Swim champ fuels passion for cars

From the Calgary Herald by Greg Williams

Medal-winning swimmer Elaine Tanner is car crazy. Tanner, nicknamed Mighty Mouse while on the podium at a swimming championship at age 14, has travelled across North American with her husband, John Watt, buying and selling collectible cars at auctions.

Tanner recently brought tow of her vehicles from Vancouver to Calgary's Car Crazy collector car auction (www.carcrazy.ca).

She had a 1963 Ford Falcon Futura and a 1992 Jaguar XJS V-12 convertible to sell.

The Ford Falcon was found at a Vancouver shopping mall with a "For Sale" sign in the windows. Watt bought it for Tanner because she's learned to drive in a Falcon at age 16 in Vancouver.

Equipped with a 260 c.i. engine, the aqua blue Falcon that Tanner brought to the auction was built in Oakville, Ont., and originally shipped to and sold in Alberta. The car eventually wound up in B.C., and is now back in Alberta.

Tanner's 1992 XJS was a brilliant red with a black cloth top. She ways the car simply purred. "John and I have always loved old and collectible cars," she says. "And the JaguarXJS has always been one of my favourite cars; I've had a few of them."

Tanner is best remembered for a remarkable swimming career that spanned the mid- to late 1960s. Born in Vancouver, she joined the Dolphin Swim Club at age nine. She was coached by HowardFirby, a man she says was "one of the best technical coaches in the world."

Driven to be the best swimmer in the world, Tanner's achievement include winning seven medals, including four gold, at the 1966 Commonwealth Games inKingson, Jamaica, making her the first woman ever to win four gold medals at a single Commonwealth Games.

At the Winnipeg Pan American Games in 1967, Tanner won two gold and three silver medals.

And at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, she won two silver medals and one bronze.

Tanner has been honoured in five halls of fame and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1970.

She retired from competitive swimming after the 1968 Olympics at the age of 18.

Tanner pursued education, taking phys-ed at the University of Alberta before transferring to the University of Calgary. She has also studiedkinesiology and holistic health.

How did she get her Might Mouse nickname? "There's an Alberta connection to this," Tanner says. "In 1965, I was at the Canadian Nationals swimming championships in Red Deer. I was 14 at the time, and I won the 100 metre butterfly.

"Well, I was 4 foot 9 inches, and weighted 90 pounds. When I was up on the podium standing on the number one spot the women on second and third were as tall as I was.

"And someone yelled out 'Way to go, Mighty Mouse'. The press just picked it up and it went from there,' she says with a laugh.

Tanner and her husband are considering a move to Calgary from Vancouver. The timing of the Car Crazy auction was a good fit, so they transported the cars out last week and intend to stay int he city several more weeks.

Watt has been passionate about cars since high school -- he says he used to work three jobs to keep one car on the road.