Those dreams pushed him to the limit of his energy. In the weeks leading up to the trials, Mazurkiewicz and Tara Kirk spent long, grueling therapy sessions at Diana's Kingston house. What's really nice about Gabe is that his ego wasn't in the way. He wanted to do what was best for her, not just what was best for him. He let her go to Stanford to be around a bunch of high-profile coaches and swimmers the week before the Olympic Trials.
Most coaches try to cling to their athletes.
When Tara Kirk returned to Bremerton from Stanford a few days before the trials in Indianapolis, Ind., she went to the Jarstad pool. When she arrived, the strict reading of pool rules forbade her to swim because it was family swim time. The lifeguard on duty stuck to the rules, and Mazurkiewicz, who came of age where athletes had the largesse of the state at their fingertips, was incensed. Worn down by the battle with OAC, having endured Gabe's trip to the hospital in May with chest pains, the Mazurkiewicz family seems eager to get out of Dodge. I'm very proud of him.