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The countdown is on. In four days, your life is going to change for the better. That’s the first day of the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha, Nebraska.
Put aside whatever else is on your calendar. Cancel dinner plans. Stay home. Warm up your TVs.
And watch the most dedicated and disciplined athletes in our country – swimmers – dive into the pools hoping to achieve what they’ve been going after their whole lives: a spot on the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team.
The odds are stacked against just about every one of them. Only the first- and second-place finishers in each event qualify for the Olympic Team. The rest go home and wonder if the countless hours and years they’ve spent swimming laps were worth it.
They sacrificed most of their childhoods for this one big chance at landing on the Olympic team. They didn’t go to parties as much as the average high school kids. They got up much earlier than everybody else in mainstream society no matter the season: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.
They went to the pools, put their heads underwater, and stared at the black lines on the pool floors.
If they don’t make the team this weekend, some are faced with these tough questions: Do I keep sacrificing huge parts of my life for four more years to try to make the 2024 Olympic Team? Am I good enough? Is that realistic? Do I really want to keep swimming all the time? Isn’t there more to life than swimming?
I think about the questions these swimmers will be faced with because I feel for all they’ve gone through to qualify for the Olympic Trials. To be that fast you’ve got to put in hard work for years. It’s not just natural talent. It’s discipline. It’s time away from your friends. It’s a tough way to live, in isolation from the rest of the world so much of the time.
I feel for these swimmers because I don’t know, honestly, how they’ve been able to keep going back to practice day after day knowing the chances of them making the Olympic team are slim.
But I guess they see it differently. Swimming is what they love to do, I suppose. And they’re well aware it’s a long shot to make the Olympic team. Maybe they’re fulfilled qualifying for the trials.
Good for them.
Good for all of them, including those who finish first or second. For sure those who do will feel as if they’ve climbed Mount Everest as swimmers. For those who don’t, I hope they feel great about themselves also. They should be proud. They’ve practiced their crafts.
For the rest of their lives, they can say they qualified and competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials. Just think of all the swimmers who have dreamed of doing that who felt short.
Let’s celebrate these brave and tough-minded Americans. They deserve to be saluted and admired.
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Sammy Sportface, a sports blogger, galvanizes, inspires, and amuses The Baby Boomer Brotherhood. And you can learn about his vision and join this group's Facebook page here:
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