From Deseret News archives:
Dear sports fan
Ask Dr. Elia
I believe it goes back to my childhood in Greece, where one of my favorite early memories was of my dad reading the sports newspaper. Although Greece is a small country, it has 15 newspapers that deal exclusively with sports. That’s right, no news, politics, entertainment or business. All sports all the time — the country is crazy about sports!
My dad was from the old country and very \"old school.\" He even looked like the dad from \"My Big Fat Greek Wedding\" (minus the Windex)! He was tough from the outside, but I didn't realize until I was much older that his toughness hid a very sensitive heart.
He was a man of few words and certainly no \"I love you son\" comments. The best part of my day was after he would finish reading his paper, and he would hand it to me. The newspaper was so big that I couldn’t even hold it in my little hands, so I would lay it down on the floor. Once unfolding its magical pages, I would begin reading. Actually, this is how I learned to read, and it became a lifelong daily habit. I have always read the newspaper from cover to cover and thereby learned about the world.
My way of connecting with my dad was always through sports. When I was 6, he literally threw me in the pool one day and told me to start swimming — and so I did, following in the footsteps of my older brother. Luckily, I had a natural talent for the sport and excelled almost from the start.
I remember my first big race at the nationals (7 and under). It was a 50-meter freestyle race in an outdoor Olympic-size pool right underneath the ancient ruins of the Parthenon. For a little kid like me, 50 meters was a long distance. We got on the starting blocks. The booming voice said \"Get set,\" and then the starter's gun went off! I started swimming as fast as I could and gave it my best. When I touched the wall at the other end of the pool everyone was cheering. I couldn't believe it — I had gotten first place!
I remember standing at the podium holding the trophy and wearing the gold medal around my neck with a big smile. Most importantly, I remember my dad up in the stands, cool as always, but with a proud smile looking down at me.
From that moment on, I was hooked. In the next few years we moved to America and I had an opportunity to swim and train with some of the best swimmers in the world in the swimming mecca of Southern California. Many more national championships followed as well as many silver and bronze medals. Swimming was one of the main reasons my family moved to the United States. If it wasn't for sports I wouldn't be here.
