Mike Bottom to Leave University of California to Take Helm of The Race Club

MIAMI, Florida, July 25. ACCORDING to representatives of The Race Club, a joint venture created by Gary Hall Sr. and Gary Hall Jr., Mike Bottom has elected to leave his post as the co-head coach of men's swimming and diving at the University of California to take the reins of The Race Club World Team. Bottom will remain with California through the end of August, and will take over full time at The Race Club in September.

"This is a great opportunity for me to work with Gary and The Race Club," Bottom said. "I have some mixed feelings about the move, because my heart will always be with California and the guys there. But, in the end, The Race Club had a lot to offer myself and my family."

Bottom, who has previously worked for 10 years with the Golden Bears, will work with some of the world's elite swimmers like Therese Alshammar, Henrique Barbosa, George Bovell, Mike Cavic, Duje Draganja, Hall Jr., Bart Kizierowski and Dominik Meichtry.

"Mike Bottom has been my personal coach for the last 13 years," said five-time Olympic gold medalist Hall Jr. "His unique and innovative approach to coaching sprinters played a huge role in my, and many others', accomplishments. The Race Club is very fortunate to have someone of Mike's caliber join our team."

Throughout the past 11 years, Bottom has worked at both the college level as well as coaching top international swimmers during the summer. In the last three Olympics, 50 percent of the medals (9 of 18) won in the freestyle sprint events (50m and 100m) have been claimed by Bottom's swimmers from around the world.

Bottom's Olympic medalists include Hall Jr., who won back-to-back gold medals in the 50m free at the 2000 and 2004 Games. He also coached Anthony Ervin, who tied with Hall for gold in 2000, and Draganja, who took silver behind Hall by one-hundredth of a second in 2004.

Bottom was a highly sought-after coach at the 2004 Olympic Games where he was the personal coach to 10 Olympic swimmers from eight different countries and also served as head coach of the Croatia team. Six of the top 10 world-ranked 50m free swimmers in the 2004 Olympic year were coached by Bottom.


Reaction Time Comments
Click Here to Join in Reaction Time Comments
July 26, 2007. I am curious about the recruits that Mike personally signed to attend Cal, whether they will still come or seek a different school? Any word on that? Also, are there any plans as of yet to replace Mike? Cnissen


Reaction Time responses do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Swimming World Magazine or SwimmingWorldMagazine.com.
Reaction Time is provided as a service to our readers.

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