BY MIKE WATKINS//Correspondent
Sabir Muhammad wants to get one thing straight.
He didn't return to competitive swimming this summer after a five-year absence because he felt he needed to accomplish something or prove anything. He knows his career speaks for itself.
His reason for coming back to swimming stems from his love for the sport, his love for his sons and his love for working with kids.
He also returned because he knows he can still be competitive.
His performance this summer at ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships in Indianapolis – his first major competition since the 2004 Olympic Trials – proved he's still a force in an event that favors and rewards the tall (6-foot-7), long-limbed and very fast athlete, all of which he is.
"I completely stopped swimming for most of the time since 2004 Trials, but started back last fall to prepare for the Luqman-El-Amin Invitational hosted by my club team, the City of Atlanta Dolphins," said Muhammad, who finished eighth in the 50 freestyle at U.S. Nationals in July and earned a spot on the 2009-2010 U.S. National Team. "I have two sons, ages 6 and 8, who swim. I started back swimming mainly to encourage them to do their best. They are my biggest critics and most exuberant fans."
Prior to this summer, the last time most swimming fans saw Muhammad was in Long Beach in 2004 when he finished fourth in the finals of the 50 freestyle at Trials. Interestingly enough, despite being out of action for many years, raising a family and concentrating on earning his MBA from Emory University, Muhammad's time at this year's U.S. Nationals (22.29) was .12 faster than his fourth-place time at Trials.
Just as Dara Torres, Jason Lezak and Erika Erndl have proven over the past couple of years, when you're dedicated and smart in your training, age is just a number.
"The great thing about sports, particularly a sport like swimming, is there isn't any standard age for prime," said Muhammad, who began swimming as a 7-year-old at an inner-city program in his hometown of Atlanta (where he still lives and works). "As sports science continues to evolve, we will learn that most of our preconceived ideas around training are a bit off as well.
"Most of my training now is more focused, targeting the specific energy systems I am looking to build. At age 33, I weigh five pounds less but I'm about 25 percent stronger than I was five years ago. Swimming is something I plan to do for my entire life. I don't think the sport should only be viewed as something for young people under the age of 20."
In addition to swimming again and being dad to Issa and Kamal, Muhammad has spent the past year working in business development for a biotech/pharmaceutical company focused on developing technologies that will replace needle injections of medicine used by people with chronic diseases like diabetes.
Despite his success in business and swimming, Muhammad identifies his work with kids, particularly in the water, as the thing that gives him his greatest satisfaction.
"The highlight of my career happens every day I am able to give back to youth and other swimmers," said Muhammad, who is in Berlin to compete at the World Cup this weekend. "I attribute a great deal of my success to the support I received at an early age from elite swimmers and coaches. Most recently, I was able to travel to South Africa and conduct clinics with my friend and teammate, Peter Marshall, in townships outside of the city of Durban. We were able to talk to the youth about swimming and encourage them to pursue their dreams and work hard to overcome obstacles that they face. It's an honor to work with them and exchange ideas with them."
He intends to conduct more clinics while in Berlin this weekend and also when he travels to compete in USA Swimming’s Short Course National Championships next month in Federal Way, Wash.
"My new mission is to do my best to interact with youth and encourage and challenge them to pursue their goals at every competition I attend," Muhammad added.
In the meantime, he intends to keep training and swimming to be ready for next summer's World Championships and possibly the 2012 Olympics beyond that.
"There's nothing I 'have to' do at this point (in the sport), but there are a number of things I 'want to' do," said Muhammad, a 1998 graduate of Stanford and the first African-American to compete for the Cardinal’s varsity men's team. "I still want to compete in Brazil, teach a large number (50 or more) kids to swim in one day and race in the Mare Nostrum (a series of swimming meets with three meets around the Mediterranean Sea). I have many goals I want to achieve."