The Morning Swim Show, June 7, 2012: Alex Michaels Wants to Bring Olympic Trials to Jacksonville in 2016

PHOENIX, Arizona, June 7. ALEX Michaels joins today's edition of The Morning Swim Show to make a case for Jacksonville's desire to host the 2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials.

Michaels, as part of Jacksonville's convention and visitors bureau, talks about the moment he became interested in making the Florida city a potential host for the meet and how the interest grew through the years. He also details how community support could help Jacksonville and how a certain swimmer's likely swan song in 2016 could make Jacksonville the ideal place to hold the Trials. Be sure to visit SwimmingWorld.TV for more video interviews.

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Morning Swim Show Transcripts
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Jeff Commings: It's Thursday, June 7th, 2012, and this is the Morning Swim Show. I'm your host Jeff Commings. Today in the FINIS Monitor we'll be talking to Alex Michaels, who is part of the group looking to bringing the 2016 U.S. Olympics Swimming Trials to Jacksonville, Florida. The city made their intentions public recently after participating in a seminar with other interested cities. And Alex joins us right now from Jacksonville. Hi, Alex, welcome to the Morning Swim Show. How are you today?

Alex Michaels: Good. How you doin', Jeff?

Jeff Commings: Doing great, thanks. So your title there with Visit Jacksonville is called the Director of National Accounts. What does that job entitle?

Alex Michaels: Well, you know, basically, I handle national accounts throughout, you know, throughout the country. Mainly, it's to try to bring groups and conferences to the city of Jacksonville. Ultimately, my job is to present the groups the city has to offer.

Jeff Commings: All right, we'll get to that in a minute in terms of what Jacksonville has to offer about the Olympic Trials but how did this idea get started that Jacksonville could be the host of the Olympic Trials?

Alex Michaels: Well, I mean, ironically enough though, the first idea of it happened back in '08. We were having a site visit with the United States Aquatic Association. We were working under national convention that was just here. We hosted it in 2012. And I was in the car with Elaine Cox, a good friend of ours, and we were just having a conversation and she said, you know, why doesn't Jacksonville bid on the Olympic Trials, and I looked at her, I'm like, I don't know, why don't we? So, you know, we talked about it a little bit and with the conversation we kind of found out that Omaha might not be able to bid on 2012 at that point because there was a conflict with the College World Series. So that created an opportunity for our city and some others. So after the conversation with Elaine, I contacted U.S.A. Swimming. I got a hold of Mike Unger and we talked about it and if everything didn't work out at Omaha, they were gonna be sending in an RFP in early 2009. Well, as things happened, Omaha was able to work it out. They — right now, the only conflict they have is a possibility of one or two days. They were able to work out the deal with U.S.A. Swimming so they were able to win the 2012 Trials as well. Kind of like I had said before though with you a little bit that, you know, I think, you know, it's a good opportunity for us to — it gave us opportunity to look at it but I think now that we've had a couple more years to study it to find out more about the event, I think it's kind of prepared us better for the 2016 bid.

Jeff Commings: If Omaha had not been able to host the 2012 Trials, do you think Jacksonville would have been honestly ready to step in?

Alex Michaels: I think we would have been ready to step in, but there's so many key components that come into hosting a big event like this and I don't think any city is actually prepared for it until they actually find out everything that goes into the play of it. We, actually, we just attended our workshop a few weeks ago in Colorado Springs and it actually opened up a lot of eyes to the bidding cities of what it entails, what kind of budget that you have to work with. And I think now that we've been able to look at it, it's gonna give us a better chance to actually bring it at home versus just kind of winging at the last minute. In 2009, I think we would had to put it together really quickly. Well, now, we've had a little time to play with it.

Jeff Commings: What did you learn at the seminar in Colorado Springs that, you know, kind of made you realize that there was maybe little more work to it than you thought?

Alex Michaels: You know, the seminar itself was very informative. I think the key component is that the swimmers — the most important factor of the whole event is the swimmers. I kind of told you a little bit about it, the U.S.A. Swimming wants to make this event about the swimmers. It's, you know, one of the biggest events that happens — it only happens every four years. In many cases the pressure that involves in this event is even higher than the Olympics itself, you know, only two, three United States representatives for each event make it. So there's a lot of happy people that come out of Olympic Trials and then there's a lot of heartache as well. And we wanna make it about the swimmers. I think the key that we learned in Colorado Springs is that, when you think of everything that you're putting together for the Trials, you wanna make sure that the swimmers are taken care of first and how to make this event for them the most exciting event that they've ever been on. And so I think that's what's the most informative part about it. In addition to that, just to be prepared, you know, what kind of budget you have to prepare for, what kind of financial support you need to have in the community, you know, what kind of volunteers you're gonna need. And so all of that information was definitely key sitting in this workshop.

Jeff Commings: Okay, so what specifically does Jacksonville offer as a host that maybe some of these other interested cities might not?

