Santo Condorelli Re-Focused After Summer Away from World Champs

santo condorelli
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

By David Rieder.

Two years in a row, he had fallen just hundredths short of the jackpot, an individual medal in the 100 free. But in what would have been his third try at a medal at the World Championships in Budapest, Santo Condorelli was absent.

This was a man who had finished fourth in the 100 free at the 2015 World Championships, his time of 48.19 just seven hundredths away from a bronze medal, and then fourth at the Rio Olympics, touching the wall just three hundredths behind bronze medalist Nathan Adrian (47.85 to 47.88).

During the year prior to the Rio Games, Condorelli took time off from the University of Southern California and swam with coach Coley Stickels at Canyons Aquatic Club, training alongside the likes of eventual U.S. Olympic gold medalist Abbey Weitzeil. While there, swimming became his entire life—no midterms or social commitments or anything else that a college swimmer typically deals with.

But when he returned to school, he was no longer performing at quite such a high level. His junior season results were middling, at best—fifth in the 100-yard free at the NCAA championships but just 19th in the 50, not quite what was expected from someone of Condorelli’s pedigree. A few weeks later, he skipped Canada’s World Championship Trials.

What happened? Back at USC, Condorelli initially had trouble finding the balance he needed in his life.

“The whole college setting, getting away for a year, I got too excited,” Condorelli said. “I was like, ‘Heck yeah, I get to hang out with my friends again, I get to go out,’ and I kind of lost track of what it was to be a D1 athlete and my priorities.”

Condorelli insisted he was not depressed after the Olympics, but he could not settle on an adjective that would properly capture how he felt about returning to swimming after what had happened in Rio. He knew, though, that his attitude needed work.

So he decided to take the summer off, not stepping on the starting blocks for a sanctioned race for more than six months. During that time, Condorelli thinks he got his priorities in line—like they were during the Olympics and for the year before that.

condorelli-canada-rio-2016-relay

Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

“It was a good growing period for me, get my attitude right to help represent USC and support my teammates the best I could,” he said. “I’m definitely more mature. Swimming maybe not, but as a person and overall character, definitely yes.”

As for the actual swimming, Condorelli has not looked like one of the world’s top sprinters since he swam in Rio. His early college season marks (20.01 in the 50 free, 44.09 in the 100 free) mean rather little, but it will become clearer how he stacks up with the top college sprinters in the country when he swims with the Trojans at the Texas Invitational next month.

Beyond his college career, Condorelli has further aspirations. “Obviously go 2020,” he said. “I think I came up a little bit short in 2016, but it was my first time. I think I have a lot to improve and do better.”

But ironically, when Condorelli does swim internationally again, he’s not sure that he would still be representing Canada. “I don’t know yet,” he said, explaining that he hadn’t given the decision much thought.

Condorelli was actually born in Japan before moving to Portland, Ore., and then to Jacksonville, Fla. He was eligible to swim for Canada because his mother, Tonya, grew up in Ontario.

Even with that national decision still looming and the pressures of leading his Trojans team seeking a top-five national finish this year, the potential of Olympic success remains aluring for Condorelli, and that shouldn’t be all that surprising considering who he trained with during his teenage years at Bolles.

From that group, Ryan Murphy and Joseph Schooling both have individual Olympic gold medals, and Caeleb Dressel won a trio of solo World titles this summer in Budapest—a result that his former training partner, Condorelli, insisted was no surprise.

caeleb-dressel-start-2017-fina-world-champs

Caeleb Dressel — Photo Courtesy: SIPA USA

“With him, no,” Condorelli said. “He’s a talented kid—we knew it from the beginning, and he’s just a talented kid doing what he does best: swimming, having fun and training his ass off.”

Having seen up close as those talented youths turned themselves into champions, Condorelli identified the biggest key in that making that oft-challenging transition: not necessarily personal growth but having the right support from others.

“It’s who you’re surrounding yourself with. If you have a great group of people around you that want to push you in that direction, it’s going to be a hell of a lot easier than it is if you’re on your own and you have other things going on,” Condorelli said.

“I have a great father, great mother, great coaches, and they want me to be up here. That makes it way easier. When you have all that, you don’t want to let those people down as well. It keeps you focused.”

Condorelli has the structure he needs in place to make a run at 2020, and if he needs any extra motivation, he can always think back to those three hundredths of a second.

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Swimming Pool Lovers
6 years ago

Don’t see a reason not to share it

Neil Jones
Neil Jones
6 years ago

What are his options for representing another country in 2020? And what has to or might happen in 2018 and/or 19 leading up to that possibility?

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