It’s hard to pinpoint the moment where I finally realized that this wouldn’t be a normal Olympics for the USA. If I had to choose, it was during the Men’s 200 Fly. America had already only managed one semi-finalist, the 17 year old phenom Thomas Heilman. Heilman put in a valiant semi-final swim, but ultimately tied up on the final stretch. There would be no American finalist in the 200 fly.
If US Olympic Trials are the “swim coach Super Bowl”, then I’m out of superlatives for the Olympics. Perhaps because it is more exclusive in terms of what coaches actually get to don their glistening synthetic polo shirts. The Olympics just is, it’s the assumed final boss of everything that we do, the aspiration of many but also an unrealistic dream for most of that many.
I love the way that Hosszu shuns norms of swimming by going out and racing a lot and giving it her all at every meet she attends. She is probably the best example of a professional swimmer out there, somebody who is world class and shows up ready to compete year round.
So it pains me to criticize her, but with the announcement that her boyfriend will be her registered coach for the European Short Course Championships
