"Head Above Water" Showcases Compelling Pre-Tokyo 2020 Journeys
A Quick TV Review
Such a shame - and bad on me - that this four-part documentary on select Team Australia swimmers escaped my radar and languished off my watchlist since 2021.
Training toward Tokyo are Kyle Chalmers - a star since his three-medal performance at Rio 2016 as a 16-year-old, Bronte Campbell - a multi-world champion and double-Olympian contemplating retirement post-2021, and Cody Simpson - a known pop music star who's returning to swimming roots under much public skepticism.
Also featured is nine-time Olympic medalist Ian Thorpe, who retired in 2006 after Athens 2004 and two starring turns in the Games, providing expert, veteran context commentary of what it's like to go through the trenches.
Head Above Water's four episodes - "Current", "Team", "Sacrifice", and "Time" - present personalities not normally exposed in the United States. And, they serve to remind one of the work it takes to become an Olympian. It's hard not to root for the trio - or for Thorpe as he commits to a new life in activism and mentoring.
And more refreshing, it's a documentary series with no typical feel-good ending - concluding its coverage just as the 2021 Australian Swimming Trials competition, which served as Olympic Trials, begins. Was powering through training, in the Covid-19 era, worth it? Do they make the team? In many ways, Head Above Water says it's the journey that really matters. Cheers to that.
For the record, Chalmers won three medals at Tokyo 2020, including a silver in the 100-meter freestyle, while Campbell won two relay medals, including in the 4x100 freestyle). Both swimmers, as well as Simpson, are training for Paris 2024.