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U.S. TEAM OLYMPIC TRIALS: SWIMMINGJune 29, 2012Haley AndersonAlex MeyerTim MurphyOMAHA, NEBRASKA THE MODERATOR: We are joined here with our open water squad. We will go with Coach Tim Murphy, Alex Meyer, and Haley Anderson. We will open the floor for questions. Q. Congratulations everybody. Alex, you tweeted out pictures from the OTC, and I was wondering what it was like to be there this past week. ALEX MEYER: Yeah, most of the fires were on the other side of 25, is that the highway? So it wasn't much of a risk to us; it wasn't going to cross the highway, but I know a lot of people that lost homes, including at least one person I know of from USA Swimming. We were all safe at the training center, but you could see it, smell it. Q. Did the air quality affect you at altitude? ALEX MEYER: No, it was fine. There were some people walking around with‑‑ all the cyclists had their face masks, things, but it really wasn't that bad. Q. What does it take to be an open water swimmer? It's kind of a different situation without lanes or flip turns. What kind of a person excels in this sport? HALEY ANDERSON: It definitely is completely different than pool swimming. I saw somewhere somebody had a tee shirt that said: "No lanes, no lines, no mercy," and I liked that, because it's pretty true to the sport. It's definitely‑‑ I personally doubt myself a lot in a race, and I always have to overcome that within each race, so it's mentally tough on me. ALEX MEYER: I think it's a completely different animal than swimming in the pool, and there's a lot more strategy and tactics that are involved, and because of that experience is a much more important factor. Q. What do you encounter out there that a normal guy in a pool doesn't? ALEX MEYER: Elbows, feet, that's the most threatening thing out there. Q. Alex, I'm wondering if you will be watching the Women's 200 Fly with a lot of interest? ALEX MEYER: Yeah, I'm going to be watching every event tonight, and I'm excited to be here. Tim and I just got here this morning. But I'm good friends with Teresa Crippen, and I'm looking forward to watching her race and hopefully making the team. Q. What would that mean, do you think? You're pretty close with the Crippens. What would that mean to them and to you to have Teresa on the Olympic Team? ALEX MEYER: Yeah, I feel like through the grievance process, the only thing that's really made me feel better is being close to the family and being around them, working on my relationship with them. It's been really nice to be included in ‑‑ almost like a part of their family. Q. Haley, you're going to have a "sister act" in London, I guess, and I saw your excited Tweets. What was it like to watch that happen, and what's it going to be like to go to London with her? HALEY ANDERSON: I'm extremely happy for her. She has always set a great example for me growing up, and I'm just so proud of her that she'll be in the 800 Free Relay in London, and it's going to be an amazing experience in London with her and with my whole family there. Q. I don't want to monopolize this thing, but I had two questions about London. One about the course, and maybe Tim you could speak to this, too. It's an unusual shape long, skinny rectangle with tight turns at each end. Is that going to favor faster pool swimmers? COACH MURPHY: I'm not sure who it's going to favor. I like it because it's different as opposed to a rectangle, you know, or straight up and down. I think Open Water should have the elements where you have to sight, you've got to learn to swim different speeds and straight lines or pick your route, what you want to do, so I'm delighted that they mixed it up a little bit and there are twists and turns that are going to play heavily into the race. So the people that can do that well are going to have an advantage from it. You're going to have to do that on that day. I think Alex is good at it, and I think Haley is getting better every time I watch her race. But I'm real pleased they kept something different and an ongoing challenge, not just the people around you but the course, also. ALEX MEYER: The biggest difference for those who aren't familiar with the course is there are both left and right‑hand turns on the course, so you need to have a little more awareness of where you are at any given time. And I think USA Swimming did a good job when they hosted our Nationals in April, mimicking that course format, because one of the buoys was a left‑hand turn. Not that it makes a huge difference or anything, but definitely a good thing that they did that. Q. Alex, you made the Olympic Team last year and I know we've talked about whether that was an advantage or disadvantage, and now we're here at Trials with a lot of people making the Olympic Team. How are you viewing it now? And, Tim, if you could address that, too, that would be great. ALEX MEYER: This is exciting. Being the only one, it was lonely being on the Olympic Team by myself for the past year. It was exciting at first, and then I went back into the routine and it wasn't on my mind all that much, and the excitement is coming back because of all this, and the fact that people are making the team, and we're getting closer to August10th. It's all coming back and I'm really excited. COACH MURPHY: I think it's‑‑ the length of time, there has maybe been a greater sense of responsibility that Alex has had to carry sort of keeping it in mind. I don't know that it's become a burden, but I think what he just said is the way I've approached it, is taking one day at a time knowing that London will come, and we had to take it one day at a time. And with Alex's injury in January, it was real good timing, so can't complain about that at all. Q. A lot of the races that you guys are in have bigger fields than the Olympic fields normally do. How is that going to change the dynamic of the race? ALEX MEYER: It's hard to tell, but my feeling is it will slow the pace of the race. I know some people probably disagree, but I think it will slow the pace of the race because by virtue of the fact that there are fewer athletes everyone is closer in physical distance to everybody else, so there is less of a sense of urgency or a feeling like you need to be up in the front. When you have a field of 60, 70 plus like we had in Shanghai, you don't want to be in the back of that pack, so everyone is working harder to stay in front, so the pack will, the peloton, if you will, move at a faster pace because of that, but you never know. HALEY ANDERSON: Exactly like he said. Since the pack will be smaller, there won't be a sense that you need to work harder to get to the front. I don't want to say it's going to be less rough because people‑‑ it will be smaller, but you won't be as tight, like when there is a bigger pack, I don't know. ALEX MEYER: As an example, Martin Vanderheid, from the Netherlands, who won in Beijing, he was dead last almost the entire race, and you can't do that if there's much more than 20, 25 athletes. That's his style, everyone has their own style, and he's good at weaving his way up through the middle of the pack. It's a skill that some people have and some people don't. That's just an example, you know, he was able to hang back there and‑‑ but while he was last, he was still in contact with what was going on. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, everyone. We'll see you guys later. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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