Mosse rapt with new life style

Press, 2 August 1985, Page 8

Mosse rapt with new life style

By

KEVIN TUTTY

Twelve months ago, Anthony Mosse, one of the most accomplished butterfly swimmers in the world, agreed, after careful consideration, to become a part of that most intense of academic and sporting institutions, the American College system. At the end of his first year at Stanford University, just south of San Francisco, and one of the most prestigious colleges in the United States, Mosse has pronounced it was “the best decision I have ever made.” “Both academically and from a swimming point of view it was a good choice. I am having the time of my life.” The history of New Zealand sport is littered with men and women who have accepted sports scholarships to American universities, but have never achieved from the system what they had hoped. Greg Turner, the golfer, who had a sojourn at Oklahoma University, did not find university life to his liking, and opted out last year after 12 months. Mosse was in a slightly different position. Because of his swimming achievements he had a choicp of universities and he picked one that suited him.

Stanford has the best swimming team in the United States. Three months ago it won the N.C.A.A. championship — the American college short-course championships — which Mosse says is the toughest swimming meeting in the world. “Tougher than the Olympic Games.” Mosse has been in Auckland for the last two months training and preparing for the Pan Pacific championships in Japan later this month. He could have stayed in the United States and trained and competed with a club — the university squads close down during the summer vacation — but chose instead to spend the three month break in a less intense atmosphere in New Zealand. It is the last chance Mosse is likely to get for a couple of years to spend time at home with his family and New Zealand coach, Isashi Inomata. Next year he will probably stay in the United States preparing for the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games and the world championships in Madrid two weeks later. “I could have stayed in the United States this year. In fact I spent two weeks

altitude training at 2100 m at Salt Lake City. I was training with Paul Bergen, and have had the offer to join his squad next summer. “I decided instead to come home and relax a little. If I had been in the United States there would have been more pressure. Coming home has also given me the chance to sit down and chat with my coach about my swimming career.” Since he finished fifth in the 200 m butterfly and sixth in at the Los Angeles Olympics last year,

little has been heard of Mosse. But he has had an active year and achieved some excellent results and times. Two weeks before he returned to New Zealand he competed in an international carnival in Vancouver where he won the 200 m butterfly, and a few days before he left the United States he won the 200 m butterfly in 2min 1.5 s at another major carnival at Mission Viejo in California. Earlier he had had success in the N.C.A.A. championships and the American short-course championships. The N.C.A.A. championships are sum in 25 yard pools, and involve the best swimmers in the American university system, they have to achieve qualifying times to swim at the championships. In this hyped up atmosphere Mosse finished third in the 200 yards butterfly to Pablo Morales, who was fourth in the Olympic final, and the Australian, Jon Sieben, who won the Olympic gold medal. Mosse added a seventh in the 100 yards butterfly. A couple of weeks later Mosse swam at the can short-course national

championships and won the 200 m butterfly. He thus became the first New Zealand man to win an American swimming title. In three weeks Mosse will swim for New Zealand at the Pan Pacific championships in Japan. Although his training has not been as intense as it would have been had he been in the United States, Mosse hopes to improve his best times. From Japan he will return to Stanford where he shares a suite on the campus with two other swimmers and three of the university’s rowing squad. “It works out well because we all have to get up about the same time for training.” For the next 12 months college competitions, the Commonwealth Games, the world championships, and the industrial engineering degree he is studying for, will occupy his time. The 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul are a strong motivational influence for Mosse. By that time he will be 23 and at the height of his career. He is uncertain whether he will retire then. “I would like to be around for the Commonwealth Games in 1990. It would be a lot of fun competing in my home town.”