Like Water for Carlos

By Lisa Bendall

Many ABILITIES readers were first introduced to Carlos Costa a year ago. This young man had, at 20, just finished a 51.4-km marathon swim across Lake Ontario. In doing so, Carlos had become the youngest athlete -- and the first with a disability -- to complete the swim. His exceptional achievement earned him numerous awards, including that of 1993 Ontario Disabled Athlete of the Year. He also raised thousands of dollars for Variety Village, a metropolitan Toronto sports complex that offers opportunities for young people with disabilities. In the Fall 1993 issue of ABILITIES, Carlos described his first marathon swim, emphasizing the positive attitude that had kept him going.

That confident drive has now taken Carlos abroad to continue his twofold mandate of fundraising and increasing awareness of the abilities of people with disabilities. The chilling temperatures of Canadian waters in winter preclude marathon swimming during those months. So, before Carlos had even swum Lake Ontario, he was already making plans to pursue his next challenge further south.

In November, we recognized his name once again on the news as the metropolitan Toronto resident prepared to swim 22 km across the Catalina Channel in California. Carlos succeeded in only 15 hours -- and managed to avoid the sharks that lurked in those same waters!

"I knew there was a possibility of encountering a shark," says Carlos, "but it’s a risk you take. Every time you go outside for a walk, it’s a risk -- you could get run over. It’s the same thing with swimming in a body of water with sharks. I was willing to take that risk, and I didn’t get hurt." So, on this swim, the telltale fin of an approaching shark became just another of the many dangers his vigilant team watched for from the boats that escorted Carlos across the channel.

Carlos notes with dismay that although he has been breaking records his disability notwithstanding, he was heralded in California as "the most disabled" person to swim the channel -- Carlos has had both his legs amputated at the knee, while an athlete crossing the channel prior to Carlos was a single-leg amputee.

Another obstacle Carlos noticed while in the U.S. was that many people were under the misconception that their donations would be brought back to Canada. In fact, his fundraising efforts in southern California were to benefit the Variety Club there.

Nevertheless, his swim across the Catalina Channel was successful, not only as an athletic achievement but also as an awareness-raising event. And after this accomplishment, Carlos just kept on going. On August 29, Carlos entered the Italian waters of the Strait of Messina, off Sicily, for a 60-km double-crossing. In 23 and a half hours, he had not only realized his original goal but actually ended up swimming 90 km, stretching his swim along the coast and setting a world record in the process. He finished at 5:30 in the morning, welcomed by an excited crowd of over 50 of his relatives.

Carlos chose this body of water because his family originates from Sicily, and because he hoped to raise awareness and funds for Sicilians with disabilities. But he also chose to cross the Strait of Messina for the long distance. "No one there has ever done a swim that length. I wanted to prove to people over there that it can be done," Carlos says.

In proving it, Carlos overcame serious doubts held by some local citizens. The day before his marathon, he was approached by a man in his 70s who had done a swim of 45 km in the same water some years before. Speaking in Italian, the man advised Carlos that the young swimmer would never match him if he encountered any sort of waves or current. The awareness Carlos generated by accomplishing the swim was probably, as in California, of much greater value than any funds raised.

The biggest difficulty in this latest swim, Carlos reports, was in maintaining a positive mental stance. He was frustrated by a lack of good organization and leadership. On the Italian boats that accompanied him in the water, everyone seemed to want control of events. While he swam, his finishing point was extended three or four times, which drained Carlos. "I just wanted to end it. I didn’t care where it was. But if you make me swim for 10 kilometres and then say it’s another five kilometres, that’s going to frustrate me. You mentally gear up and you just want to finish."

Carlos stresses that his own Canadian team did not let him down. Vicki Keith, herself a notable marathon swimmer, continues to act as Carlos’s coach, supporting him tremendously. "Plain and simple," says Carlos, "if Vicki wasn’t there, I don’t think any of this would have happened." He has learned a great deal from her expert background and her professional coaching. Carlos says he cannot imagine doing a swim without her, and describes how Vicki has taught him to stay positive -- or at least "semi-positive"after 20 hours in the water -- as an essential ingredient in completing a marathon.

Carlos is now back at Humber College in Toronto on a part-time basis. He needs only one more course to complete his diploma in business administration. He plans on getting a full-time job, but intends to keep swimming.

The greatest benefit from Carlos’s swims certainly has been in the area of awareness. Yet the stubborn public view of people with disabilities is still sometimes disheartening. "Every time I do a marathon swim," says Carlos, "it’s ’first disabled person’ or something like that. It’s fine to mention it, but I don’t like it in the headlines. I could turn around and say, 99 per cent of the population would not be able to do what I’m doing, so how can you call me ’disabled’? It’s very difficult. They don’t see. They don’t learn from what I’ve done."

But Carlos will not stop swimming, and he is definitely making a difference. Many Canadians, with and without disabilities, will eagerly await news of Carlos Costa’s next challenge, and will be ready to cheer him on.

If you would like to make a donation to Variety Village in support of Carlos Costa, call (416) 699-7167, or write to: 3701 Danforth Ave., Scarborough, ON, M1N 2G2.

(Lisa Bendall is an ABILITIES staff writer.)