Alex Michaels: I know I think, you know, first of all, you know, there is a lot of — there's a lot of strong candidates out there that are looking at this and they've been looking at this as long as we have. Omaha also has really just set the bar really high, you know, Harold Cliff and his group out there and the convention visitors for Omaha, they worked hard making this a, you know, international — even though it's a national event, but, internationally, it gets a lot of recognition. I think the key with Jacksonville is not only is the community kind of support it wholeheartedly, it's just the community itself here in Florida is just a huge swimming community. The state of Florida, as you may know, swimming is a big sport here in the state. In Jacksonville, we have ton of representatives who are gonna be going to Omaha for this Olympic Trials. We'll have huge support from our local swim team like Bolles, the Bolles School Sharks. We also have a lot of support from University of Florida. We're hoping to get Coach Troy involved. He was actually a coach here in Jacksonville for many years. We have a lot of locals, people that I think would love to see it in the state. I've been campaigning this for a few years now. I've put my word out to Rowdy Gaines to see if he could help us, Coach Troy. But I think, you know, having a community that understand swimming, that are fans of the sport, I think it's gonna be a really key component to this. And just having it here in the Southeast I think it's also gonna be huge. And then also for the spectators, you know, nothing against any of the other competing cities, but I think Florida is just, you know, it's a beautiful state that's why I live here. Jacksonville has — is a river city. We have water all around us. Our downtown is just a phenomenal setting for this kind of event. Some of our experiences from the Super Bowl are gonna be a key factor for this, you know, there are still people from Jacksonville living from the 2005 Super Bowl and we're so excited by the event — that event itself. I've said that this is gonna be bigger and better. So — and I think those are some of the key things I really truly believe at the end of the day the key component is gonna be the swimming community of Florida and Jacksonville and having a strong ally as Bolles right here in Jacksonville. It's gonna really be a key factor in this bid.

Jeff Commings: Yeah, definitely Bolles have, you know, being such a prominent team not just in Florida but nationally, and having a head coach who has been to the Olympics, who has won an Olympic medal definitely can't go wrong with having Sergio Lopez as a strong backer.

Alex Michaels: No, Sergio is — I've been — you know, me and Sergio have been friends for a while and we've talked about this. I really think that having Sergio in this mix is gonna be a key factor. You know, I think I told you, I have a daughter who's been in the sports since she was six years old and, you know, just the dedication that these kids put in, it's just amazing, you know, watching a child from age seven just working day in and day out, going to the pool early mornings. And I think that's what, you know, makes me want to bring this to Jacksonville more than anything else. You know, I've talked about this with my daughter and, you know, we talked about it all the time and said how cool would it be if dad can help bring, you know, Olympic Trials to Jacksonville. And she laughs about it, but it's just the dedication of the athletes out there. You know, I've been fortunate to meet a lot of the swimmers throughout the world, some of the top swimmers and they all just come with such incredible stories of overcoming the ups and downs of the sport.

Jeff Commings: How old is your daughter now?

Alex Michaels: She's 14. She's a swimmer at Bolles. She's fortunate enough to be in that program and we can't say enough about that program and what they do for the kids and they, you know, it's — I actually moved to Jacksonville, people ask me many times what made you come to Jacksonville, was it, you know, the job. I said, no, actually our first decision to move to Jacksonville was because we had looked at Bolles as a school and as a swim program. And, you know, having Sergio here and their group, they have a great group of coaches. And the talent that comes through that pool right now is just amazing. I mean, it's world class athletes and just great kids and families here in Jacksonville, and we're — you know, that's gonna be — like I said again, a key factor into this bid because having all the support, you know, people — I've asked people can you help everybody, said, anything we can do, so I think, you know, if given the opportunity, Jacksonville is gonna take the Olympic Trials to the next level and it's gonna be all about the swimmers. It's also gonna be something that we're gonna try to take it to the next level past Omaha. I think Omaha has done a great job the past two, in '08 and now '12. I'm looking forward to being there. I know they have some great things in store. But I think this would be a huge opportunity for Jacksonville. Our interim CO has been saying from the start that our tagline is gonna be the Road to Rio needs a stop in Jacksonville or needs to pass through Jacksonville so our goal is to — on the way to Rio to make a stop here in Jacksonville for this group.

Jeff Commings: I think that will definitely a good campaign slogan for you and also it'd be really cool if you daughter gets to say that she swam at the Olympic Trials in her home city.

Alex Michaels: Yeah, definitely. She's got some work to do, you know, times keep getting faster, and we talked about that, too. It's kind of funny. Whenever she gets close, it gets a little faster. She's got a couple teammates that just made it, so I'm excited for them. We have some great young stars, you know, a young guy that is gonna hopefully be a key factor in 2016 named Ryan Murphy. And we've got some great swimmers right now working out at Bolles and so I think we're gonna have some great representation. I'm also looking forward to the possibility of being the host city for Ryan Lochte if 2016 happens to be his final year. What greater place to do it here than here in Jacksonville.

Jeff Commings: Absolutely.

Alex Michaels: You know, he's a local guy, University of Florida grad, swam down in Daytona Beach Swimming down in — an hour away from us. This would be like a home pool for him.

Jeff Commings: So what's the next step in the bidding process?

Alex Michaels: Well, the next step, a group of us are gonna be heading out to Omaha. We're gonna see it firsthand. We're gonna be taking a group from the mayor's office, our new sports director Alan Verlander, myself, our CEO. And our directors are gonna be going out through — kind of see the event firsthand. Kind of get an idea of what Omaha has done, what we like about it, what we can take from it, and how we can grow it. There's just gonna be a lot of key things that we want to learn from this trip now in June and then coming back, you know, with the excitement, I think we're gonna start working on the bid. We expect the RFP to come out early fall after the Olympics and be ready to submit a proposal in early January and hopefully get U.S.A. Swimming out here to take another look. And if everything works in the way that we'd like it to work, be able to announce that, you know, Jacksonville is the host for 2016. Got a lot of work in the process but we'll see what happens.

Jeff Commings: Yeah, we wish you the best of luck in your campaign, Alex. Thanks so much for joining us and I guess we'll probably see you walking the halls in Omaha.

Alex Michaels: Definitely. And if you're out there, I'll look for you.

Jeff Commings: Okay, sounds good. Thanks so much again.

Alex Michaels: All right, take care, Jeff.

Jeff Commings: All right, that's Alex Michaels joining us from Jacksonville, Florida, and that's gonna do it for today's Morning Swim Show. I'm Jeff Commings. Thanks for watching.

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