406-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-9407-1 (e)

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Contents

Preface

Foreword

Early Days

School And Work Centre

Holidays And Hobbies

Training And Preparation

Barcelona 1992

Atlanta 1996

Sydney 2000

Athens 2004

Beijing 2008

London 2012

Random Thoughts

Acknowledgements

A Day With My Dad In The Mercury

The Auld Year’s Nicht

About The Author

This book is dedicated to my parents,

whose love and encouragement from the very start

has allowed me to have such a full life;

and to my brother, Stuart,

who included me in all his exploits while we were growing up,

my disability making no difference to him.

Preface

W hen I gave up competitive swimming, I had a desire to write down my story. Due to my cerebral palsy, I have problems with reading and writing, as well as unclear speech. So writing a book would be problematic. I was sitting in church one day when I spotted a lady who I knew did drama, and I thought, Maybe she would help me . I approached her and asked if she would be willing to help, to be my hands to get my tale down on paper. She told me she would think about it and then came back later in the week to say yes. That lady is Sally North, a retired occupational therapist.

When we first started, I was a bit wary of her because I had had mixed experiences with occupational therapists over the years. I wasn’t sure how I would get on with this one. We quickly gelled, however, and I soon found out that she had the same sense of humour as my parents and me. I dictated the book to Sally, a process she describes as my words going into her ear, down her arm, and out of the end of her pen. The words are all mine; she has not interfered at all with the content of this book. I have shared with her good times and bad in my story. Sally has been angry on my behalf at times about some of the situations I faced. We have had sad days and days when we had to stop because we were laughing so much. Because of the concentration required by both of us, we managed about two hours per session before fatigue set in, and Sally typed up the results in between sessions. It has been a great learning experience for both of us.

But on to my tale. …

These are the only words in this book, apart from the foreword, that are not Jim’s. Because of Jim’s lack of oxygen at birth, the part of his brain that makes the connection between reading and writing did not develop properly. By way of compensation, he developed a great ability to remember where we were in the book and was able to tell me where on each page he wished to add to or alter the text. As I read back the page, he was able to calculate roughly how far down we were by how many words I had used. His mental organisational skills are amazing, and as someone who has to make lists for everything, I have found working with Jim both inspiring and a great pleasure.

Sally M. North

Foreword

I first met Jim Anderson at a Commonwealth Games dinner in Glasgow in 2004, after the Athens Olympics and Paralympics. The dinner was part celebration of successes and part fundraiser. I was thrilled to have returned to Scotland with my first Olympic gold medal, won in the 1-kilometre track time trial. Winners had been asked to take their medals to show to guests at the function. I discovered that Jim had not one gold medal but four from the Paralympics, including two won in world-record times in his chosen sport of swimming. Later that year, as the previous year’s holder, I was able to present Jim with BBC Scotland’s Sports Personality of the Year award.

It has always been a pleasure to meet up again with Jim at various sports-related events over the years, including parades of athletes after major championships, and Jim was present at the ceremony when I was given the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh. I know only too well how much effort is needed to attain international selection, gold medals, and world records: the slog of training, putting a social life on hold, and the discipline. Disability sport is no different from able-bodied sport in that respect, and Jim has excelled at British, European, World, and Paralympic Championships for many years.

Well done, Jim, from one retired athlete to another.

Thanks for sharing your story.

Sir Chris Hoy

Early Days

A pparently I made a dramatic entrance into the world on Easter Sunday 1963, a second son for John and Brenda Anderson. I arrived six weeks early, feet first, and by way of an emergency caesarean section, as I was suffering from lack of oxygen. Because of the emergency, a consultant was called in. She had been pruning roses in her garden at home and arrived in a flowery frock, over which she put a plastic apron. After I was born, the consultant said that Mum was lucky to have two sons, but later when it was clear I was very poorly, she said Mum was lucky to have two because she may end up with only one. Craigtoun Maternity Hospital in St Andrews was my birthplace. Dad always said I was born in a field. Even yet, I never close doors behind me.

Soon after my birth I was taken in an incubator to the Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, and Mum was kept in hospital in St Andrews to recover from her operation. The first time my mum held me was when I got home four weeks later. I cannot imagine having a baby and having to wait four weeks before even picking him up. Nowadays that would never happen. Mother and baby would be in the same hospital and at least be able to see one another, and the father would be able to see both on one visit. In our situation, my dad was racing between hospitals on his Lambretta scooter. My brother, Stuart, and Dad stayed with our gran, who we called Ferm Gran, at Easter Kincaple Farm while we were in hospital. Dad was working all day with Granddad, who was a gaffer at Easter Kincaple.

