Feature by Emily Sampl
BOULDER, Colorado, September 30. JUST a few years ago, Ben Michaelson was one of the premier swimmers in the world. His time of 52.76 in the 100m fly ranked him third all-time among Americans, behind only Ian Crocker and Michael Phelps, who edged him at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials. Since those Trials, Michaelson's life has taken a 180-degree turn.
After retiring from swimming in 2005, Michaelson tested the waters of the business world, and found that it wasn't to his liking; he wanted something more out of life.
"After retiring from swimming, that focus you have as an athlete goes away," he said. "I had a job for a while, and it just wasn't for me. I wanted to do something that had that challenge to it; rising up, pushing yourself."
Ben found what he was looking for.
"Right now I'm at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, training to be a combat medic," he said. "You basically learn to be an EMT, and then apply that to combat in the second half of the course. I'll basically be attached to an infantry unit, out treating the sick and wounded."
Ben finished the first half of the course this summer in Missouri, and is now in the second phase, which he will finish up in January.
Getting away from the corporate world wasn't Ben's only inspiration for going into a military career; it sort of runs in the family.
"My younger brother went to West Point and is deploying to Iraq in October, so I guess you could say I'm following in his footsteps," he said.
Training takes up a majority of Ben's time, leaving him virtually no time for swimming. But that hasn't stopped him from keeping an eye on the sport.
"Unfortunately I haven't had much time to swim," he said. "We mostly do running, sit-ups and push-ups here. I always hated running when I was at Club Wolverine, I'm really slow," he laughed. "But it was cool to watch the Olympics this summer and all the positive publicity the sport got."
Ben won't rule out a possible comeback in the future, but on one condition: "When Phelps and Crocker retire, that's when I'll make my comeback!"
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September 30, 2008 LOL that's a shrewd assessment of his prospects. In the meantime, very cool job. And I'll bet all the running, situps, etc. would have been even worse without the swimming background. Submitted by: liquidassets
October 4, 2008 I sure love these "Where Are They Now"-type articles! I wish we'd see more of them about past swimmers! It's always nice to hear what they're up to, and kind of nostalgic in a way! Submitted by: Hodori88
October 4, 2008 That's a good point; way too many greats retire or just "disappear" and we never hear what happens to them. In other sports they seem to honor their heroes better than we do. So thanks for running this article and I agree with Hodori, keep doing more of them, thanks. Submitted by: liquidassets
October 10, 2008 Does anyone know what happened to Diana McManus? spelling? She was a premiere backstroker then all of a sudden haven't heard anything from her. Submitted by: WUswimmer
October 10, 2008 WUswimmer, that's a good question!
The last I know is that she swam (as a sophomore) for San Diego State University during the 2005-2006 school year. She had transferred from Texas (maybe got alittle homesick for SoCal?). But then it doesn't appear that she swam there her junior year..... Don't know after that.... http://goaztecs.cstv.com/sports/w-swim/mtt/macmanus_diana00.html
I always wonder what happened to 1992 Olympic Breastroker Megan Kleine, and Tamas Darnyi (HUN).... Anybody got any scoop? Submitted by: Hodori88
October 14, 2008 Two points:
First, strikes me Mary Beck is a big girl now and perfectly capable of deciding where she wants to attend college and continue her swimming career -- without her Mom or anyone else decidingthat for her.
Obviously parental input is important but thisis a decisionthat has tocome from within.
Secondly. "liquidassets" wondered about Beck @ the Olympic Trials and that got me to thinkiing: what -- if anything -- did she do @ Omaha and hwo come fro example she wasn't on U.S. team that swam @ Monterey in the second FINA World Youth Championships or @ U.S> Open in Minneapolis?
Did she take the summer off after her high school season ended in late february?
So...I went and checked my all-time lcm list to see how she ranks.
In the 100 back her pr is from this year's American long coruse Championships back in early March in Ajustin(1:02+).
ALL her other prs that I have (200 back/both IMs) are either from the 2007 Nationals @ Indianapolis or that year's junior Pan-Pac Championships in Janaury @ Maui.
I will go back and look @ Trials results and post what she did there -- if anything.
Does seem odd that such a "hot" scy swimmer wouldn't have any comparable lcm times for 2008 save for that 100 back.
She had a great scy season last winter, setting the nationa high-school record in the 100 back (53.03 @ the Texas state meet) and a week earlier going prs in the 200 back (1:53.81) and a national prep-record 1:56.45 in the 200 IM.
