Curious Incidents of a Flailing Mermaid

Dirrty

Soundtrack to My Life – Track twenty-seven

In 2002, I went to the World Championships. I think I’d just turned 17 – I was annoyed because I couldn’t “officially” drink at the after party. Gutted.

There was this new lad that had come from no where to qualify for the team. He was a S10 (very miminal impairment) and was a sure thing for a good clutch of medals.
Sometimes people are called for classification just before competition starts to check you’re in the right class (mostly new swimmers). This lad was called in and, dispite him only having two fingers on one hand, the classifers judged him as too able to even be a S10 so he was “classed out” – not eligible to swim. A country has 2 hours to appeal a classification judgement. But, for some reason, no one did!

I felt so sorry for the guy. He was 15 (I think) and now stuck in Argentina for two weeks, with swimmers, unable to do anything other than watch everyone racing and winning medals. He ended up making a great cheerleader though.

We had CD players in our hotel rooms and, I remember, every time I walked past, or popped into, his room, this track was playing. So, it forever reminds me of him and Argentina, 2002.

Christina Aguilera - Dirrty ft. Redman