About Me - Gary Hall

VITAL STATS

Name? Gary Hall Jnr

How old are you? 29

Where do you live? Miami Beach, Florida, USA

What do you do? Swim

Anything to declare? "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead."

MORE ABOUT YOU

Favourite piece of music? Bach Suite #1 for Solo Cello in G major

What makes you laugh? Nitrous Oxide

Your greatest achievement? Participation in the Olympic Games

Sources of strength and inspiration? Charles Bukowski novels

Goals for the next year? Financial independence, a.k.a. freedom

Greatest weakness? Diabetes

If you could have three wishes, what would they be?

Peace, cure for suffering, cure for illness

ME AND THE BIG D

How long ago were you diagnosed with Diabetes? March of 1999 (Not that long after winning 4 medals at the Atlanta Olympics!)

What does a hypo feel like? swallowed razorblades

Best/worst/most embarrassing hypo? Half an hour before my big swim at the Goodwill Games I went hypoglycemic and countered it with two bottles of Poweraid. One blue, one red. The underwater camera was in my lane for the race and at the thirty-five meter mark captured the technicolor discharge. All for international television. I ended up getting second.

Does everyone around you know about your D? Yes. I had no choice. The day I was diagnosed it went to the press, almost every paper in the US had a write up, many heralding it as the end of my swimming career. I never did figure out how that happened, who leaked it.

Has Diabetes changed anything about you? I shoot up insulin everyday and pay attention to my blood glucose levels, things I didn't bother with before.

What do you say/do to the food police? I say "Hey coppers, you ain't never going to get me, see? I didn't have that bagel for breakfast. I was at the gym working out, see? And I got witnesses too. So you can take that bagel and ingest it the hard way, see?"

Best diabetes related rort (faked hypos etc)? I choose not to use diabetes as an excuse.

Public injections - what's the etiquette? Exhibitionist

Any wisdom to share? None.

Gary Hall Junior's Official Website

Gary's Gold Medal swim in the 50m Freestyle at Athens 2004 Olympics - Article from Seattle Times