Misty’s Olympic Diary

(One of the most popular swimmers on the US Olympic team is Misty Hyman, 21 and a senior-to-be at Stanford University. In 1996, Misty just missed making the US team in the 100 fly by three-hundredths of a second. Afterwards, she gathered herself together, set a world record for 100 meters short course, and has won numerous medals at NCAAs and many international meets. For the past four years she has been the top ranked American for 200 meters fly and, at the 2000 Trials in Indianapolis, she won her specialty and earned a spot on the 2000 US Olympic Team.

Misty is keeping a diary of her thoughts, feelings, observations and insights, which she will share with us regularly for the next three weeks. Here is her first entry…)

PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 3.

Dear Diary

WELL, the first phase of my Olympic experince has come to an end. We leave sunny Pasadena at 7pm tonight for a long, eighteen-hour flight to Sydney. None of us is looking forward to the flight, but we can't stop talking about the Village!

I am sitting at an internet cafe in Old Town (Pasadena) with Staciana (Stitts), Maddy (Crippen), Erik (Vendt), Cristina (Teuscher), Amanda (Adkins) and Courtney (Shealy). The trip has been excellent so far… a whirl of emotions has gone through my head. Sometimes I feel as if I don't belong,but I know I wouldn't be here if I wasn't ready. Other times I pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming.

The time has gone so quickly. We have received so much free stuff–it's like Christmas every day! I have shipped two huge boxes home already, and I am not sure exactly how I am going to keep track of all my stuff on this trip–especially since I will be collecting things as I go!

Training has been going very well. I feel as though I have done some of the best sets of my life here. Its a weird feeling to actually be training for the Olympics. The highlight of my training was a set of 10x50m fast fly at 200 pace: 4 @ 1:30, 1@ 1:20, 1:10, 1:00, :50, :40 and :30. I held 29s on all of them except the very last one, which was a 30.1. I received quite a few compliments for that one, and felt very strong. I also pushed a 54.9 100yd fly after a long hard fly sprint set, followed by 5x100s threshold w/ ten seconds rest. I think I set the Pasadena City College Pool record! (Coach) Richard (Quick) was ecstatic!

Training with the team is great–the camraderie and energy are fun and inspiring. Training gives me a lot of confidence leading up to the Games.

But enough about the training. Yesterday, my roommate Amanda and I, along with Kaitlin (Sandeno), Diana (Munz), and Brooke (Bennett) got our nails done in crazy designs: Glitter, stars, acrylics, airbrush, and tons of fun. My nails are red with blue, white, and gold stars. We figure you can never be too bold or patriotic, and as Diana, Kaitlin, and Brooke reminded me…it only comes along every four years. (I was a bit tentative, but am glad they talked me into it!) Kaitlin and I joked about how Susie O'Neill might be jealous of our beautiful nails!

Another big item of conversation–for the girls, anyway–is post meet attire–not that we are planning on celebrating or anything (wink, wink)! Shopping has been a priority for many of us, which adds to the packing headaches!

The managers have been amazing–there is OH so much to do.The coaches are cool. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed. Just trying to go with the flow as much as possible. We have been treated wonderfully, and everyone is soo nice.

Oh, funny story: The girls all have secret pals–and mine is Sam A. When we went to the Dodger game, I bought her a pair of Dodger panties with a note that said "you will not get any more gifts unless you hold these up and do a USA cheer!"-Sam was awesome, and everyone laughed. Needless to say, she was a bit embarrassed.

Thats all for now!
More from Down Under!

Misty

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x