Olympics Day at Canyon

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

When she was introduced to thunderous applause on the blacktop at Canyon Elementary for the school’s annual Olympics Day on November 9, swimmer Kim Vandenberg had a powerful message for her young listeners: failure is a vital step towards success. She should know, for it took her three tries to make the USA Olympic team, but she did it through hard work and resilience.

A bronze medalist in the 4×200 freestyle relay at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing and a gold medalist at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Vandenberg first asked the K through fifth-grade students to name the three Olympic values: excellence, friendship and respect.

With that, she proceeded to tell her story of growing up in the Bay Area and starting to swim at an early age, challenging her brother to races in her family’s backyard pool.

“I also played other sports— soccer, tack and field, basketball, t-ball and in addition to all that I played piano,” she recalled. “When I was 12 I needed to decide and I ultimately chose swimming. I started practicing at 6 a.m. everyday, working on my techinique and eventually I got to Junior Nationals in North Dakota in the winter. I was very inspired and motivated. I went to my first Olympic Trials when I was 16. I was shaking and didn’t swim well because I let myself get distracted. I lost focus on me. Four years later I was at UCLA and this time I knew what to expect and I just missed. I was fifth and they take the top two. So I ate healthier and went to sleep earlier and in 2008, on the third try, I made it..”

One of her teammates that yeat was Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals in Beijing to break fellow American Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of seven first-places at a single Olympics.

The 39-year-old Vandenberg concuded her inspirational talk with three “golden rules” for the kids, no matter what their passion in life is: 1) Do what you love; 2) Be grateful for your body and mind; and 3) Never give up. If you fail, keep going.

Vandenberg grew up in Moraga and swam for Campolindo High and Orinda Aquatics. She won silver medals at the 2005 World University Games and 2007 World Swimming Championships in the 200 butterfly. She competed on UCLA’s swim and diving team, graduating in 2007.She is also an ambassador for Room to Read, an organization that focuses on literacy and gender equality in education. Her appearance at Canyon follows that of 2000 Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist Dain Blanton last year.

Fifth-graders Luna and Viola lit the torch, Syndey sang the national anthem and the event raised more than $60,000, which will be used for Canyon’s class instructional aides, the P.E. program, arts and music program, digital learning program, reading specialist program, science program and other supplemental enrichment programs and activities.