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Backstroker Hilary Caldwell a work of art in the pool

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By Jim Morris

It started with a line from a Red Hot Chili Peppers song tattooed on her ribs.

Next came the Olympic rings on her forearm. After that a quote from her favourite book on her hip and a moose antler on her neck.

“I think everyone hears tattoos are super addictive,” backstroke specialist Hilary Caldwell chuckled. “It’s super true.”

Also included among the seven tattoos adorning Caldwell’s body is a mermaid on her arm. The latest is a quote on the back of her arm in honour of Randy Bennett, her former coach at the High Performance Centre–Victoria, who died of cancer in April 2015.

That tattoo reads “Make It So,” a phrase Bennett often used.

“I knew I wanted to get something after he passed,” said Caldwell, who will compete in her second Olympic Games this summer in Rio de Janerio. “I was deciding between a few different things.”

“A lot of them involved swear words so I figured I probably shouldn’t put that one on me forever.”

Caldwell is not only one of the top backstrokers on Swimming Canada’s Olympic team, but the 25-year-old from White Rock, B.C., also sports the most body art. While tattoos are common among athletes, Caldwell never expected to turn her body into a canvas.

“If you would have asked me as a kid I would have said ‘no, I will never get a tattoo,’” she said. “People don’t get it because I hate needles. Hate, hate needles! For some reason tattoos don’t bug me.”

It was toward the end of her first year of university that Caldwell began musing about getting a tattoo. The line ‘I will make it to the moon if I have to crawl’ from the Chili Peppers’ song Scar Tissue resonated with her.

The Olympic rings were added after she made the 2012 London Olympic team.

Then came two at once. Growing up she loved the book Looking for Alaska by John Green. The quote ‘not the drizzle but the hurricane’ left an impression.

“If people were rain would you be the drizzle or a hurricane?” Caldwell explains. “Always make an impact, be memorable. That kind of spoke to me.”

The moose antler was born from an inside joke with her mother.

“It started as a dumb, nickname thing,” Caldwell laughed. “She called me dear, so I started calling her moose. It kind of stuck.”

Many people assume the mermaid is a synonym for Caldwell’s swimming.

“It’s a piece of art,” she shrugged. “It doesn’t necessarily need to have this deep meaningful story behind everything.”

The antler was actually the most painful of the tattoos to have done. The intricate mermaid was the longest, taking about five hours, all competed in one sitting.

“I was gritting my teeth,” she said.

Some tattoos can prove to be an embarrassing mistake, but so far Caldwell doesn’t have any regrets.

“No, not really,” she said. “On all of them there are little things that you think I could have done this differently. But it’s an in-the-moment thing. You kind of get used to it.”

Any tattoos we can’t see?

“Nothing on my bum or anything,” she said.

Will there be more?

“I’ve played back and forth with the idea of getting a sleeve or a half sleeve,” she said. “It’s a big commitment and a lot of time.”

Caldwell accepts tattoos are very visible expressions but often wonders why people think they are a license to probe into her personal life.

“People kind of assume because you have them, they can ask any number of personal questions,” she said. “I feel you don’t ask that if someone wears interesting clothing or jewelry.”

Caldwell finished 18th in the 200-m backstroke in London, but heads to this year’s Games more prepared for the Olympic grind.

“I was a little bit wide-eyed and star struck by the whole process,” she said about London. “I think I got lost in the shuffle of it a little bit.”

“I’ve gained a lot of experience on the international scene since then, how to manage myself a lot better. I had an amazing time in London but I didn’t swim very well. I think I can go and enjoy the process but also have the results that I want.”

Caldwell announced her arrival on the international scene by winning a bronze medal in the 200-m backstroke at the 2013 FINA World Championships. She lowered the Canadian record in each of the three rounds.

At last summer’s Pan American Games in Toronto, Caldwell won the 200-m back in Pan Am record time. At the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, she was seventh. She also reached the semifinals of the 100-m backstroke where she placed 12th.

One of the most important lessons Caldwell has learned is how to be patient. Her event is scheduled for the final days of the Olympic meet.

“It’s a lot of waiting,” she said. “There is going to be some great swims leading up to that by the Canadians. I am going to have to enjoy that but not get caught up in that.”

“I’m sure (there will be) some disappointing swims. You also don’t want to get dragged the other way. That’s the nature of sport. You have going to have ups and downs. I’m going to have to make sure I keep my cool enough