The blog on this website is my account of the 2008 Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. I have read that there is no photography equipment allowed in the Qwest Center however I’m going to see what I can do to snag a few pictures.

Day 5:

An early breakfast at the Hotel and then relaxed in the hotel room for a little while then went to the pool around 9:45-10:00.

I arrived at the pool about 2.5 hours before my scheduled swim. I learned that I would be swimming in Heat 4, Lane 8. This is a good place to be at this meet, mainly because the pool has an extra lane on each side of the competition course devoted to keeping the water smooth. I sat around, played a little “rock band” on a huge TV that was in the athlete lounge, talked with a few of the swimmers from around the nation, all while waiting for the time to warm up. I watched the Aggies swim the 50 Free (Brad Rayford, Ozzie Gardner, and Casey Strange), then decided it was time to get in and warm up.

During my warm up I went through the motions (some rituals, some methods of body activation) that I’ve established during the previous years. The casual warm up, the IM’s, the variable sprints, then finally time with my coach, Mel Nash, on 25-Meter Butterfly sprints. During the sprints, Mel told me “Scott, I have a new strategy…” (let me guess, let the wookie win?). In all seriousness, he did slightly change the method I’ve been using in the 100-Fly for the past 2-4 years. THE MORNING OF THE OLMYPIC TRIALS!!!!!  Now I trust Mel, I do, but…but he knows what he is doing and he has been coaching a REALLY long time. I decided WHY NOT! I had nothing to lose.

With that in mind, we exited the warm-up pool and Mel asked if I needed anything. I mentioned that I would need him to keep me company after I put on the suit. Sort of to keep my brain grounded and to prevent me from freaking out like I pretty much did Wednesday. He promised he would. I ventured into the locker room and squeezed myself into the Super Suit and then found Mel almost exactly where I left him about 25 minutes earlier. We walked over to a spot right behind the ready room and we just gabbed… talking about NOTHING but stuff that made us laugh and a few technical observations here and there, anything that would take my mind off the 100-Fly. With my mind relaxing and a smile on my face the time had come. Having Mel seal my body in the LZR suit and with one more sentimental “Just swim…” I walked into the ready room.

One of the Qwest staff checked my name off the competitor list and I found a friend whom I had met with a few weeks prior at the Charlotte Ultra Swim. The nervous tension seemed gone and I felt relaxed. We were joking about this and that when the first heat was announced and people began shifting around the room, standing up, putting caps on and fixing goggles – the next heat prepping itself for their swims. Finally, my heat was announced and my friend (who was actually swimming in lane 7 right next to me) and I left to swim. We handed our credentials to the official [which were also checked by the military] and walked up the stairs where we waited. The heat prior to ours took their marks and started, the official held us for another 30 seconds then released us to parade out onto the deck. I walked along behind the blocks not looking at the pool and carefully began my pre-race ritual.

The pre-race ritual is something very personal to every swimmer or every athlete for that matter. We perform the ritual prior to EVERY race, no matter what. For example, Michael Phelps’s pre-race ritual includs walking out in his dress sweats with both i-Pod headphones in his ears blasting music. When the announcer begins naming the athletes he takes one earpiece out and when his name is called he takes the other out and undresses. Following these motions he steps to the side of the block refusing to look at the pool and waits for the whistle. Following the long ready whistle he turns, steps onto the blocks and looks down the length of the pool, then he performs an airplane arm swing slapping his back 3 times then relaxes as they announce “Take your Mark”.

All pre-race rituals are somewhat similar; they relax and place us into that “zone”. Mine has to do with a splash routine I go through. An arm swing starts it off, just a couple times to activate the muscles and then I splash, first my left shoulder, then my right and a little onto my back to ensure my suit is “sealed.” I shake my arms out and some of the water falls away and I splash each one of my eyes with pool water, afterwards I clean my goggles. I then take my place behind the blocks, a little hand shake here and there. Even though I may be “looking down the lane” my eyes are closed. The long whistle comes and I step onto the blocks and look down the lane and then back at the block itself. I establish my breathing to inhale the instant the gun goes off. In, out… in…. out…. In….out….. (gun)IN! AND OFF!!

The race went exactly as planned, the strategy Mel has discussed with me worked like a charm. With one exception – when I was 2 strokes from the wall. Suddenly I felt stupid. I somehow forgot how I was going to finish the race, how I was going to touch the wall. It was like all the years I’ve been swimming butterfly suddenly went out the window. I changed my pace and took 2 syncopated strokes, hitting the wall at 55.06, a mere .06 from my best time. Turning, and looking up at the clock I was happy. The time was one that I’ve wanted to hit for a LONG time. (4 years to be exact) I left the pool deck with a smile. As I exited I ran across Synthia, the lady who had led Ozzie and me around the Qwest Center earlier, almost throwing us out the back door and laughing with us the whole time. The fact that she came and made an effort to watch me swim impressed me. I was touched that in so short a time someone could have that much interest in my success.

I took a while to walk through the Qwest Center before I took off the Speedo LZR Racer for one simple reason, I don’t know when I’ll wear it again. Not that I am going to quit swimming but that I don’t know when I will be competing at this level again. I hope it won’t be too long because I love this feeling. I love competition, even the turmoil my mind goes through and the pain my body endures. There is nothing quite like it. There is nothing like knowing I’ve done everything I can possibly do to prepare myself physically and mentally for one time and one place. At that point it doesn’t matter who is around or what I will be doing later, who my friends are, who is waiting at home for me or what Q [my husky] chewed up today - It’s all the swim. It is the greatest feeling in the world and I look forward to experiencing it again many times.

After leaving the Qwest Center, there was lunch with my parents, a nap, then Finals where we watched 41 year-old Darra Torres compete in the 100m Freestyle winning the event. If she can swim till she is 41 and still set American Records than I can too. After Finals I enjoyed dinner at the Old Mattress Factory with Ozzie, Brad, Mom and Dad, then an evening of socializing with the Aggies. Trips like this are ones that I will remember forever, whether it’s squeezing into a Super Suit or sliding down playground slides in the middle of Omaha (after I was done racing, of course).

Thanks and Gig em!