Dr. Hazel
Elizabeth Hazel’s hands gripped the starting block in lane one of the outdoor swimming pool in Barcelona, Spain. In just a few minutes, she would realize a childhood dream.
Now a rheumatologist and division site director at McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Elizabeth Hazel, OLY, MD, CM, FRPCP, competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. She was 18 years old and hoped to qualify for the final of the 200 meter backstroke. In her heat were seven other women competing against her, each with the same dream. In the lane next to her was a swimmer from Hungary, Krisztina Egerszegi, who held the world record in the 200 meter backstroke.
Her legs pushed her body hard off the pool wall. And so began her first—and last—Olympic race.
Dr. Hazel with University of Florida teammates.
Born to Swim
Dr. Hazel was born in London. “I learned to swim really young, when I was 3 years old,” she says. “I took to the water and just loved it.” Her family moved to Montreal when she was 4 years old. The two young girls who lived down the street swam competitively, and their mother suggested Dr. Hazel do the same.
Throughout her childhood, she woke up at 5 a.m. every day to train before school and swam again for several hours in the evening. By the time she finished high school, she was training almost 30 hours each week. But then her swim coach accepted a position at the University of Florida, Gainesville. Dr. Hazel followed him there in 1991.
The Summer Olympic Games were just one year away. She was eager to qualify for the Olympic swim team and represent Canada, so she returned to Montreal for the Olympic trials. To qualify for the Canadian Olympic swim team, she had to be among the two fastest swimmers in her event. She completed the 200 meter backstroke in two minutes 15 seconds, making the team. It was official. She was an Olympic athlete headed for Barcelona.
A photo collage from Dr. Hazel’s Olympic experience. (Click to enlarge.)
To get accustomed to the climate and similar outdoor facilities, the Canadian Olympic swim team traveled to Europe six weeks before the event to train in an outdoor pool in Cannes, France, before traveling to Barcelona.
Dr. Hazel vividly remembers every moment of that Olympic race: Jumping into the pool. Feeling the cold water splash against her skin. Grabbing the starting block. Moving into position. Hearing the starting beep.
“I started off pretty well,” she says. “But when I turned at the 50 meter wall, I saw that Krisztina was so far ahead of me. I had one of those moments where I started to second-guess myself. I managed to catch up a little bit, but this really threw me off. It wasn’t the best race of my life.”
Egerszegi won. Dr. Hazel secured the 25th spot overall—not enough to advance to the finals.
Although obviously disappointed, Dr. Hazel still made the most of every moment in Barcelona. That was the first year the U.S. sent its Dream Team to compete in the men’s Olympic basketball games. She took a selfie with Magic Johnson and also cheered for a teammate, Mark Tewksbury, who competed in the men’s 100 meter backstroke. He snatched Canada’s only gold medal in swimming at the Olympics that year.
Dr. Hazel’s trading card.
During the remainder of her years as an undergrad at the University of Florida, Dr. Hazel continued to swim in many other events. For three consecutive years, her team won the Southeastern Conference Championships and placed in the top three spots at the National Championships.
“We were a very strong team,” says Dr. Hazel, adding that after graduating college, she returned to Montreal and took one year off to recuperate from sports injuries, coach other swimmers and center herself before attending medical school.
More than 30 years later, Dr. Hazel still swims several times each week, but not for medals or accolades. She’s determined to be a role model for her patients, explaining that exercise is critical for those with rheumatic conditions or diseases.
“Prioritizing exercise for my own health is the only way to be a role model,” says Dr. Hazel. “Sports is how I de-stress and process what’s going on in my day. Swimming can be quite meditative. You’re alone with your thoughts and get to process them while swimming up and down the lane.”
Lean on Me
After she retired from swimming, medicine was a natural career choice. She always loved science. Although medical school left no time for intense training, she managed to stay fit by cross-country skiing and competed in several triathlons.
“One of the lessons I learned at the University of Florida was that swimming is really a team sport,” says Dr. Hazel. “You need to lean on your teammates when you’re pushing yourself hard. You need people encouraging you, people to rely on.”
That’s exactly how her team functions at McGill University Health Centre, where she is also the assistant dean of post-graduate medical education, faculty lead of competency-based medical education and director of the Young Adult Rheumatologic Diseases Clinic and Transition Program. She says she’s lucky to have the support of great administrators, an amazing nurse and other rheumatologists who bounce ideas off each other. In her research, Dr. Hazel focuses on juvenile idiopathic arthritis and clinical medicine.
“As doctors, we have to be balanced,” says Dr. Hazel. “We have to be healthy. We have to be role models for our patients. Being an athlete sets you up for doing that lifelong.”
Carol Patton is a freelance writer based in Las Vegas.
