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Terence Parkin is Deaf swimmer from South Africa
who has competed for South Africa in Olympic
and Deaflympics Games,
World Cup and Pan Pacific Competitions.
Parkin is the Deaflympics' most successful athlete since
its inception in 1924.
He has participated in 5 Deaflympics and also
earned an Olympic Medal for the 200m breaststroke
in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
He used Sign Language to communicate with his coach.
Prior his trip to the Olympics,
Parkin said: "I am going to the Olympics
to represent South Africa,
but it is so vitally important for me
to go,
to show that the Deaf can do anything.
They can't hear, they can see everything.
I would like to show the World that
there are opportunities for the Deaf".
Additionally, in 2011 Parkin saved
a 7 year-old boy from drowning in a swimming pool
at a Johannesburg gym.
In the interview with Dawn Jane Birley,
he talked about how he followed his dream,
the challenges and how he overcame it by
winning a total of 34 medals.
Allow me to introduce you to this gentleman,
Terrence Parkin (name sign).
Everyone in the world, Deaf or hearing,
knows him as an Olympian and Deaflympian athlete,
having won so many medals.
How many medals altogether?
I have 34 medals.
34?
Yes, Olympic, 1 silver medal and Deaflympics, 33 medals.
So many medals. We all have high respect for you.
The Deaf community salutes you and is proud
that you competed in the Olympic and won the medal.
I am going to take this opportunity to interview you.
We want to know so much more about you,
your childhood, how you got involved in swimming,
where you were born, so let's begin.
I was born in Zimbabwe (Bulawayo) and my
mother was ill when she bore me
and this is why I am Deaf.
I went to mainstream school in Zimbabwe.
My parents made an observation while I was
in school and was not too happy with the outcomes.
South Africa has a Deaf school in Durban
and they decided to relocate me to the Deaf school.
Our family moved to South Africa so that I could go.
Are your mother and father hearing?
Yes, both my parents are hearing.
Are you the only deaf person in the family?
Yes, I am the only one deaf and my sister is hearing.
How do you communicate with your family?
Through signing?
My family isn't fluent in sign language so
it was mostly through oral and homemade sign language.
Yes, homemade sign language.
Yes, correct, homemade sign language.
Now that you're in Durban Deaf School, how
did you come to be involved in swimming
and at what age?
When I was young, the school encouraged me
to get involved in swimming and other sports activities.
From there, this is how I developed my
passion for swimming.
When I was 12 years old, I was
watching the Olympics on television
and this is where I told my parents
that I wanted to be in the Olympics.
My parents were supportive and encouraged me to
follow my dream.
A few months later, I got involved in
my first competition without any formal training (swimming
club training) and with only training,
I had received from the school.
This was the first experience for me and
my mother was my guide, using her hand,
signalling when to dive.
I would watch for her hand signal and
when she gave the signal, I would dive
right in and swim.
I remembered this competition,
I was doing the butterfly and as I reached the end,
I turned and continued with a butterfly.
This was a mistake as I was supposed to do backstroke so instead,
I was doing the butterfly and then butterfly again.
When I realized my mistake, I immediately flipped
into a backstroke. So naturally, Iwas disqualified.
There was this person who was watching me
and he saw my potential so he approached my mother.
He asked my mother if I was involved
in a swimming club and my mother said I wasn't.
He encouraged my mother to get me involved
in the swimming club and my mother said
ok,
however, she did not follow through.
A few months later, they ran into each
other again and he inquired where is your son?
My mother said I was in school and
he insisted that I must get involved in
the swimming club.
He put a pressure on my mother and
took her telephone number
and he was very persistent and successfully got
me into the swimming club.
It was a challenging experience for me and
especially with the women swimming faster than me.
This was an embarrassment for me and this
encouraged me to be a better swimmer.
You have to be thankful for this person
who advocated on your behalf to get you in the swimming pool.
Yes, indeed, I am very thankful for this
man, who was persistent.
When you got involved in the swimming club,
at what age were you?
I got involved in the swimming club when
I was 12.
So at 12, was this in the same year as Olympics being on TV?
Yes, this was the same year when
I watched the Olympics, got into the competition and
then got into the swimming club.
You mentioned that your mother used her
hand signal to let you know when to
start but when you got in the competition,
how were you alerted?
