In Re-Retirement, Brent Hayden Calls Time on His Terms
Brent Hayden was as surprised as anyone that he’d come back to swimming in 2019. But as he fell back in love with the sport, he sought something that eluded him in the first go-around: A chance to, at the very least, call it a career on his terms.
Friday, Hayden got that chance. After a successful return to be part of the Tokyo Olympics, the 38-year-old Canadian sprinter announced his re-retirement.
The difference of a decade is stark. In 2012, despite the achievement of a bronze medal in the 100 freestyle at the London Olympics, Hayden was done with the sport. Mentally, as his depression worsened, and physically, as his back deteriorated, he was ready to be anywhere but the pool.
But he got back in the pool in 2019, while filming videos for his global swim coaching business in his wife’s family’s home in Lebanon, and got to itch to compete. He was then, as he shared Friday, just a guy in “a small apartment outside Beirut, writing an email, not sure what the response was going to be” from Swimming Canada.
Brent Hayden; Photo Courtesy: Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Nearly three years later, with the federation’s support, he weathered the one-year COVID-19 delay of the Games, returned to the national record board and now leaves the Canadian program in a better spot than he found it.
“I feel like I’m just in a place now where in 2012, I left because I was struggling with depression, I was struggling with my back too, but ultimately it was the depression that made me decide to leave,” Hayden said in a Zoom call. “And I always regretted that that had to happen. I feel like this time around, I fell back in love with the sport again, and I think that was the goal, let alone all the times and placements and all those other goals. For me personally, this was about falling in love with the sport again and that healing journey.”
Hayden’s back hampered him through the fall, and he said he considered retiring immediately after Tokyo. But unlike the rash decision in 2012, he took his time to ensure stepping away is what he wanted.
In Phase 1 of his career, Hayden won bronze in London plus gold at the 2007 World Championships. He added silver at Worlds in 2011 to go with a pair of relay silvers from the 2005 event in Montreal. He earned golds in both the Pan Pacific Championships and Commonwealth Games among various international accolades.
Hayden sought a more complete measure of success for his second chapter. He found it in his joy training in Western Canada and in being part of the inaugural Toronto Titans squad in the International Swimming League for two seasons. In both long-course and short-course, he set times comparable to a decade ago, even when the previous times were super-suited pre-2009 results.
Hayden beamed Friday when discussing the highlight of his comeback: The 400 free relay in Tokyo. In a squad with Markus Thormeyer, Yuri Kisil and Josh Liendo (plus Ruslan Gaziev for prelims), the team re-set the Canadian record and came out of nowhere to finish fourth, just six-tenths off the podium.
The Canadians entered their Trials, the latest of any major swimming nation due to COVID-19 stipulations, seeded 15th. They needed a time trial to ensure they’d even get to Tokyo, then came out of nowhere to push for a medal.
Hayden also tied for ninth in the 50 free in Tokyo. Along the way, he’s served as a mentor to young swimmers. Liendo, a budding star, was born after Hayden had made his first national team. Romanian freestyler David Popovici considered Hayden a role model growing up. He was named Swimming World’s Comeback Swimmer of the Year in 2021.
Hayden isn’t just retiring in a better mental space than before, but he’s leaving Swimming Canada in a much better place.
“I’m excited for that,” he said. “It would be really great for more of my records to get broken because that would mean that Swimming Canada is progressing. If you look at who we’ve got and what they’re doing at such a young age, you can’t help but feel that the future is bright for Canada.”
Brent Hayden wouldn’t say never on a comeback, but he said he’s “99.9 percent sure” that this is it, with the strain of training just too much on his body. He’s not going far from the water thanks to his Swimming Secrets business, hoping to bring high-level instruction and clinics to young swimmers around the world.
Beyond the pool, he’s got an interest in visual art, both photography – he built a darkroom at his parent’s house during quarantine – and filmmaking. Retiring allows him to pursue those avenues.
“I think I’m at that age where it’s a good time for me to go, and there’s just so many more things I want to do in life,” he said. “I don’t want my entire life to be swimming. This obviously a very big part of it, but I’ve got so many more things I want to accomplish. …
“Mentally and emotionally,” he continued, “I’m ready to move on and start the next chapter with my amazing wife at my side.”
Congratulations!