This Independence Day was spent in Omaha, NE for the U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials. I have to admit, going into it, I wasn't very excited about Omaha or about watching swimming all day, every day for seven days, but excited to see Doug swim, of course. It far exceeded my expectations to say the least.
My mom and Doug's parents picked me up at the Eppley Airport, which allowed us to mark Iowa off of our list, as it is right across the border. We headed to the pool which was right across from our hotel. Calling it the pool is a severe understatement. It was a huge arena that they built a temporary pool in just for the trails. It is nearly impossible to believe this was a temporary pool. They had a "fan zone" which was like a hall of fame museum of swimming, along with games, autograph sessions, a store, and tons of other things.
They had life-sized posters of some of the previous Olympians with their faces cut out so kids could go stick their faces in and look like an Olympic swimmer. We walked by it and said, "Hey! There's Mark!" There was one of our friend, Mark Gangloff, (who made the 2008 team this year!!!) was on the 2004 team in Athens. I, of course, ran to have my picture made in it.
We had a large cheering crowd of my mom and dad, Doug's mom and grandmom, his dad and stepmom, and his aunt and uncle. Between me screaming and his stepmom, Tama's whistle, there was no way you could miss us.
The first race we saw of the meet was the Men's 400 Individual Medley. Phelps broke his first World Record of the week in an absolutely incredible race. It definitely set the standard for the Trials.
Doug competed in the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke and had best times in three out of the four events he swam. Each event has preliminaries, semi-finals and finals. This requires a great deal of mental preparedness to go into training regiments as well, as these swimmers have to know whether to save something for their later swims or take it all out at once. It is a tiring thing just to watch.
My favorite thing about the whole week was the water wall they had that announced the upcoming races and the names of those who made the team. It was computer generated and timed to drop down water in the shape of words. It was amazing. I'm easily entertained, I know. But seriously...
The week was full of laughter, stress, cheers, tears, excitement, heartbreak, and about any other emotion you could think of. We had many friends who competed in this years Trials, which on its own, is an amazing feat. The athletes of course don't see it this way, or they wouldn't have the ambition and drive to have made it this far. The times that would have been awarded medals at the 2004 games didn't even make finals in many events at the U.S. Trials.
It's tough representing a country like ours. We have, bar none, the best swimmers in the world. Many foreign athletes come here to train, then return to their home countries to represent them in the Olympic Games.
We had many friends who competed in the Trials and many who will make up the Olympic team in Beijing!
MECKLENBURG AQUATIC CLUB
Here are some of the people to look out for in the Olympics!
Jeremy Knowles will be representing the Bahamas. He swam at Auburn and trains at MAC (Mecklenburg Aquatic Club in Charlotte) with Doug. He lives here in Charlotte. This is his third Olympics and comes from a great lineage of Bahamian Olympians. He and his wife, Heather, will have an entire team of little Knowles swimmers before too long :)
Mark Gangloff will be swimming the 100 breaststroke in Beijing. He, too, swam at Auburn and trains at MAC. He is an Olympic Gold medalist from the 2004 games, so we will be hoping to see more where that came from!
Cullen Jones has been here in Charlotte training with MAC for a few months and made the team in the 100 freestyle. He is such a nice guy and an incredible athlete. It'll be fun to watch him compete.
Margaret Hoelzer swam for Auburn and for MAC over the last year. She set a new World Record in the 100 back at Trials this year and undoubtedly will have some great swims in Beijing.
Eric Shanteau swam at Auburn as well and now trains at Texas. He will be representing the U.S. in the 200 breast. He had a great swim at trials and has as much heart as anyone. We will all be cheering for Eric!
Over 1200 athletes competed at trials, each who worked and sacrificed and hurt as much as the next. They all deserve to be proud of themselves and have accomplished great things thus far.
Good luck in Beijing, Olympians! Go team U.S.A.!! (and Jeremy!)
My mom and Doug's parents picked me up at the Eppley Airport, which allowed us to mark Iowa off of our list, as it is right across the border. We headed to the pool which was right across from our hotel. Calling it the pool is a severe understatement. It was a huge arena that they built a temporary pool in just for the trails. It is nearly impossible to believe this was a temporary pool. They had a "fan zone" which was like a hall of fame museum of swimming, along with games, autograph sessions, a store, and tons of other things.
They had life-sized posters of some of the previous Olympians with their faces cut out so kids could go stick their faces in and look like an Olympic swimmer. We walked by it and said, "Hey! There's Mark!" There was one of our friend, Mark Gangloff, (who made the 2008 team this year!!!) was on the 2004 team in Athens. I, of course, ran to have my picture made in it.
We had a large cheering crowd of my mom and dad, Doug's mom and grandmom, his dad and stepmom, and his aunt and uncle. Between me screaming and his stepmom, Tama's whistle, there was no way you could miss us.
The first race we saw of the meet was the Men's 400 Individual Medley. Phelps broke his first World Record of the week in an absolutely incredible race. It definitely set the standard for the Trials.
Doug competed in the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke and had best times in three out of the four events he swam. Each event has preliminaries, semi-finals and finals. This requires a great deal of mental preparedness to go into training regiments as well, as these swimmers have to know whether to save something for their later swims or take it all out at once. It is a tiring thing just to watch.
My favorite thing about the whole week was the water wall they had that announced the upcoming races and the names of those who made the team. It was computer generated and timed to drop down water in the shape of words. It was amazing. I'm easily entertained, I know. But seriously...
The week was full of laughter, stress, cheers, tears, excitement, heartbreak, and about any other emotion you could think of. We had many friends who competed in this years Trials, which on its own, is an amazing feat. The athletes of course don't see it this way, or they wouldn't have the ambition and drive to have made it this far. The times that would have been awarded medals at the 2004 games didn't even make finals in many events at the U.S. Trials.
It's tough representing a country like ours. We have, bar none, the best swimmers in the world. Many foreign athletes come here to train, then return to their home countries to represent them in the Olympic Games.
We had many friends who competed in the Trials and many who will make up the Olympic team in Beijing!
MECKLENBURG AQUATIC CLUBHere are some of the people to look out for in the Olympics!
Jeremy Knowles will be representing the Bahamas. He swam at Auburn and trains at MAC (Mecklenburg Aquatic Club in Charlotte) with Doug. He lives here in Charlotte. This is his third Olympics and comes from a great lineage of Bahamian Olympians. He and his wife, Heather, will have an entire team of little Knowles swimmers before too long :)
Mark Gangloff will be swimming the 100 breaststroke in Beijing. He, too, swam at Auburn and trains at MAC. He is an Olympic Gold medalist from the 2004 games, so we will be hoping to see more where that came from!
Cullen Jones has been here in Charlotte training with MAC for a few months and made the team in the 100 freestyle. He is such a nice guy and an incredible athlete. It'll be fun to watch him compete.
Margaret Hoelzer swam for Auburn and for MAC over the last year. She set a new World Record in the 100 back at Trials this year and undoubtedly will have some great swims in Beijing.
Eric Shanteau swam at Auburn as well and now trains at Texas. He will be representing the U.S. in the 200 breast. He had a great swim at trials and has as much heart as anyone. We will all be cheering for Eric!
Over 1200 athletes competed at trials, each who worked and sacrificed and hurt as much as the next. They all deserve to be proud of themselves and have accomplished great things thus far.
Good luck in Beijing, Olympians! Go team U.S.A.!! (and Jeremy!)
