2017 Issue 6 Nov/Dec - Focus Mid-South Magazine

lgbt senior
70 + -year-old Olympian faces
triumphs and trials with the
determination of youth
CAROLYN
WOOD
by Audrey May
photos courtesy of Carolyn Wood
What keeps you going
when you think you can’t go
on? For teacher and writer
Carolyn Wood, the unexpected
end of a 30-year relationship
forced her to rely on her inner
strength and the discipline
of pushing her body to its
limits. A 1960 Olympic gold
medal swimmer at age 14,
Wood fought through her
later-life grief and loss with
the determination, hiking the
grueling 500 mile Camino
de Santiago de Compostela
across Spain.
Her memoir, Tough Girl,
recounts some of Wood’s’ life
challenges – learning to love
and excel at swimming after
being terrified of drowning,
navigating a “girl next door”
adolescence peppered with
a mother’s breast cancer and
father’s gambling addiction,
experiencing both triumph and
defeat at the Olympics while
hiding her attraction to other
girls, early marriage and losing
custody of her toddler son as
she came out as a lesbian, and
finally coming to embrace an
active and productive adult
life.
But in her early 60s, Wood
had to face what seemed
unthinkable – the end of
her relationship with her life
partner – and she questioned
whether she had the emotional
stamina to find a new life
through her grief.
Eventually, Wood turned
to the solitary experience of
a centuries-old pilgrimage
through the rigorous Spanish
terrain to confront her
fears and return to herself.
Comparing the discipline and
discovery of the multi-week
trek in her 60s to her teen
years as a world-class athlete,
Wood’s memoir of these
experiences weaves a narrative
with life lessons that are both
engaging and inspiring.
Wood writes, “A good part
of my childhood was spent
practicing to win...Now on the
Camino, I am in practice – not
to be best or first but to be
awake. The tough little girl I
sought at the beginning of
my walk … doesn’t exist in my
past … but within me. She’s
walked along the trails as she’s
raced along the pool and will
accompany me into the future.
We have much to offer each
other. Finish hard to the wall,
she reminds me. Look. Stay
awake, I reply.”
At age 65, Carolyn Wood walked the Camino de Santiago de
Compostela (Spain) in hopes of reawakening the youthful
determination and resilience that took her on the road to Rome
and gold at the 1960 Olympics. Along the way, she encounters
fear, fatigue, pain and loss but finds them worth the rewards of
discovery.
Carolyn Wood will read
from her memoir, Tough Girl,
November 12, 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
at OUTMemphis, 892 South Cooper.
The book signing event will be sponsored
by the OUTMemphis Senior Services
Committee and Meristem Women’s Book
Club. Copies of the book are available for
purchase; contact OUTMemphis (info@
outmemphis.org) for more information.
For more information on Carolyn Wood,
her life and book, see
toughgirlmemoir.com .
Woods returning to the United States from the 1960 Rome
Olympics wearing her gold medal as part of the 100-meter
freestyle relay team. As a young child, she had learned to love
and excel at swimming, even after being terrified of drowning.
Joyful Noise/ NOV+DEC 2017 / focusmidsouth.com / Page 13