Her 400 IM pr of 4:13+ was done @ an age-group meet a couple of eyars ago.
And in yesterday's posting I misspoke myself.
I said Sonja Jovanovic of Croatia, the "Olympic silver-medalist in the 200 free, is @ Cal now" when I of course meant Sara Isakovic of Slovenia.
Submitted by: slickwillie32
October 14, 2008 LOL I have gotten Jovanovic and Isakovic mixed up before too. There is another thread about Beck on here that I"ll refer you too, on an article about her. She burned out and didn't swim at Trials. In the morning swim show, she sounded happy and confident about her decision to switch to Cal, in another interview she sounded confident about missing Trials. I think all swimmers, if they have the luxury of doing so, should hold off on committing until their senior year after they've gotten a chance to visit all the schools they're considering. Submitted by: liquidassets
October 14, 2008 Well that explains hre absence from Omaha.
I checked Swimming World's results and while they only went 16-deep, Beck did not appear in any event so I figured that is what occurred.
Maybe it's all for the best. She's been in Austin all her life and swimming for Longhorn all these years...perhaps going to Berserkeley will do her good (change of scenery, etc.).
If nothing else she'll certainly get a "liberal" education she'd NEVER get staying @ home! (Isn't Mario Saviio a huge women's swim supporter?)
Certtainly Teri McKeever has proved herself to be one of our counry's outstanding coaches and -- presuming Natalie Coughlin is going to stick around for another quadrennium (hey, it beats working!)-- Mary'll have the opportunity of training with arguably the second-greatest woman swimmer in U.S. history. (Tracy Caulkins stil rates No. 1 in my book because of her incredible diversity).
Go get 'em, Mary, and bring home gold for Da' Bears next March @ NCAAs. With Lara Jackson and other tp Arizona girls having used up their eligibility last season, Cal could finally win a women's national team title to go along with their two men's crowns.
If and/or when Cal wins woomen's NCAAs, it'll join Stanford, USC, Florida, Arizona, Auburn and Texas as only schools to win both women's and men's championships.
(Of that sextet, only the Gattrs, the Trojans and the 'Horns have also won the national football title -- with all thtee having a shot this year too.)
Arizona, Stanford, Auburn and Texas are only schools to have won both women's and men's NCAA swim titles in same season. Only SC (46 years ago -- 1962-'63) has won national football title and an NCAA swim title (men) in same academic year. Submitted by: slickwillie32
October 16, 2008 Willie, here's the article on Beck that someone referenced over at the threat on the Beck story here. Interestingly, if you scroll down and read the comments to the article, some wise person made a suggestion in August that Coughlin call Beck because Cal and McKeever would be a perfect fit for her!:
http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/highschool/07/30/0730beck.html
Submitted by: liquidassets
October 16, 2008 I was hoping no one would catch it and apparently no one so far has butI again misspoke myself.
In listing schools that have won national football championships and NCAA men's swimming championships I omitted UCLA, Michigan and Ohio State.
Unlike SC, hwoever, none of thsoe three ever won swimming and football in the same school year.
Only SC has doned that and the Trojans have done it twice. First was 1962 when the John McKay-USC football team went 11-zip and defeated Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, 42-37.
The following spring SC, coached by the great Peter Daland, won the first of what would be four-consecutive NCAA men's swim championships.
The same thing happened a decade later.
McKay's Trojans won national football title in '72 and crushed Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, and Daland's men stopped Indiana's NCAA Championship streak at five-straight, winning for the first time since 1966. SC would go on to win the title three more years (through 1976) but has not won since -- with the exception of an NCAA women's title in the mid-'90s when Mark Schubert was the coach.
It's unlikely SC can win NCAA swimming (women or men ) next spring unless Dave Salo can figure out a way to get Larsen Jensen and Ous Mellouli eligible again, along with Kristine Quance and Kaitlin Sandeno, not to mention Chris Cavanaugh, Mike O'Brien, Murrary Rose, John Naber, Rod Strachan, Joe Bottom and the Fureniss brotehr [Steve/Bruce])
The Trojans DO have a shot at winning the BCS title in January, as do Texas and Florida (and Oklahoma and Penn State and ....)
Florida and Texas also have shots at winning NCAAs in swimming in 2009 although Florida would be much more likely were it to have Ryan Lochte, Dara Torres and Tracy Caulkins back! Wonder if Texas could use Leigh Ann Fetter? Submitted by: slickwillie32
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