Mum was used to handling Stuart, a strapping toddler close to two years old, but I was only five pounds, three ounces when I got home. I was long and skinny, like a skinned rabbit. They told Mum and Dad I was mentally handicapped and would not be able to cope with anything. I had some difficulty swallowing and sucking, so getting milk into me was not easy. It took two hours hard labour for my mum to get me to finish my bottle, and that with a two-year-old running round. Mum got me on to solids quickly by making pink blancmange, which went down easily. One day when our doctor, Dr Delaney, called, Mum was feeding me the blancmange, and he called it Windolene pudd. Mum fed me my Polio serum by mixing it into the pudd. Not that I remember any of this of course.

Yes, I had difficulties as a child, but my parents treated me the same as my older brother since there are less than two years between us. I was included in all that was going on in the family. I was baptised on Stuart’s second birthday in Holy Trinity Church in St Andrews, although I don’t remember that either. Mum said she had a christening cake for me and a birthday cake for Stuart to save any arguments. Mum’s sister Auntie June was my godmother. In fact, when we were very young Stuart and I were like the Queen. Just as her Majesty has her date birthday in April but an official birthday in June when weather is thought to be better for official celebrations so we brothers had different birthdays. Ferm Gran would always give us both presents on the other’s, so it was like having an official birthday in addition to our own.

We moved from Easter Kincaple to Kirkton Barns for about six weeks, and then Dad got a new job as a gaffer at Coal Farm in St Monans. One year the family went to the Fife Agricultural Show, and the owner of Coal Farm bought a brand-new tractor. Dad was very excited that he got to drive it all the way home.

One of my earliest memories is of being in the living room in the cottage at Coal Farm. Mum was making a Christmas cake and brought a table into the room so she could keep an eye on what we boys were up to. Stuart was sitting on a stool at the table, and I was sitting in my high chair by a big coal fire. I can still see that coal fire in my mind’s eye. We were fascinated with the sights and smells of the cake. On one of Stuart’s birthdays Mum made a cake shaped like an army tank, using chocolate finger biscuits for the gun. I can still taste the chocolate icing. I remember playing in the garden with Stuart and being propped up with pillows because my balance wasn’t very good at that stage.

Later on when I was able to, I sat on the bunker in the kitchen, watching Mum making dinner. We had dinner at dinner time and tea at teatime in those days. Dad started work at 7 a.m. and came in for dinner at noon, so Mum would be in the kitchen by 11 a.m. You see, she had a wee radio about the size of a cigarette packet, and every day we would listen to Waggoner’s Walk at 11 a.m. and then Jimmy Young. In the afternoons we would watch Watch with Mother. My favourite program was Andy Pandy. After dinner Mum would tidy up and get the dishes washed. On good days we would go out for a walk, me in my pram and Stuart walking or on his scooter. Along the country roads it was quiet, without much traffic. Mum would spot bits of wood or fallen branches and would load up my pram to take the wood home for the fire. I didn’t get much of a view. What a way to treat a poor wee disabled boy, loading him up with firewood!

Sometimes Dad had to help milk the cows and would start at 3 a.m., and some weekends he had to take a turn at feeding the animals. Stuart and I would go with him when he brought the cows in for evening milking. There was an occasion when someone on the farm was ill and Mum went to help with the tattie dressing. I remember kneeling on tattie sacks, watching the tatties going into the hopper. At that time, part of Dad’s wages was a pitcher of milk (about four pints) every day, fresh from the cow. None of us is any the worse for it. Nowadays everyone is so conscious of heat treatment and fat content.

We had mobile shops too in those days. The Co-op Bakery had a horse and cart, and Uncle Geordie came from St Monans once a week with his fruit and veg lorry. Mum was learning to drive as well, and Dad made her practise reversing up and down the farm road for hours at a time, with me in the back.

We had two grannies and two granddads: Dad’s parents we called Ferm Gran and Granddad because they lived on a farm just outside St Andrews, and Mum’s parents were Toon Gran and Granddad because they lived in St Andrews. Ferm Gran came to see us on Tuesdays, and sometimes her sister Auntie Maggie, who lived in Elie, would meet her at Coal Farm, about midway for both of them. I remember sitting on the bunker, hanging over the wringer, waiting for Ferm Gran’s bus to arrive. Ferm Gran always had sweeties in her message bag. Even when we boys got older, we would still rummage in Gran’s bag to see what she had brought for us. Sometimes my mum would say, Ferm Gran’s not coming today. She would have some farm job, like dressing tatties, to do.

We went into St Andrews on Saturdays about three o’clock to see Toon Gran, Toon Grandad, and Auntie June. We would have a cup of tea and then go up the street shopping with Toon Gran. She came back with my favourite thing, a cookie round. We often went into a grocer’s, and I can still smell the coffee beans. Toon Gran always shopped in old-fashioned shops because she hated supermarkets. When she paid for her milk in the dairy, there were lots of churns of different sizes and a lovely fresh, clean smell. Sometimes Stuart and Granddad would go to a football match. In winter Auntie June, who lived with Toon Gran, would wrap a tartan travelling rug round me to keep me warm in my chair. Stuart and I would go into Woolworths and Mum and