Posted Aug. 5, 2004.
With Olympic athletes already in Athens and the games nearly a week away, major networks are beginning their extensive coverage, geared up for when everyone will tune in to see how America's top athletes compare to those of other nations in measures of speed, strength and agility.
People watch the games with varied interest. To some, the Olympics inspire national pride, to others the competitions offer entertainment. Yet of all the television viewers around the world, few connect to the athletes like the competitors of past Olympic Games and trials.
Ethan Bassett, 23, who graduated from AU in May and placed seventh in the 200-meter breaststroke in the Olympic Trials in July, said he thinks he will have a different experience watching the Olympics than those not involved in sports.
"I know what it takes to get to that level ... I know the dedication, the determination, the sacrifice, the focus, the drive, the emotion that goes into the preparation. Olympians ... tend to make their sport look easy, but I know the harsh reality. I know what's going through someone's mind behind the blocks, or if they're in a tight race or if they're winning by a lot - or fading," Bassett said. "Watching the Olympics isn't merely spectacle, either, it is a chance to scope out the competition. To see what level I need to work for next, how much higher the bar will be raised."
AU Field Hockey Coach Steve Jennings, who represented the United States in field hockey in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, has a similar experience watching the games.
"Absolutely you empathize, you feel the agony on their faces, or their ecstasy. I think you can feel much more [than the next person] what they're going through at that time and it's an amazing feeling," Jennings said. "It definitely brings back all the memories and you definitely have just a huge amount of pride that you got to represent your country at one point, so it's definitely a thrill."
And those on the sidelines feel the same thrill as athletes, according to AU Wrestling Coach Mark Cody, who competed in the 1988 Olympic Trials, and who has trained several Olympians.
"I've probably accomplished more as a coach than as a competitor ... having that benefit of having somebody that you've actually coached - to watch them [at the Olympics] is just very exciting. I can't even describe the feeling," Cody said. "Watching and waiting for that event to come up is just very thrilling; it's like a kid waiting for Christmas."
Cody knows what it's like to anticipate a competition after watching Matt Lindland, a wrestler he coached, win the silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Cody added that his excitement stems from the amount of commitment an Olympic coach puts in.
"I have to want it as much as they do and basically put the same time in as they do ... this is my life," Cody said. "If you're not as serious about it or you don't love it then it's hard to attend the workouts, but when you have athletes that are motivated it's great ... your goals for them are as great as their goals for themselves."
This year Cody, who is on the U.S. National Coaching Staff, will be rooting for Brad Vering and Daniel Cormier, wrestlers he coached this year who will be in Athens.
However, it's not all pride and excitement for Olympic Trials athletes who then watch the games.
"I'll be watching it on TV. I know when I was watching the finals it was kind of melancholy. I really wanted to be there, you know. It'll be interesting to see how the games turn out," said Sean O'Brien, 23, a 2003 AU alumnus and assistant track and field coach who placed 21st in the Olympic Trials 1,500-meter run semifinals. "[Getting to the Olympics] wasn't a super realistic goal so I'm not going to be heartbroken [watching it]. I mean, I am, but at the same time it was kind of expected. I've still got a friend in it, Jason Lunn, so it'll be fun to watch him."
O'Brien was ranked seventh in the country in the 1,500-meter run going into the Olympic Trial competition, which took place in Sacramento July 15 and 16, according to AU Athletics.
AU Assistant Swimming Coach Mark Liscinsky also competed in the trials, placing No. 25 in the 200 IM preliminaries and No. 40 in the 200-meter freestyle competition. Incoming freshman Megan Thiel also swam in the trials, placing 58th in the 400-meter freestyle preliminaries, according to Athletics.
Swimming is getting a lot of attention during these games, with 19-year-old Michael Phelps in line to possibly collect a record eight gold medals in swimming in one Olympics.
Bassett saw Phelps at the trials, and he competed against another gold-hopeful swimmer, Brendan Hansen, who broke the world record in the 200-meter breaststroke in Bassett's finals heat with a time of 2:09.04. Bassett finished in 2:16.03, according to AU Athletics.
