· Diego Nogueira · Five continents the same content ·

By Diego Nogueira.......

The sun rises on the beaches of Australia, when early to start a new session, at the same time we are going to rest in Europe, and at that moment begins the second training in America. We take the pull buoys,kickboards, paddles,fins, each of the accessories you need for training.

Your coach looks at you and says what you will do in the next training, a new challenge, a new step for that big test. Time to compite, your goal is clear,  you accumulate your miles with that motivation, shoulders weigh, back pain, nevertheless continued, you try new techniques, you make differents methods, your heart looks set to explode, you strive to limit, time to relax, a new training ends, competition time is coming.

There are few hours to the time of competition, breakfast, lunch, hydrate you, you want to cry, laugh, make jokes, time to concentrate, your stomach is upset, you want to scream, you wear your bathing suit, you do your ritual although not think they are obsessions, you repeat one by one the gestures that you know by heart, you wear your swim cap, clean your goggles, you put cream if you need it, return to hydrate, go to the bathroom, speak with your teammate, you can´t hear anything, you only think about one thing, just want to compete.

You line up with the other competitors, look left and right and see that there are your "rival", the referee whistles, all the nerves run away like a stopper of a bottle of champagne.

Close your eyes, water jump, struck by an opponent will raise your goggles, water inside your goggles, you give up one ear out your swim cap, raise your head,  try to improve, a new blow,  you drink a gel, passing a direct rival, very tired, shoulders weigh, boundless joy, your body does not seem to take miles swum, last buoy, last meters to the end, give it all, touch the finish, the race is over.

Go out of the water, happiness, crying, legs shake you, injuries, shocks,sugar drops, euphoria, disappointments, hopes,even peace.

Look again at your side, your coach, your team are with you, look elsewhere and you see the same situation but with another swimmer, detailed look and every swimmer are with his team, the most hated person in the water stays in the water, because outiside it is another person, he is your confidant, why? Because he is you, the only person who lives the same as you , is the only person who feels the same as you, he has had the same doubts and fears, suffers the same, and one day, sooner or later he will be out of the water remembering  the moments lived.

Hundreds of citites, numerous countries, trained thousand of miles, transoceanic travels, hundreds of kilometers raced, rivers, thousands of aquatic animals and non-aquatic, seas,  dozens of competitors, lakes, infinite landscapes, gallon saltwater, tons of fresh water, How many miles in solitude?

We can be tall, fat, blond, thick, brown, short, thin, can be white, brown, you can call Bryan, Jennifer, Francis, Ekaterina, Hassan, José, but we're the same person, WE ARE OPEN WATER SWIMMERS .