Exclusive! The Most Exciting 22 Seconds in Swimming

By Jon Olsen

February 13. GREETINGS from Orlando, Florida.

As we made our way up the Florida Turnpike from the Keys, I found myself getting as pumped up to watch the racing this week as I ever did when I was racing myself. I couldn’t wait to see old friends, new friends and some incredible racing.

When thoughts started to turn towards the 50 free final on Saturday, I had flashbacks of one of the best, most highly-anticipated races that I can remember in my 26 years of swimming. The stage was set much like the one we have here in Orlando.

The date: August 4, 1989. The place: Los Angeles, California. The event: United States Nationals.

It was the finals of the 50 free that stole the show as usual. But this field was anything but usual. Matt Biondi, Tom Jager, Steve Crocker, and Brent Lang were fighting for the prestigious title of "The Fastest Man Alive."

The guys all paraded out for the race with t-shirts on that read: “Who is it?”

On the back it said something like, “The race to see who is the fastest man in the world”.

The entire crowd was on their feet waiting to be thrilled. We were anaticipating the most incredible race in the USC pool since the men’s 4 x 200 free relay in the 1984 Olympics.

I have never seen a crowd so buzzed with anticipation. We were waiting to see the ultimate spectacle in swimming: the showdown between the two fastest men on the planet, Biondi and Jager.

For the better part of eight years, these guys ruled the pool. Every swimmer on the deck looked up to these two and wanted to watch them race. They were not only the owners of the two fastest times, they were personalities, they were showmen, the pool was their stage. The Big Man vs. The Fastest Man. Two fierce competitors, two good friends, and the inventors of speed.

The sprinters of today owe everything to these two professionals. They were pioneers in our sport. They single handedly molded the 50 free into the one lap wonder that we live for today.

The 50 is racing at its purest, the very essence of swimming. How many of us remember someone, somewhere challenging us to a race? Whether it was in your backyard pool, the local swimming hole, or whereever you started swimming, the race was across the pool. One lap. Here to there. A pure test of speed. That is what racing is all about.

Now it has evolved into the most exciting 22 seconds in swimming.

Since I have gotten to Orlando everyone has been asking how I think the guys will do on Saturday.

I am so glad everyone has asked!

At the Olympic Trials or The Games, themselves, fans can count on the best athletes competing on a level playing field and the superstars rising to the top and standing on the medal stand. However, here at Nationals, the swimmers are at different stages in their training – anything can and will happen.

Some of the athletes are rested, some are not. Some are shaved, some are not. The main event is up for grabs. That makes for an exciting race, a race I’m looking forward to watching. This is what our sport is all about.

While I don’t think any world records will fall on Saturday, the 50 will offer racing at its purest, put on by eight of the fastest men in the world. This race features four Olympic finalists from 2000: Gary Hall Unattached – USA), Roland Schoeman (University of AZ – South Africa), Mark Foster (University of Bath – UK), and Bart Kizierowski (Poland). All four of these men are members of The Race Club.

Additionally, the race will feature Olympians Stavros Michaelides (Cyprus), Neil Walker (Texas – USA) and Jason Lezak (Irvine Novaquatics -USA); and American record-holder Sabir Muhammad and NCAA champion Aaron Ciarla (both Auburn). Michaelides, Muhammad and Ciarla are all members of The Race Club.

This race is wide open and just as deep as any world Championship final. Any of the top twenty swimmers in this field has the chance to come away with a national championship and a $250 cash bonus being offered by The Race Club to each of the winners of the women’s and men’s races.

This is obviously a dramatic stage for what is the most exciting race in the pool.

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JON OLSEN, a five-time Olympic medalist in 1992 and 1996, is head coach of The Race Club, based in Islamorada, Florida.

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