"For finals there was a full house and in my heat there was a world record set and it was louder than anything ... it was pretty intense," Bassett said of the pool's stadium that seated 10,000 people, several of which were Bassett's family and friends. "It was really exciting, really great to achieve a goal that was really a reach goal, not something I expected. I would've been happy making the semifinals; making the top eight in finals was really cool ... every time I swam there I had a best time, so overall, it was great. Everything fell into place."
O'Brien did not feel the same satisfaction after his trials.
"At the trials I was a little disappointed. The quarterfinals went OK, not fantastic, but I felt like they were decent, but then the finals I just died in the last 400 meters ... I think I did everything right, it just didn't happen," said O'Brien, AU's only four-time All-American athlete and holder of six individual school records. "I've been to national championships, but not Olympic Trials. It was a lot more high-key, more people there, more stress because everyone's taking pictures and a lot of people have been putting a lot of everything in their life for the past four years just for this one event, so it's pretty serious."
However, O'Brien still has the 2008 Olympic Trials to consider.
"I'd like to [compete in 2008], but I'm not sure; it's a long time away. I think that if I train for another four years I'd be a lot faster, but it's a long time to try and follow something like that. I think that it would depend on how fast I get in the next year," said O'Brien, who's competed in track since he joined his middle school team in New Hampshire in fifth grade.
O'Brien is currently getting his master's degree at AU in health promotion and eventually hopes to get a job in corporate health. In the meantime, he still runs every day and does track workouts and weightlifting at least three times per week. On those days he estimates he spends five to eight hours exercising.
Like O'Brien, Bassett is also pursuing a master's degree at AU this fall and is also considering the Olympic Trials in 2008. However, Bassett, who graduated with a 4.0 in biology, may choose to give up swimming in order to attend medical school.
"Right now I'm deciding ... you're only young and able to perform at peak performances for so long," he said. "Aside from athletics I figure I can do almost anything in a few years after I'm done swimming."
It is this philosophy and Bassett's positive experiences that make him feel the sacrifices he has made for swimming have been worth it.
"The one thing I'm running into trouble with in med school applications is that I've never volunteered or worked in a clinical setting ... there wasn't time," said Bassett, who listed not going out, not studying abroad and not getting involved in other activities as other sacrifices.
However, he doesn't regret it because he says he'd never give up swimming for one of those activities.
"I've had a life that besides having sacrifices ... very few people get to experience what I've experienced. It's sort of cool to think that the effort I put forth in the water has an end result, and I've built up lifelong friendships with people in the water."
Bassett has one such friendship with Juan Valdivieso, who has been a friend and swimming partner with Bassett at the elite swim club Curl Burke since they were both about 8 years old. Bassett will be watching the Olympics to see Valdivieso represent Peru in the 200-meter butterfly.
Regardless of whether Bassett goes to the 2008 Olympic Trials or not, he said he is satisfied with his swimming career, which has included ups and downs, like his slower-than-expected performance in the 2000 Olympic Trials.
"I enjoyed swimming more than ever this past season and I had confidence going into [the trials], not only confidence that I would do a best time, but that I was there at trials for a reason, and I was a competitor. People who have world records, or were in the Olympics before or that I read about ... are not idols anymore, they're not gods, they're in the lane next to me, racing. I had a bit of perspective of my own and that helped in my confidence and I think that was difference from 2000," Bassett said.
With all the competitions, sacrifices and friendships, Bassett's life, like the lives of Olympians or anyone else who reaches a high level of success, has been shaped by hard work, he says.
"I wouldn't say making the Olympic trials and finishing seventh is what I'm most proud of. I think sticking with it and working as hard as I can and being goal-oriented is how swimming has shaped me," Bassett said. "I'm most proud of my appreciation of hard work and people who are involved that support you in your goals ... and the experiences swimming has brought me, and that I put so much effort into it and stayed focused. It's a pretty good feeling when people who've seen how hard you work ... say that you really deserve it"
