OHIO - Puslinch swimmer Tristan Jankovics is back at Ohio State after a summer he could only dream of as a kid.
He just competed at his first Olympic Games in Paris in the men’s 400 metre individual medley.
“The energy in (the venue) was crazy,” the Royal City Aquatics swimmer said. “It was a really energetic facility. Every time somebody from France swam, it was deafening. It was loud, it was so energetic.”
He added he wasn’t about to get caught up in the energy and stayed true to himself.
Though he didn’t walk out of Paris with a medal, the sights and sounds of the experience will stick with him for years to come.
He left with Swimming Canada on July 11 for northern France, and stayed there for a couple weeks for final preparations with coaches and teammates.
Jankovics and the team also went to the beaches of Normandy.
After a three-hour bus ride to Paris and going through security, the gravity of the moment hit him.
“As soon as I walked through the security gates, a surreal feeling hit me where I was like ‘wow, I’m really here,’” Jankovics said. “It was just so crazy to see all these different buildings and different countries everywhere, all these different athletes.”
Of note, he was able to sleep on the beds made of cardboard.
“It was really firm, it wasn’t going to break under me. For me, somebody taller, my back was kind of hurting when I woke up in the morning because it was a little on the firm side. Honestly I dealt with what I had. It wasn’t the worst.”
Jankovics added he was asked a number of times about the food, after criticism arose from the options and quantity.
“In my opinion, I’m not too picky, I didn’t mind the food,” he said. “There was a lot of options. I always felt like I ate a lot, so I didn’t have any problems in any sense.”
Speaking of food, how about that decadent chocolate muffin that went viral?
“No matter when you went into the Olympic dining hall, the chocolate muffins were there,” he said.
“It was like chocolate cake. It was really good.”
Since Jankovics competed on the second day of the competition, he had a week to stick around the village before the swimming competitions ended.
“I had a lot after I competed, let’s just say that,” he said.
On top of the food and competing, Jankovics was able to take in what top athletes do to prepare, from a “super outgoing” and “very energetic” sprinter in American Noah Lyles, to the more reserved and keep to himself personality in NBA superstar and France’s own Victor Wembanyama.
“It was interesting to me to see these different athletes and how everybody has their own different routine,” Jankovics said.
“There’s no specific way to do something, it’s whatever works for you and I really noticed that at the games, where you kind of just have to do what you do. You can’t look at somebody else and follow them. You just gotta stay true to yourself and that was definitely a valuable lesson that I learned.”
After he was done, Jankovics didn’t travel far. He flew east to Hungary to see his grandparents for a few weeks before returning to school.
Going into his third year at Ohio State, the mindset is a bit different.
Last year, the focus was on making the Olympic Games, which he did.
In itself, that gave him a sense of accomplishment, but also a sense of loss.
“Since my goal all season was just to make it, I didn’t really know what the goal was once I got to the Olympics,” he said. “I didn’t really plan ahead for that.”
After talking with his coach about it, Jankovics said he was taught to not just chase one goal.
“I’ve always got to look into the future, I’ve always got to set bigger goals and what I’m truly looking to achieve,” he said. “That way, when I do meet my goals, I am able to look towards the next thing.”
A valuable lesson to take ahead after an experience not many athletes in the world get to have.
For Jankovics, the Olympic experience isn’t one he’s taking for granted, and one he will take with him as a building block toward qualifying for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
“At the moment, I just thought of myself as another athlete,” he said. “But now that I look back at it, it really is real special because this is what I’ve worked for my whole life, to make it to a stage like this.
“To look back and to see all the work I put in just to make it here, it’s really special.”
