Olympic Trials Notebook: Franklin, Manuel and DiRado

Jun 20, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Missy Franklin (USA) swims the final qualifying heat of the Women's 100M Backstroke during the morning session at the George F. Haines International Swim Center in Santa Clara, Calif. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

Photo Courtesy: Robert Stanton/USA Today Sports Images

Editorial Coverage provided by

When swimmers enter the CenturyLink Center for the first time, almost every one immediately whips out their phone to chronicle the moment. Goosebumps appear as they see the 50-meter pool in the middle of the 15,000-seat arena for the first time.

Each of the 11 athletes speaking in pre-meet press conferences—all of whom were returning for at least their second Trials—said how excited they felt the first time they dove into the warm-up pool or the competition pool. The memories of the fast swims from four years ago as well as the fireworks and roaring crowd have the athletes ready for more.

But that’s just stage one of the Trials emotional roller coaster. There’s a phase two that sets in before the meet even starts: the nerves.

Some feel the pressure, knowing that all the work they’ve done over the past four years comes down to this one meet. For others, it’s just that nervous feeling in the stomach that sets in behind the block for each race. And then there are those just antsy to get going after days of sitting around in Omaha.

It’s almost time to go.

But before we start, here’s what old friends Missy Franklin, Simone Manuel and Maya DiRado had to say this morning.

Missy Franklin:

On being back at Olympic Trials: “I was telling Todd [Schmitz] yesterday when we walked into the competition pool for the first time, you kind of forget how exciting this is until you’re here again. It’s almost impossible to recreate that feeling when you’re not actually here.”

On being ready to swim fast: “I think my times were a little bit slower than where I would have liked them to be in season and that kind of makes the end of season that much more exciting, because you know what you are capable of, you know what you’ve been training all year long, and you have kind of been pushing it and pushing it, but to get that rest, to really know that you’re going to be ready to rock on all cylinders and go out there and really have this performance that you’ve been waiting to have for so long, it really amps up the excitement. I was just swimming warm-up yesterday, and I was like, this is so fun! I totally forgot how fun it is to be rested and to have that feeling that you know you’re about to go out there and give your all and do your best.”

On where her confidence comes from: “I think there is two parts to that. I think one of them is the concrete kind of proof that you have every day of what you’re doing in practice… and realizing that a lot of the reason that the times aren’t there is just because you’re tired and you are exhausted and you are working so hard which is exactly what you’re supposed to be doing. The second part of that is just having faith, knowing that hard work always pays off no matter which and if you’ve giving your all every single day for every practice, every stroke that when you need to be ready you’re going to be ready.”

On adversity: “When I was 17, I had never been through any main challenges. I mean, my career had been up and up and up. I had a wonderful family, a wonderful life. I had never really struggled before… [After] the last couple of years, to have this opportunity, have God say all right, here’s what I’m going to throw at you. You’ve said you are going to handle it one way. Let’s see if you are really going to handle it that way. Then to feel like I did. To me, in my mind, that’s me having already won in so many different ways.”

On differences from four years ago: “Well, I’m on the doors now, which is a pretty big deal! (Laughs) Okay, this is a secret I’m going to tell you guys. In 2012, I was so jealous of the swimmers that had the giant heads in the stands, and I’m really hoping they do that again and I really hope I have a head!”

On how she has relaxed in a high pressure situation: “I colored yesterday. My parents got me a coloring book and that really helped.”

Simone Manuel

On what’s different since four years ago: “I was 15 years old, so I was kinda nervous behind the blocks, looking up in the stands and getting scared so I think I’ve had a lot more experience with that just being on World Championship teams and just really staying calm and being confident in my training and in the process of getting here.”

On redshirting from Stanford: “Redshirting was kind of hard for me. I was at all the dual meets that I could go to cheering on my teammates, and I definitely wanted to be out there with them, but they supported me as much as I’ve supported them so it kind of made the decision easier.”

On difficulties transitioning from SCY to LCM: “I think it was just Greg [Meehan] and I adapting to each other and how I train and how I rested. Over short course, I think I got a little bit bigger, so it didn’t really transfer over to long course, and my endurance wasn’t as great, so after World Championships, we met with each other, we talked everything out, what worked for me, what didn’t, and I think that kinda carried over this year and hopefully my results will show this week.”

Maya DiRado

On upcoming retirement: “I think part of the reason why I am swimming so well is knowing that I have a hard stop date and so it’s so much easier to be excited about all of this and give it everything I have when I know that this is my last go-through, so I don’t think that’s a sign that I need to keep swimming. I think it’s a sign that my preparation this year has been really good and that I’m ready to move on to something new.”

On continuing to improve: “To be able to be going best times at 22 and 23 and at meets like Santa Clara, Greg was joking like, ‘You’re an age grouper! You keep dropping time in all these random events.’”

On racing Elizabeth Beisel and others in the 400 IM Saturday: “My strengths have always been solid fly, great backstroke, okay breaststroke, solid closing freestyle. So I can’t magically switch that based on how other people are swimming, so I just have to make sure all my strokes are firing and put together the best 400 that I can have.”

On the 400 IM American record: “I think it’s very reachable. It could go down tomorrow night. I don’t know who but, yeah, it could get broken.”

Name*

Email*

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