ANNA AVIK Ukranian-born senior Julia
Voitovitsch has overcome many obstacles to become a
competitive collegiate swimmer.
By Calley Prezzano
Daily Bruin Contributor
When asked to describe UCLA’s Julia Voitovitsch, any Bruin
swimmer will come up with the same answer.
“She’s always motivational, and optimistic,”
senior Tracy Kinsch said. Her other teammates agreed.
“She has a very good attitude about everything,”
freshman Chelsea Murray said. “She’s never
down.”
“It’s rare to see Julia without a smile,”
junior Jen Noddle added. “She’s very
animated.”
However, this “princess,” as the squad likes to call
her, has gone through many moves and harsh adjustments, including
her largest ““ a move to the United States three years ago
““ to finally love being a Bruin.
Voitovitsch was born in the Ukraine on Dec. 8, 1976. Despite her
mother having competed for the Russian national swim team, and her
father still coaching the Ukrainian national water polo team, she
underwent no pressure to be a swimmer.
At age 9, Julia still had not learned how to swim, and when she
finally tried, the experience was traumatic.
Her first day at the pool, before she could even blow bubbles
underwater, the coach had put her in with other 9-year-olds,
despite the fact that they had been swimming for two to three
years.
“They had no respect for me,” Voitovitsch said.
“The kids only respected you if you were good at
swimming.”
After struggling with a lap of butterfly while the entire team
looked on, laughing, Voitovitsch cried for hours, and vowed not to
go back to swimming. Nevertheless, she was back at the pool for one
last try the next day.
“I went back,” she said. “I can’t
believe it. I never gave up.”
In 1990, after Voitovitsch had been swimming for four years, her
family had to move to Germany because of the Chernobyl incident. It
was then that Voitovitsch started to be the best in her class. The
butterfly, the stroke she struggled with from the beginning, was
turning out to be her best. She won the Russian Junior Nationals in
the 100yd.-butterfly and never looked back.
Voitovitsch visited the United States during the summer after
high school and swam at training camps in Florida and New Mexico.
Later, she participated in the 1996 Olympics and captured 12th
place in the 100-fly for Germany.
After the Olympics, Voitovitsch knew she was not ready to end
her swimming career. Unfortunately, in Germany one cannot attend
college and swim intercollegiately at the same time because each
has a separate, rigorous agenda.
“Here you can do both at once,” Voitovitsch said.
“It’s a great opportunity.”
She realized that in the United States, not only are athletics
available through colleges, but universities encourage it by
balancing schedules so athletes can do both.
Voitovitsch knew a few German girls who attended Cal and thought
she would try doing the same. Unfortunately, things did not work
out at Berkeley, but the coach referred Voitovitsch to UCLA head
coach Cyndi Gallagher. And after one phone conversation,
Voitovitsch decided to give UCLA a shot.
Without meeting the coach or visiting the school, Voitovitsch,
who was living in Germany at the time, packed up and headed to Los
Angeles in September of 1998.
“She’s not afraid to take a risk,” Gallagher
said.
“Everything I do is spontaneous,” Voitovitsch said.
“Maybe too spontaneous.”
During her first quarter at UCLA, Voitovitsch was miserable. She
was homesick, shocked by school and had a hard time adjusting to
American culture. While Voitovitsch had traveled through Europe,
many of the people she met at school had never left California.
“There’s just a different mentality here,” she
said. “Things are different; different backgrounds and
cultures, people even laugh about different jokes.”
Even when it came to swimming, the one aspect of American life
she was familiar with, Voitovitsch was disoriented. Workouts were
different than those in Germany, and harder.
“I didn’t want to wake up at 5:30 a.m. to
swim,” Voitovitsch said. “At the time, I thought,
“˜It’s not for me.'”
Coach Gallagher, however, was very patient with Voitovitsch, not
only in the pool, but outside it as well. She taught Voitovitsch
about American culture first hand.
For winter vacation, instead of a trip back home,
Voitovitsch’s mother visited her at school.
“I know girls who go home (to Germany) and just
don’t come back,” Voitovitsch said.
According to Voitovitsch, the culture shock is too much, and
after visiting home again, they become comfortable, and don’t
want to leave. However, when Voitovitsch finally visited home, she
realized what a great opportunity going to school in the United
States was.
“Everyone was impressed,” she said. “I then
started to see the sunny side of everything.” Voitovitsch
began to look at things differently, but remained a realist.
“I don’t believe in miracles,” she said.
“I believe in what I can do. Cyndi made me believe in
myself.”
In December of 1999, things turned around. It was obvious that
Voitovitsch was not trying her hardest.
“I told her that I wouldn’t coach her unless she
could commit,” said Gallagher.
Voitovitsch then qualified for NCAAs in the 100-fly and earned
fourth place at the championship meet. She then started working for
the 2000 German Olympic Trials.
Unfortunately, about four weeks before the meet, a chair fell on
Voitovitsch’s back, fracturing one of her ribs. From the
outside, the wound appeared to be only a bruise, so she continued
to suffer through workouts and normal day activities. She iced the
wound for three weeks, smiling through the pain. Arriving in
Germany, Voitovitsch saw another doctor and had the injury examined
more closely. They discovered that her rib was in fact broken.
“I called Cyndi (Gallagher) and said “˜I’m not
going to swim,'” Voitovitsch said. “She convinced
me to just try. There was nothing more to lose.”
Voitovitsch did well (third in 50-fly, sixth in 100-fly) despite
her broken rib, but was just edged out of making the German Olympic
team.
Now, Voitovitsch is in her last season of eligibility at UCLA.
Using her experiences to become a better person, Voitovitsch now
sees things in new bi-focal perspectives.
“She brings a lot of worldly experience to the
team,” Gallagher said. “She gives a great, different
perspective on things.”
“In seven weeks I will be done with swimming,”
Voitovitsch said with a smile. “I have so many plans. I want
to do things that I never could do. Swimming gave me so much, but
it also took some things.”
But for now, Voitovitsch is concentrating on her last seven
weeks of the season.
“Now I get what I put into it,” Voitovitsch said.
The hardest work of the season is done, especially the demanding
winter break training.
“Swimming had a lot of ups and downs. I’ve wanted to
quit many times, but now it’s not just me. I can’t just
leave the team.”
Being part of the team has taught Voitovitsch not only about
swimming, but also about living.
“It develops your character. It’s not just you,
it’s the team,” she said. “You have to sacrifice
for the team, not just the individual. I appreciate
that.”
Voitovitsch knows that when she came to the United States, she
was left in a world of her own. But she never gave up, and after
three years of being at UCLA, she has become a proud Bruin.
“I was not adjusted,” she said about her first year
in Los Angeles. “But now, I have been taught to behave
differently; I go out with the team, and I can laugh at the
American jokes.”
“She’s one of us,” Noddle said.
“She’s the most loved person,” Gallagher said.
“I feel bad for people who don’t get to know
her.”