Aaron Cole recounts his Olympic trials, and previews 2008 Olympics

HIGHLANDS – Rotarian Aaron Cole has been swimming competitively since he was 5 years old, when he first thought about competing in the Olympics as his life’s goal.

After working toward that goal for most of his life, he got the chance to compete in the trials to make the U.S. team in 2003, and almost made the team. Cole says he is ranked 15th in the world in the 100 yard butterfly, but it turned out that wasn’t good enough to make the team, so now he watches from his home in Crosby.

Cole said that the work to get that good in an Olympic sport category is heroic, and he cites his own work ethic, of 2 hours of swimming every morning and 2 hours every evening since he was five. After college Aaron continued to train, and he would actually swim all day. This meant on many days, he swam 6 or 7 miles. He noted that his forte was as a sprinter, not a distance swimmer.

While training for the 2004 Olympics, he swam with the Auburn University swim team, with about 70 others.

Like most Olympic athletes, his goal was “To be recognized as Best in the World” and to represent the USA.

XXIX OLYMPIAD BEIJING

Opening ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics, in Beijing, China will start on August 8th, the events run from Aug. 9 to Aug. 24, he said. 205 nations are scheduled to send teams to China.

Due to time differences, many of the events will be broadcast live at early hours of the morning. For instance, NBC is scheduling a “Primetime Replay” from 1:30am to 6am in the mornings. Major events will be broadcast in Primetime from 7pm to 11pm, and later.

Most people will be able to watch on NBC broadcast channels, but because of the revolution in cable and internet, there are many other visual outlets this year, he said. Cole mentioned MSNBC, www.NBColympics.com, and specialized cable channels for Soccer and Basketball.

Competitors to Watch

Cole said that the US teams will be especially strong in Swimming, Track & Field events, and Gymnastics.

The US Swim team includes Michael Phelps, considered to be the fastest swimmer of all times, even more that the renowned Mark Spitz. His best event will probably be the 400 meter freestyle. Watch the first day of the swim events, Cole said, to see him compete.

Other swimmers of interest this year are Katie Hoff, and a 41 year old woman, Dara Torres, who has won about 4 medals in previous Olympics, and in spite of her age will be back to compete. This is unusual, since most Olympic Athletes are much younger, although this does vary by particular sport, he said.

Athletes of Local Interest

Cole mentioned that many of the athletes are from Houston, or trained here. These include: Steve Lopez, TaeKwando; Laura Wilkinson, Diving; Kyle Bennett, BMX Racing; Cat Osterman, Softball; Charlie Ogletree, Sailing; Glenn Eller, Shooting; Yao Ming, Basketball; and Jonathan Horton, Gymnastics.

During the talk, it was noted that US teams will also be strong in Beach Volleyball, Volleyball, and Baseball and Softball. However, because the US tends to dominate the latter two, they will be eliminated from future Summer Olympics, it has been decided by the rules organization.

Cole noted that many of the US woman swimmers, and some of the men, will be wearing a suit designed by NASA, with revolutionary details that promise to make them faster. This involves fabrics and flow lines that are built into the suit.

On Track & Field events, Cole said to watch US team’s Tyson Gay, perhaps the world’s fastest person, and Jeremy Wariner who will compete in the 400 meter event.

In Women’s Beach Volleyvall, the outstanding athlete is Kerri Walsh.

In gymnastics, it was announced just this week that the best US team player, Paul Hamm, will not compete due to slow healing of a wrist injury. This will open up the outcome to other teammates and countries that were not previously expected to win.

Other outstanding US gymnastics to watch include world champion Shawn Johnson, and Nastia Luikin on the womens team.

In addition to the hard work that individual athletes endure, Cole mentioned the large support structure that is required to send a country’s team to the Olympics. This includes a staff of coaches, trainers, medical personnel, food managers, masseuse, drivers and managers, and many more that are never seen but without whose efforts the teams could not compete.