Cody Bureau was troubled on this day, but not by the thought of intense swimming competition or travelling around the country and the world to compete. “I can’t remember my password for the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency), “Bureau said. “They require it be changed all the time and they make one up for you. Now, I can’t remember mine.” Since being named to the national paralympic swim team in January by the United States Olympic Committee, “Swimming,” Bureau said, “has become like a job.” Even as the 17-year-old Cody tried to recall his password to file a report, his mother, Margie, was working on making flight arrangements for a national championship meet July 15-17 in Portland, Ore. “It’s exciting, but it’s also a lot of stress,” she said. “There’s just a lot of paperwork required. Because he’s not in Colorado training, we have to do weekly reports. On Monday, we fax papers out to the USOC about what training he’s done that week. On dry land or in water. Every week. We’re typing up last week’s report so we can get it faxed out. “We send out anti-doping reports quarterly. You have to let them know where he is going to be. They can come in any time and test for drugs.” That included one day last school year at Greater Latrobe High School. Margie Bureau got the phone call at home because of Cody’s minor status. It’s not all sacrifice, though, Cody’s elite swimming status. Last September, Cody competed in the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, and he hopes to be in Beijing, China, for the 2008 games. “I remember the opening ceremonies in Greece,” Cody said. “Whenever you walk into the stadium and it’s packed, it’s like, hello. It was an out-of-this-world experience. “The other thing was whenever I was ready to swim my first race, in the preliminaries, and the swimming venue was packed. That was making me tremble in my socks — if I’d have been wearing socks. But when the ready whistle blew, I was ready to go.” In January, he competed for the U.S. team in the 2005 Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, England, winning a silver medal in the 200 individual medley. It was one of five medals won by an American swimmer. Bureau’s first meet as a member of the U.S. paralympic national team was late April in Ypsilanti, Mich., where he competed in nine individual events and won eight of them. He set American records in the 50 breast stroke, 100 breast stroke and 200 breast stroke and a Pan-Am record in the 200 breast stroke. Bureau, who lost his left hand in a farming accident when he was eight years old, has been attending offseason workouts with the Latrobe High School football team and hopes to play that sport in the fall. “I’d really like to do it,” Cody said. “I think I need to get away from swimming a little bit. I think doing one thing forever can get monotonous and boring. You have to change up a little bit. It’s going to be my senior year in high school and you have to have fun before you go to college and get out in the real world.”

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