Arno Kamminga expected to be in the midst of his final training block right now before the Netherlands’ departure for the holding camp in Chiba, Japan, on 2 July, as he negotiated the final stepping stones that would bring him to Tokyo and his Olympic debut.
The European Championships would have been and gone in Budapest with the breaststroke specialist having shown the sort of form and trajectory that promised trips to the podium in Hungary.
Arno Kamminga; Photo Courtesy: Foto Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia /Insidefoto
It was, he told Swimming World at the time, “mindblowing” and he continued to prepare for Tokyo 2020, drinking in the praise from 2012 champion Cameron van der Burgh.
Instead, Kamminga is just happy to be back in the water he so loves in Amsterdam after five weeks spent alone at home in the centre of the Dutch capital during the lockdown that was imposed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
There is though no competition for the athletes to prepare for, no certainties of planning and of refining each component with the biggest prize of all on the horizon after the Olympics were rescheduled for July 2021.
While Kamminga is open about missing competition and finding it difficult to spend so much time alone, he believes that now is a time of possibility.
He told Swimming World:
“It’s a terrible thing that is going on right now but it is also an opportunity.
“For the first time in years you have the opportunity to change things up or try different things.
“We swim now six times a week instead of 10 and I have always wondered what it was like if I could do a little more weights and a little less swimming, what effect it would have on my body.
“And now I can do it because there is the room, there’s no pressure because the next meet is way, way ahead.
“This is a big reset button that has been pressed for everyone around the world. Is it something you see as a good thing or a bad thing?
“If you dive back into the water is it like every other day and nothing happens or is it like I am really lucky I can swim again?
“It is the perspective you have which really makes a difference.”
He added:
“Mostly I see it as an opportunity – I have one more year to train and get better which really is a good thing for me.
“It was harder trying to maintain fitness knowing all the competitions were postponed but on the other hand my dream is the Olympics but also what comes after.
“I am starting to get out there now and I want to maintain that for many years. The Olympics is a big thing and I really want to go but I am also going to do Paris for sure. I am going for four more years.
“So for me I could easily shift my focus – I want to be a better swimmer over time, not just this summer, not just at the Olympics. So that really helped me.”
Arno Kamminga: Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer
Lockdown arrived in the Netherlands in mid-March and it accelerated quickly for the Tokyo-bound swimmers under Faber’s stewardship.
A training camp had been organised at a former convent in the north of the country after which the group were to go into quarantine.
After just one training session the order to shut down came from the National Olympic Committee and they all returned home.
It all began to sink in and then came the decision to postpone Tokyo 2020 after which Kamminga chose to take a week to himself as he absorbed the changes.
“I took a week off: rest and focus, get my mind sorted out because it was a big shock – no Olympics, no training and everything that came with that.
“So first I thought I am going to have a vacation which was weird – a lockdown vacation. It was nice to have some time off but it was weird because you couldn’t really do anything.”
Kamminga had just moved to a city-centre fifth-floor apartment so no backyard pool for him and living alone at times was difficult.
He unpacked, caught up on films and TV and maintained his fitness through cycling and running.
After five weeks he returned to the pool and into the water in which he feels so at home, the swimmers going down one lane and up the next in a loop.
He said:
“I can’t really describe it. It was so good.
“Obviously it felt a bit weird – you lose your feeling. But it feels so good to be back in the water and doing what you love – especially after all those hours on the bike and the running and all the other stuff trying to maintain fitness.
“It’s so annoying compared to swimming. Swimming I really love and all the other sports are not made for me!”
Then came a time trial in mid-May and Kamminga stopped the clock at 59.24 over 100m, shocking himself in the process.
He said:
“It was insane. My muscles were hurting, I was tired at starting up again.
“But I was and I am still so happy to be back in the water again and swimming.
“I really think it’s more a mental thing than physical. I believe what is holding me back right now isn’t physical, it’s more mental.
“We’ve been out of the pool for a few weeks but then again it’s more (about) if you still enjoy swimming every day then you get into a good time and then you can swim really fast.
“I see a lot of people struggling with maintaining the focus and because it is hard – with everything that is going on it is hard to maintain focus.
“I am lucky to have a good coach and friends and family I can talk with and I can really stay focused and that is why I can also swim really fast right now.”
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
As of now, the Martinez Cup – at which Kamminga set the national 100br short-course record of 56.20 last year – is slated to go ahead in October in Amsterdam.
Other than that, there is little on the horizon in 2020, something Kamminga finds difficult.
“I am really missing the competition. We had the training competition: we could organise electronic timing so we had a real competition but still the entire pool was empty, it was just us, it was quiet.
“We had to do our own warm-up and it was just a weird feeling to be racing but not really racing like how we are used to.
“I did all the world cups, the big competitions and the FINA Champions Series and then I go back to the basics: we just have two lanes and you have to race on your own which is really weird but also really nice because we could finally race again.”