The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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48 ■ THE WOLFPACKER Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. and said, 'I can take anything you can give me.' I laid a workout on him that would make your blood curdle [14 con- secutive days of early-morning 20,000 yards in the pool]. After that, he asked to do a time trial in the 200 — and he turned in a good time. "I said then, 'Hey, this guy will walk on water.' He still had some bad days, but he would always come back. He had an awful lot inside." Goodhew absorbed the lesson. "There is little doubt that on many occasions, Coach Easterling believed in my potential more than I did," he said. "His belief in my ability was key in the development of my winning mindset." A Show Of Faith Nine months later, Goodhew was sit- ting in a glass waiting box on the side of the Olympic pool in Montreal, pre- paring for the final of the 100-meter breaststroke. Sitting across from him was Scottish superstar Wilke, his boy- hood hero, and beside him was Ameri- can John Hencken. Goodhew took an early lead in the race but fell to seventh at the end, with Hencken surging to the gold medal while setting the world re- cord in the event. Goodhew knew he belonged in the same water as the all-time greats, not in spite of all the privilege and difficulties of his swimming career, but because of them. "It is actually adversity that tends to shape and mold us and knocks us out of our complacency," Goodhew says today. "You have to react to these things. "I am one of the most fortunate peo- ple in the world, because I've had the best people who guided and helped me. And when I doubted myself, they be- lieved in me more than I believed in my- self. It was just the most extraordinary case of the gift of giving." For most of his adolescent life, Good- hew struggled in school because of his dyslexia. That initially was a problem at NC State as well, but he received both help and inspiration. He took some dif- ficult classes that opened his mind, even if he saw some of it backward. "When I was young, I realized I'd been dealt some cards that weren't very good," he said. "I was always at the back of the class. You could say I was drown- ing in the classroom. The life preserver thrown to me was swimming. "One of the areas where I shone was in economics. I found some extraordi- nary professors at NC State who en- abled me to see something in myself that I had never seen before." Those classes included some far-out topics like the study of extraterrestrial life and alternative futures, the latter a predictive class that delved into the ramifications of the inevitable breakup of the Soviet Union. "The topics that I took couldn't have prepared me better for what I was to do later on in my career," he said. Still Active A f te r re t i r i n g f ro m co m p e t i t ive swimming in 1980, Goodhew contin- ued in athletics. He was selected as a member of the British bobsleigh team for the 1981 European Championships. The team did not advance. In 1981 he was awarded MBE, a royal order of chivalry presented by the Queen of England, for his services to sport. He chose not to go into coaching be- cause he wanted to start a family, but he did embark on a four-decade career as an international motivational speaker, author, sometimes comedian and con- stant presence on the global swimming scene. If you want to win a pub bet, ask someone the only former Wolfpack athlete to earn a mention in the sitcom "The Office." Goodhew is the answer. It was in the British version of the comedy, in which star Ricky Gervais had a book of proverbs called "Collec- tive Meditations, forward by Duncan Goodhew." In real life, Goodhew has written a handful of books, including the 2012 motivational guide "Fix Your Life—Now!," a six-step plan to happi- ness, and "Sink or Swim," a self-help book for men. Goodhew helped develop a leader- ship training program for Pricewater- houseCoopers and a virtual training program for Microsoft Europe, both of which are still in use. He eventually became the president of London-based Swimathon, which has helped raise more than $12 million for worthy causes. He is hailed for en- couraging school-aged children to swim competitively and recreationally and to learn the sport as a life skill for physical and mental well-being. Goodhew is also famous in Britain for saving the life of a high-ranking mem- ber of Parliament, Robert Sheldon, who had a heart attack on the streets of London in 2000. Goodhew happened to hear him hit the ground and applied the lifesaving first-aid techniques he learned as a swimmer. When his hometown was hosting the 2012 Olympics, Goodhew was selected not only to help pick one of seven young countrymen to be torchbearers to light the Olympic cauldron, but also as a dep- uty mayor of the Olympic Village. At 67, he's still an active swimmer and observer of the sport. He visits Ra- leigh on a regular basis to see his former teammate and roommate Jim Umbden- stock, and to check out swimmers for current head coach Braden Holloway. He's never been kicked out of practice. "You know, one swim is a good day," Goodhew said. "Two swims is a great day. I try to do a lot of open-water swims, if I can get enough time. "I love my sport." ■ Goodhew finished first in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 1980 Olympics. As part of a compromise that allowed British athletes to compete in Moscow amid a U.S.-led boycott, the Union Jack was not raised during the medal ceremony, nor was the country's anthem played. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS