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U.S. OLYMPIC SWIM TRIALSJune 26, 2016Bob BowmanChase KaliszOmaha, Nebraska CHASE KALISZ: Well, the training really hasn't changed. One of the reasons why I went to Georgia and -- one of the reasons Bob gave me two college options, Florida and Georgia was because they do long course. I think Georgia really helped me progress for my long course training while I was there. I didn't really take a hit in the long course training while I was there. I didn't really take a hit in the long course side training down at Georgia. We do long course every single morning workout and multiple afternoon main workouts long course. I think it varies significantly different, because they say it doesn't really matter until you get it done in the big pool, and that's always been something that has been in my head and, yeah, it was awesome, I broke the American record, but this is a million times more important to me. Q. (No microphone.) CHASE KALISZ: I could hear it in the crowd. I knew J was -- I knew I had to have a big lead on J because I know how he swims, and I really heard the crowd on the freestyle, everyone was going, and I kind of like looked over a little bit and I saw J was just cranking along, and I looked up on the wall and I saw a "2" by his name, and I just couldn't believe it. That was one of the coolest things I've ever done is to do it with J, one of my best friends, so it was very cool and a very meaningful night for me. Q. (No microphone.) CHASE KALISZ: Michael told me how proud he was of me and that meant a lot. Michael is like an older brother to me and hearing those words from him was approval that I've been looking for. I mean, I've had it all along but his approval is something that I always look highly for and that meant a lot seeing him after. Q. Chase, has the shadow of Michael that you've been swimming under for all these years ever felt, like, really suffocating, and do you feel like now you've emerged from it and you can be -- build your own legacy? CHASE KALISZ: I never really felt like I was -- like Michael was blocking me out from doing anything in my sport by him doing my races. Honestly, I love doing Michael's races and swimming along side of him. I love training next to him every single day, and I'm just happy I got the opportunity tonight to swim the 4 IM and do a good race, but I don't see it like that. I don't see that I'm living in Michael's shadow. Michael is the greatest of all time, and I know no matter what I do I will never top his accomplishments, so I'm glad that I got on one Olympic Team, and I'm looking forward to seeing him swim later in the week, I know he's going to do awesome. Q. Bob, I want to ask you. I know there were several moments through the last custom years where Michael has been very hard on Chase? BOB BOWMAN: Yes, and me, too. CHASE KALISZ: Yeah! You got most of it! Q. Chase, you can answer this, too, but I want to know how you think that's helped him and perhaps helped him tonight. BOB BOWMAN: Well, I think it's really tested him a little bit, right? Like when Michael gets on you, it's pretty severe, right? And it's kind of like nonstop for a while. When I do it it's like a nuclear bomb got dropped on your head for about two and a half minutes, but after that it's over, but Michael kind of keeps it going. So I think it really pushed him and really got him out of his comfort zone, and all I'm saying is you didn't do a double breath tonight, so I was okay on my first nuclear bomb! It took something to get his attention. CHASE KALISZ: Yeah, yeah. I've said it before in Michael's head -- he's like a brother to me, and um -- he's going to push me like a brother, and he's going to challenge me and that's what I need. I don't necessarily think that it -- coming from anyone other than Bob or Michael, it's probably going to make me really mad! BOB BOWMAN: It made him really mad anyway but tolerable. CHASE KALISZ: I know they're doing it because they love and care about me, and they genuinely want to see the best out of me. Who doesn't want to be told what to do and get tips from the greatest swimmer of all time and from Bob one of the greatest coaches of all time, and I'm so lucky to be in the position that I am. Q. Bob, when we talked a couple weeks ago you said that Chase would still need to take a step up to win here and then to compete in Rio against the Japanese? BOB BOWMAN: Yeah. Q. Do you still think he needs to take another step up -- BOB BOWMAN: Oh, yeah, we've got to get the time down and I don't think tonight's time is representative of what he could do tonight. I think he was wound tight as a drum when he walked out there. The 4:09.5 is great, got the job done, but I think he's got a couple or more seconds in him in the next month, and that's what it's going to take for him to win a medal. Q. Bob and Chase, congratulations again. Bob, what do you think are the reasons why Chase didn't achieve best time here while making Olympic Team is the ultimate goal? BOB BOWMAN: Well, I think Chase swam to win the race and in doing so -- we hammered into his head to be conservative the first 200. He could not go out too hard, and by doing that, that might have cost him a second or two, but I don't care, because we knew he needed to come home really strong and in this circumstance it's exactly what he should have done, and I honestly think that, you know, he's always really good on the second shave, so when we come back and do training camp and do some more work, he's going to benefit a ton from that, and I'm really confident he will go a lot faster. Q. Chase, can you talk about your transformation over the past four years and what the last Trials was like versus how you started tonight senior? CHASE KALISZ: Last Trials I knew I really didn't have a chance of making the team, and it was all about experience. At that point I never really had been to a meet that level or really a Nationals over 500 people in the stands. I think me being able to make two Finals there -- and that was our whole goal all along in 2012, was to make a final, and I ended up making two and going beyond that and I think that helped me in 2013 when I went to Barcelona, and I wasn't shocked when I walked out of the ready room and seeing everyone in the stands and cheering. So everything before that was all preparation and in -- right after 2012 Olympics Bob sat down with me in Starbucks and that was our plan. We were going to sneak on the National team and start making some trips in '13 and build and progress forward to setting myself up to making the team in '16 and hopefully setting myself up for a chance to win a medal. Q. Michael said he gave you a prediction about what it would take to win the 400 IM. About where are you thinking and what are you thinking you can do for that race in Rio and how are you going to prepare for it? CHASE KALISZ: I know I'm not going to say any times. I know I need to be faster than I was tonight, and I think I'm very