I was pressganged into a county swimming meet by my school because they were short of people and I seemed to be a relatively strong swimmer.
Them: Can you do the Individual medley?
Me: Probably, not really done much butterfly, but ‘ll give it a go if you want me too.
Speaking to the guys I was up against, they were asking my what my PB was. Erm… Didn’t quite feel like asking what order the strokes were. I figured I’d get a bad start (I clearly wasn’t going to win!) and have a look at what the guy next to me was doing when I came up.
I saw his left arm, assumed he was doing front crawl, so set off doing front crawl. I had plenty of notice to work out what strokes followed, as I was quickly left behind. Last stroke – front crawl! Pfff…
I finished a length behind to more cheers and applause than the winner. And best of all, because I was a late replacement, someone else’s name was read out as being disqualified for messing the lengths up!