{"id":376664,"date":"2019-06-24T05:00:19","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=376664"},"modified":"2019-06-24T08:14:15","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T15:14:15","slug":"steve-west-still-breaking-records-still-gunning-for-olympic-trials-with-his-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/steve-west-still-breaking-records-still-gunning-for-olympic-trials-with-his-daughter\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve West Still Breaking Records, Still Gunning for Olympic Trials\u2014With His Daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Steve West<\/strong> swam at his fourth Olympic Trials in 2012, he was 40 years old. He became the oldest male swimmer ever at Trials as he finished 61st in the 100 breast and 62nd in the 200 breast. Harboring no aspirations of making the Olympic team, West dropped from his seed times in both events and was happy with his performances. In short, a great experience\u2014and one he never intended to go through again.<\/p>\n

After Trials, West had figured he would simply go back to Masters swimming, where he had been aiming for records before by happenstance, he swam fast enough to qualify for Trials. But it was never that simple, not for a man who once finished third at Olympic Trials, a mere half-second away from a trip to the Atlanta Olympics.<\/p>\n

After West had finished his college eligibility at Michigan in 1995, he moved home to Southern California to swim with Dave<\/strong> Salo<\/strong> at Irvine Novaquatics, where he trained in the breaststroke lane alongside a 14-year-old Amanda Beard<\/strong>. Beard would go on to win silver in the 100 and 200 breast in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

The third-place finish at Trials seemed like the end for West because \u201cthat\u2019s what we did back then\u201d with no money available in professional swimming, but he and Salo had other ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember coming back and saying, \u2018I wish I could swim some more,\u2019\u201d West said. \u201cMost coaches at the time would have said, \u2018Well, you’ve got to hang it up because if you’re not going to give 100 percent to every single practice all the time, you should just not do it anymore.\u2019 And Dave was not like that at all. It was awesome how he was just like, \u2018Well, just come when you can\u2019 He knew that I would still be a positive influence on the team.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So as West started a full-time job at a software company, he kept coming to practice. West wanted the endorphin rush that came from constantly working out, but he ended up staying competitive, qualifying for the Short Course World Championships in 1997 and then the Pan American Games in 1999\u2014all after he figured he was \u201cretired.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"steve-west-1994-goodwill-games\"

Steve West (center) at the 1994 Goodwill Games — Photo Courtesy: Steve West<\/p><\/div>\n

At that point, West was the veteran in a group that would include Aaron Peirsol<\/strong>, who would qualify for his first of three Olympic teams in 2000 before going on to win five gold medals, and Mike<\/strong> Cavic<\/strong>, who would go on to earn silver in the 100 fly behind Michael Phelps <\/strong>at the 2008 Olympics in a legendary photo finish<\/a>. And over in the breaststroke group, West swam with Staciana<\/strong> Stitts<\/strong>, who would go on to swim the 100 breast in Sydney.<\/p>\n

West continued through 2000, when he qualified for semi-finals at Olympic Trials. After that, West took an extended break from swimming, only for Masters to eventually call him back. Just two years into his Masters career, an attempt to break a U.S. national record in the long course 200 breast landed him his Olympic Trials cut. Shortly after, he got a phone call from Irvine Novaquatics senior coach Ken<\/strong> LaMont<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I made Olympic Trials, after that, Ken was like, \u2018Why don’t you come swim with us every once in a while?\u2019\u201d West recalled.<\/p>\n

So West ended up swimming with a group of swimmers with the highest of goals, all of them more than 20 years younger than him. The group trained close to his office, and he could keep up with the young swimmers on most sets\u2014and he often went ahead of them on breaststroke. It was a win-win.<\/p>\n

Breaking Records and Crossing Paths at Practice<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Since 2012, West has continued breaking Masters world records, and he just missed qualifying for Olympic Trials in 2016, missing the cuts by less than two tenths in both the 100 and 200 breast. In May, he broke the 45-49 world record in the 100 breast with a 1:04.99<\/a>. This weekend, at the Fran Crippen Swim Meet of Champions in Mission Viejo, West lowered the record again to 1:04.84<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In recognition of West\u2019s record-setting efforts, he was featured in early June in a television segment that aired on the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n