Mirjam Swanson
MONTROSE -- Even on television, they'll be breathtaking.
The 2000 Olympics Games in Sydney, Australia begin Friday. They'll
showcase thousands of athletes in their element, going all-out. No doubt
it'll be awesome. Inspiring.
You're gonna wish you were there, wonder what it might have been like
to have been born with such gifts. Maybe you'll even be stirred to get
yourself in better shape, yourself.
Here's your chance.
La Crescenta's Donna Mayhew, two-time Olympian, seventh-place finisher
in the javelin at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, nationally certified personal
fitness trainer, is ready to help you out.
These days the former Crescenta Valley High and Glendale Community
College student-athlete is coaching, giving tips, advice, encouragement.
It's hard to argue with a seven-time national champion when she says,
"I do personal training and I'm good at it. I can coach."
Just read what it says on her business card -- "Train with an
Olympian."
One of her former coaches, Charlie DiMarco, backs her up.
"She has so much knowledge and experience about (the javelin). She was
always so inquisitive, she always wanted to know why we did everything we
did. That's definitely a trait of a good coach."
And whomever you are, you qualify for that tutelage. Really. Her
services are all-inclusive. She's not turning anyone away. Not even you.
A self-described fitness therapist -- she says, "it kind of closes the
gap between physical therapy and personal training" -- Mayhew is up for
everything from getting the out-of-shape into shape to teaching the finer
points of throwing the javelin. Specifically, the javelin. But also the
discus. And the shotput. Or, if you're interested, Olympic
weight-lifting.
She coaches youngsters. She trains the over-55 crowd. She instructs
Paralympians -- people with disabilities whom she'll be watching with
great interest as several of them compete in this year's games, which
take place in Sydney immediately after the other Olympics. She teaches
dwarves.
If you're game, so is Mayhew.
But what else would could be expected from someone who spent 21 years
chucking a spear as far as she could?
Sometimes sports -- even those seemingly invisible ones like the
javelin, the ones that don't get the ink or the airtime, the ones who
tweak your body in ways that don't seem impossible -- get in people's
bones.
"The javelin is a huge part of her life," says DiMarco, who coached
