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well one time i did becausae i got disracted and they were 50s so they went pretty fast and when i heard my event number wasn't panicing much but i forgoe they were 50's not 100's so i rush my but over there and miss my event crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying crying

Not exactly. I've been close (chatting with some people and not realizing my event was coming up quick... or else changing into a new fastskin, which takes forever, and being in one of the first heats and having to run to make it to my race), but the one time I sort of did, it wasn't my fault. It was regionals during my last year of high school. Since I had provincials and junior nationals qualifications in my best events, I could only swim my off events. This would be one of only two times in my swimming history when I actually had a second swim in breaststroke... sort of.

I was 1st alternate for the 100 breast. I got prepared and headed over to the benches where they were sorting the finalists to wait and see whether I would get the chance to swim. The official organizing everyone counted all the girls sitting there and said that they wouldn't need me. As I was walking back to my team, the race started and lane 2 was empty. He'd counted someone who happened to be sitting there but who was not part of the finals... and so I missed my chance to race it.

The only other time I've ever swum breaststroke in a second swim was at provincials (of a different, less crowded province), in the C final (as the A final only had 4 swimmers, the B final was for 5-12 place, and the C final was 13-20). It was the 100 breast again, and I made a best time... of 1:27. This was my random free event that I decided to swim on the day as there were no sprint free or sprint fly events that day for me to swim, and I didn't feel like swimming backstroke (even though I'm better at it than at breaststroke). The funny thing about this is that in the previous week, I made a best time for 100 free kick with board (no dive start and no racing suit as with that 100 br). I went 1:26. And short course meters 100 breast is 1:24, while my 100 free kick is 1:19... anyways, kinda got off on a tangent.

There was a girl on my team who went to the Universiade a few years ago (FISU games, international university swim meet). There was a change in the heat sheets during prelims that hadn't been given to the Canadian team and it was discovered when she missed her 100 fly. Other swimmers before her had had near misses of their events, discovering that they were in a different lane than they thought they'd be, but since originally she was supposed to be in a later heat, she missed her race altogether. There was a lot of fuss, and she sat in her tight suit and cap and goggles for almost an hour, still distraught over missing it (she'd cried and my coach had comforted her), until they finally decided to have her swim at the end of prelims on her own. It wasn't the greatest race, though she did go out extremely fast... she died pretty hard in the end. She probably would have had a better swim and a chance to final if she'd been swimming against others (without everyone watching her swim all by herself) and if she hadn't been so stressed out before finally getting to race.

While she'd been waiting, and the other heats continued, the Canadian team was given the correct heat sheet and got the team organized properly through the men's 50 back that followed the women's 100 fly.

So, if it's any comfort, I find that near misses of races really don't help (didn't swim particularly well on those two times I almost missed the race, and neither did my teammate, obviously). You won't be the first one to have ever missed a race, so just take this as a learning experience and grow from it. I remember hearing about Perdita Felicien's interview after the 2004 Olympics in which she said that having fallen and not finished the race for which she was a favourite to win she'd learn a lot more than if she had won the race, and she felt that it was a stronger motivator for her for the future of her career in the sport. She's a Canadian 100m hurdler, btw.

Oh, and one more story of missed races, more recently. At the Canada West swim champs (for the western Canadian universities), one of my teammates, who graduated at the end of the year, missed a race. She had two races back to back, and was warming down from one to prepare for the other when she found out her heat was up. She got there as they got to 100m of the 200m that it was, and she asked if she could jump in (better disqualified than no show). The officials were arguing and by the time they were done, so was the race. My coach argued that because of the amount of time between the races, she should not have missed it (it's supposed to be at least 10 minutes between races; she had less than 7). But, the end result was that she was given a no show, which also cancelled out all the races she'd swum thus far... luckily it was the first day, and that meant that it was only her other race, which she was going into finals in first place, that would not be swum and not count points for our team. Also luckily, although the lack of her points and the gain of points for our rivals hurt us, we ended up winning the women's team banner by the end of it.

So just keep up a poisitve attitude, even if the race has been missed. It's something worth learning from.

umm yea i missed a race sort of. it was a relay and one of my friends was talking to her bf like at the other side of the pool. but yea thats the only one.

ya i missed my 200 IM and my coach made me swim up with a higher age group and do the 400 IM... it wasn't exactly the most fun i hav ever had...

Yeah crying I was eating a mini-bagel because I had missed dinner the night before and breakfast that morning. They were 50s and I thought I had time, but I didn't. And before I knew it I heard the buzzer. It was a 50 Breaststroke at a league meet, so I wasn't really upset. blaugh