When Chris Chain was an energetic kid, instead of giving him medicine to calm his motor, his parents found that spending hours in the pool was much more effective at calming his rambunctiousness than any prescribed pill.
They would take him to local pools in Columbus and just let him swim to his heart’s content.
“Just like any kid growing up, I don’t know what I had, but I was active,” Chain said. “Probably a little too active, like most kids are.”
Little did his parents know that their remedy would lead Chain to a life happily spent in water.
It was from those times that he developed a love for aquatic sports, which has led him to a life spent in the water and soon after he signed up to swim on some local youth swim teams. His passion and drive to compete in aquatic sports grew alongside his skill in the water, and when he was a junior at then-named Caldwell High School he was recruited by Florida State University to be a part of their swim team.
From 1980-84 Chain represented the Seminoles in the water, competing in the 100-meter butterfly and 200-meter butterfly events. As his FSU career went on, he broadened his skill set by competing in breaststroke events and even individual medley events.
“You have to evolve into something a little bit better, a little bit stronger and things like that,” Chain said.
Far from the local pools where he started, Chain soon found himself racing against some of the top swimmers in the world, like the University of Florida’s Craig Beardsley, who held the world record 100-meter butterfly time at 1:58:21 back then.
“I had to swim against him every year in dual meets, and so that was a lot of fun and really interesting,” said Chain, who is the head swimming coach at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science. “It was really fun. I enjoyed it there and just had a blast.”
He ended his FSU career as team captain, but he still had six hours of coursework left, so his coach hired him to help recruit new swimmers. One promising young swimmer he helped bring to FSU was Bob Bowman, who went on to be one of the best coaches in the swimming world. Bowman was the coach behind the dominance of Michael Phelps and his 23 Olympic gold medals and is currently serving as the head coach of men’s swimming at the University of Texas, which captured the men’s national championship in March.
Even after his competitive career ended, swimming always remained a constant factor in Chain’s life. He took up some coaching roles, like at Swim Columbus, and still made time to get into the pool for fun and to stay in shape. He then picked up biking and started participating in local triathlons. He found that pushing his physical limits in the water, and on land, was a great way to stay in shape and a new and intriguing aspect of physical activity he could pursue even after his days of competition were over.
When he would go to the beach, he’d wade out about 100 yards and begin swimming parallel to the beach one way for a good distance, then turn around and swim back.
“To me, it’s an easy exercise; it’s a great exercise,” Chain told The Dispatch. “In an hour you can have all you want to do in a swimming pool, and you can probably hit every part in your body that you thought you didn’t have and your lungs.”
A new challenge
In early 2024, Chain learned about the annual Swim Around Key West race, a grueling 12.5-mile aquatic marathon that challenges people to battle the sun’s heat and powerful ocean in a swim around Key West, just off of Florida’s southern coast. The closest thing Chain had done up to that point was a swim in Pensacola, Fla., which was about 3.5 miles. In recent years, swimming had kind of taken a backseat in Chain’s life and was not spending much time in the pool anymore, but the challenge of swimming around Key West seemed like a good reason to jump back in the water. So he started training ahead of the race in the pool at the Frank P. Phillips YMCA in Columbus and even in some lakes and rivers that offered longer distances to train.
“I saw this, and I said, ‘You know, that may get me back in the water and swimming a lot more and get me back in shape,’” Chain said. “That was my motivation; to get in shape. The race was just gravy after that. I’d been swimming over a year consistently, four days a week and putting in anywhere to 14-20,000 yards of swimming.”
On June 28, at 63-years-old, he entered the salty ocean waters to begin the swim, covered head to toe in zinc oxide sunscreen. Hours later though, he realized he forgot to apply the ointment to his armpits and began to feel where the sun’s powers had found an opening.
“At the end of the race, my arms were so sun burned,” he said with a laugh. “Five hours in the sun, close to the Tropic of Cancer – let me tell you.”
He had a guide with him at all times who followed him closely along in a kayak full of Pedialyte and protein and energy bars. He made sure to stop swimming and rehydrate and eat during the physically-demanding race. He swam past kayakers, sail boats and even cruise ships along the route and finished in five hours and 38 minutes. When he got to the finish line, he said he could barely stand up and cut a toe on a rock when he got onto the beach. After getting his bearings, he was awarded a medal and a well-earned bite of watermelon.
“It was so good,” Chain said of the watermelon.
He had a blast and plans on doing it again next year for the event’s 50th anniversary. Training for it has given his swimming more purpose, and the exercise can’t be beat, he said.
“It helped me. I lost about 13 pounds before this. During the year of swimming, I was going to the race at 216 (pounds) when I weighed 230 the year before,” he said.
Still, even as he ages, the pool is providing him with fun and a fulfillment similar to when he first started as a kid. Plus, it’s great exercise.
“Swimming has been a part of my life all my life,” he said. “It’s something that I love and enjoy and watch on TV; I love to do it. … It’s just something that I grew up with and it’s a love that I like to do. I just enjoy the pool.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
