A very special Olympian
Saturday, March 15th 2008

It’s a sunny Thursday morning and Ancil Greene is
teaching a class at St Michael’s Swimming Pool in San
Fernando. Dubbed “the instructor who can teach
anyone”, he’s trained children, adults, flight
attendants and boasts that he has even repaired a
couple of swimming pools. Some students come from as
far as Port of Spain to be coached by him. “Teaching
is not a problem for me,” he explained. “I have my own
method of teaching everyone. You will find that I can
teach some people faster than other instructors.” It’s
difficult to believe that the 31-year-old only started
swimming seriously seven years ago - when he got a job
as a pool attendant at St Michael’s.

Today, Greene is a lifeguard, an instructor, the
national triathlon champion and was nominated as
Sportsman of the Year. He took part in the Special
Olympics in 1995 and 1999 (he has been diagnosed with
attention-deficit disorder), winning two gold medals
and a silver. But Greene, who won the national
triathlon, a 1500m swim/40km cycle/10km run, in a time
of 2:15:20 last October, says he never thought he
would become an athlete. “I just wanted to be a
soldier or mechanic. Those were my dreams. However, I
guess I found my true passion in sport. I have
absolutely no regrets.”

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