Did the hearing person communicate with you, let
you know when to start?
Well, when I got into swimming club,
my coach Graham Hill (sign name),
he would analyze what would work for me,
naturally, the hand signal.
My coach would always be at the pool,
using a hand signal to let me know
when to start during the competitions over the years.
There was this one person that came up
with an idea using a plastic cup covering
the starter gun and when they click the
start, the cup would flip hence the start
for me to swim.
Oh! What an awesome idea.
Yes, it was a different idea and it
was during wintertime.
This is how I remember the first time,
it was winter and I was chilled.
When they used plastic cup covering the end
of the starter gun and I would watch
for the cup to flip when they pulled
the trigger and I would dive in.
Over the years, it was then decided that
it was not useful and we reverted back
to hand signal.
Then came a point, there was a Time System screen
which the referee used to determine the time,
I started to follow it but it was
placed in an area where I didn't have
a clear view when the referee started the
clock with click-button.
We did a workaround with it by putting
it in an area where I had a
clear view of the screen and this worked
very well for me.
I was happy with it and this leading
me to be more involved in the competitions,
travelling globally.
There was this one person who is involved
with technical equipment, he was observing, knowing that
I am Deaf and trying to figure out
what would work best for me and came
up with an idea after giving it a
lot of thought hence the flash light exclusively made for me.
They placed the flashing light by the wall
behind me where I can see it when
I bend to make a dive and this
was the device I used from this point forward.
That was quite considerable and thoughtful of
this person to think of ways to make
it accessible for you.
Now with the hand signal and flashing lights,
was there a time difference?
Yes, there was a time difference.
With the hand signal, it was a bit
slower and with the flashing light, it was
instant flash.
However, with the hearing, the timekeeper that uses
electronic starter pistol is a bit slower than
the flashing light.
So, it was an interesting observation for me,
the starting pistol is simultaneous with the flashing light.
Do you think as a Deaf person,
you had an advantage than the hearing because
you depended on your eyes when the light flash?
Is there a difference in milliseconds?
Yes, slightly, by 0.0001 seconds.
Very slightly. It does help.
But, it's important with the timing.
A reduction in timing, especially in swimming.
Yes, indeed. As soon as the light flashes,
I would dive in quickly and this is by watching it.
Looking at the screen or hand signal,
it didn't work too well but with the light
on the back of the wall of the
starting block. It was much better as I
was able to see it and then dive.
Great! Now I want to know more
about your training regimens.
How do you train, how often, how many
hours, and how long do you sleep.
Can you share that?
It's very difficult. I train from Monday to Friday,
using the same program. For example, from Monday to Friday,
I would wake up at 4 am
and be at the swimming club at 4:30 am.
For half an hour, I would be doing warm ups and then at 5 am
I would be in the pool
doing laps until 7 am. A 2-hour training in the pool.
Then I would go to school until 1:30 pm (13:30)
and be at the gym
at 2:00 pm. So, from 2:00 pm to
4:00 pm I would be doing light exercises,
using different equipment including running. Then from 5:30,
I would be in the water for another
2 hours. I would be at home at
7:00 pm and this is the same for
every day. Saturday morning, I would spend 3
hours in the pool and then rest for
the rest of the day including Sunday. However,
I am also involved in the National Competition
so that happens during the week and weekends.
I would spend at least 80-100 km per week.
You spend at least 100 km a week.
What about your food regimen?
With all that energy focused on swimming, how much of calories
do you include in your plan?
How much per day?
Well, I eat a lot but I don't follow the plan.
I really love meat.
I just go with the flow, eat what I
want, not like other athletes that follow the
plan, some do take supplements. I couldn't understand
the need for taking the supplement as
I do not believe in this.
I just eat what I want.
During the Olympics training, did they not have
training and eating regimens that needed to be followed?
Yes, the Olympians have that but I do not follow it.
With the Olympians, how do you communicate with them?
I was fortunate that the Olympians knew who
I was.
We don't really communicate, just what is necessary
like,
how are you doing, you good, etc.
The majority of them do feel intimidated by
me due to lack of communication so most
of the time I train by myself,
focusing on myself.
It's better for me, to focus on myself
with no interferences from others, so with that,
they usually leave me alone.
Yes, there would be communication barrier but it's
not a big issue for me.
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