Wednesday, April 26, 2000
Jasontek's 'final hurrah'
Synchro swimmer has battled back, set for nationals
By Michael Perry
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Becky Jasontek and her boyfriend, Joey Tomsic, were on the way to a friend's wedding in September in northern California.
Becky Jasontek
|
That's when Becky, who had been training with the U.S. national synchronized swimming team, started suffering from serious cramps. Then she blacked out.
“I didn't know what to do,” she said. “I had no idea what was going on.”
They pulled off the highway. Coincidentally — and fortuitously — a hospital was just off the exit.
“I fell down in the hospital quite a lot, and they realized it was serious,” Jasontek said. “I was in so much absolute pain, my shoulders began to hurt. Then they know there's internal bleeding. They said, "We have to do surgery right now, or you're going to bleed to death.' That's when I started getting scared.”
She had so much blood in her stomach doctors could not find the problem through X-rays or CT scans.
The Loveland native and Mount Notre Dame graduate had suffered a ruptured ovarian cyst. She has an 81/2-inch scar in the middle of her stom ach from the operation.
Jasontek was in bed for two weeks and out of the pool for six while recovering.
Seven months later, she is about to compete in the Janzen National Synchronized Swimming Championships in Landover, Md., starting Thursday.
“I'm pretty much back to where I was,” she said. “I still have scar tissue. I can feel it when I arch really hard. When I feel it, I just thank God I'm alive.”
These probably are the final months of Jasontek's career. She is 25 years old and had trained with the 2000 Olympic Games in mind.
The U.S. team was chosen in January. Jasontek is essentially the second alternate. The top nine women and first alternate will travel to Sydney, Australia, for the Olympics.
No matter how well Jasontek might do this weekend, she will go to Sydney only if one of the chosen athletes can't compete. Her club goes to Spain in June. The national team goes to Rome in August. Jasontek said that probably will be the end for her.
“I've been swimming for 18 years now,” she said. “My goal all along was to compete in the Olympics. This all happened at a pretty horrible time. It was pretty discouraging and pretty hard.”
Jasontek was a four-time All-American at Ohio State. In 1997, after her eligibility expired, she moved to Walnut Creek, Calif., and joined the Walnut Creek Aquanuts.
The Aquanuts have finished as high as second at the national championships. Jasontek's best individual finish was fifth last year.
Jasontek never considered an early retirement. Her rehabilitation was slow and painful. The incision was so big, it hurt to get out of bed.
Accustomed to practicing for up to 10 hours a day, she was limited at first to 30 minutes in the pool. She couldn't do a flip turn. She was weak. She had to stop and rest after one lap.
“I had not been out of the water for more than a week since I was 6 years old,” Jasontek said.
The Sept.26 incident probably cost her a spot on the Olympic team.
“This is going to be my final hurrah,” she said of the national championships. “It's going to be emotional. But I have a whole different outlook on life. I'm just happy to be healthy again.”
Sports Stories
Mets 6, Reds 5
Box, runs
Ochoa chooses to play, not protest
Jersey No. 4 retired by UC
Kenner wants more wins, not records
UC's Slaise 2nd-round pick in WNBA draft