capable of it, even looking at my lactate, it wasn't that high, and I don't even feel like -- I don't even feel that tired after the race, and I think I was just so nervous, and this was the one thing for my entire life. I never really thought past, like, standing on the Olympic podium winning a medal. Obviously it's been in my mind for the past few years but since I can I just wanted to be on the Olympic Team. I wanted to be a US Olympian, and that was in the back of my mind, and I tried to swim to win and get on the team, and I'm happy with my swim tonight, and I think there is a lot more in the tank. Q. (No microphone.) CHASE KALISZ: Absolutely, yeah, I think I do well in those situations where I've got nothing to lose. I'm going to lay it on the line, and I've been in those situations before at World Championships. I know it's a completely different atmosphere there, but I think for me I'm going to go on with the same mind-set, and I know I did all the work this year. I've never trained like this every in my entire life, and I know I got a little more. BOB BOWMAN: In all fairness, I think the pressure tonight was on Chase. Of anybody in that heat he had the most pressure because there had been expectations, and he had done well, so that's the hardest race of his life, over, the rest will be fun. CHASE KALISZ: Absolutely, yeah, looking forward to it. Q. Chase, I know you guys talked about doing this quite a while ago, but the things you actually had to give up this year, school and other things, can you talk about that and what this now means to you as the culmination of that? CHASE KALISZ: Well, the first part of it is I knew that regardless of the outcome that I wanted to put 100% effort into it. I didn't miss a single workout all year. When I had to make a correction, whether it was hard or not, on me, and me and Bob got into an argument; we made that fix. I wanted to look back after this race like I'm thinking right now that I did 100% the best -- and I set myself up for the best opportunity to make the team and I can -- if it didn't turn out the way it did tonight, I would be fine with it. I wanted to tell myself I put my best foot forward and I gave 100% effort to prepare myself. For me to do that I had to take a year off from school. I certainly miss all my friends and my family and I know it wasn't easy on my girl friend at Georgia, and I know she can't wait to have me back! (Chuckles.) Yeah, I hope! I know my family has been awesome, and they have supported me 100% of the way, whether I was going to stay at Georgia or I was going to come here, and I can't thank Jack enough. Jack's been unbelievable for me, and I've progressed so much for Jack and he's been one of the biggest role model in his swimming career, and he's been pivotal to where I am now and I want to thank him for all he's done for me and allowing me -- and I had my conversation with him, and he told me I need to get out of a college town and focus, and I think that was the best call. And he knew it was best for me, and he supported me 100% of the way even though I wasn't representing Georgia. I love him to death for that. Q. In Rio you will be going up against Seto and Hagino and what kind of race do you think it's going to be like and how confident are you to be on top of them? CHASE KALISZ: They're unbelievable and those two have been the best for the past few years and if I want to -- I've got to be competitive with those guys, and I know I've got a lot of things I need to work on, but obviously those are the two guys I'm shooting for and it's -- they're going to be tough to beat. They've swum well all year, Hagino has done awesome and he's posted some good times and Seto has done the same. They've both proved themselves on an international stage so it's not going to be an easy task, but I'm just looking forward to getting on the team and start preparing. Q. You said you love swimming the same events as Michael. If you had grown up on the west coast instead of the east coast, do you think you still would have gravitated to the same event or do you think you would have been doing different events? CHASE KALISZ: I think the 4 IM is an event I usually choose, and it usually chooses you and it also -- Bob also helped it choose me. BOB BOWMAN: Kind of our club thing. CHASE KALISZ: Yeah, that's the way we train, everything is IM-based training, and I don't think I would be as good of an IMer as I am now doing the work load that I did when I was younger. We did some long, miserable workouts that I was not a fan of Bob in the mornings at 7 a.m. when he would throw me in the distance lane by myself and everyone else is doing an hour of power, but, again, it's the -- the 4 IM is something that comes to you, and I'm lucky to be versatile in multiple strokes and have a strong breaststroke, but I think me going back -- me doing butterfly is a testament to me wanting to swim the same event as Michael. Butterfly didn't come natural to me. I was a breaststroker and never was a backstroker, I'll note that, but butterfly was something I had to work at, and I just loved racing next to Michael, and I did that enough that ultimately I would say the 200 Butterfly is probably my second best event, so I think me just wanting to emulate Michael so much is why my 2 Fly is the way it is. Q. (No microphone.) CHASE KALISZ: Yeah, I would probably say that, and without Bob I probably wouldn't be doing the 4 IM because I probably wouldn't want to be doing it, but Bob is good at pushing you and getting the best out of you, and honestly it's the best thing for me, and I love the challenge every single day. Q. Did either of you know Ryan was hurt or did you sense during the race that he didn't look right? BOB BOWMAN: No, I mean, I didn't know. CHASE KALISZ: We kind of -- BOB BOWMAN: We just kind of swam, he swam. CHASE KALISZ: I walked in the ready room and I tried to keep my focus on myself and that's all I could do, can't control what anyone else is doing. Q. Bob, I know it was a controversial decision to put Michael in the 400 IM four years ago. Ryan is still the oldest gold medalist in that event from four years ago. Is that an event that you think, you know, somewhere someone in their 30s, perhaps, can't do any or more or shouldn't do? BOB BOWMAN: Well, I think it's tough because of what you have to do in training. I'm sure somebody in their 30s could do it if they could get the motivation to do the training, but that's tough. You gotta think somebody like Ryan or Michael, they've been doing this for 20 years and probably at a super high level for 15 years, and there's only so long you can sustain that kind of work. Chase is probably five years into it, right? Maybe a little more. CHASE KALISZ: Yeah, yeah. BOB BOWMAN: But the window is still there that he could come in motivated to put those yards and meters in, and I think it's tougher when you are older. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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