The 2020 Olympic Games have been like nothing we've quite seen before. With finals being swum in the morning and cover protocols interrupting the natural flow of athletes, the top-end speed at the event has seemingly fallen flat. With that being said, the fact that athletes have overcome all of this adversity and are still World Records is nothing to scoff at.

On the front page of USA Swimming's website is a ticking clock: a live countdown to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials to be held June 13-20, 2021. That competition will get Team USA ready for the subsequent 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, the Games that were, of course, delayed a year by the coronavirus pandemic that swept the world, and which is still greatly changing life in the United States. 

Eddie Reese, head coach of swimming and diving at the University of Texas, is a walking legend. 

Whether you're a competitive or leisure swimmer, a bad case of Swimmer's Ear can ruin a perfectly good time.

First, let’s get it out of the way...Dressel is the favorite. After his earth-shattering performance in the final NCAA meet of his college career, Dressel has been at the front of the swimming community’s mind. The questions remain though: can he hold on without a second wall? Can he go under 21.00 and break the WR? Can anyone challenge him? 

Plenty of sports have crossover when it comes to training techniques, theories, and more, but can a powerlifter’s mindset prior to lifting 500kg off of the ground apply to swimming? I think so, and I’ll explain to you why. 

Michael Phelps’ eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 is the most iconic performance in Olympic history, arguably one that put the sport of swimming on the map for millions of people across the globe and took the sport to a completely different level. 

Four hours of cardio per day, intense drylands sessions, all with trainers and coaches watching over you making sure you’re in the best shape of your life for years and then—poof!—you’re on your own. It’s easy to let yourself slip into the post-swimming plump phase, but for those of you who want to stay in solid shape, we’ve got a few tips for you.

Officiating has been a growing topic in the sport over the past 10 years as rule changes and advancements in underwater video capabilities have continued. Being disqualified as a kid in a summer league meet is one of the most soul-crushing things a young swimmer can face, but we’re not here to talk about the summer league days… We’re here to talk about the fastest one percent of the sport.

For a long time I’ve wondered why one specific event is not contested at the Olympic Games, or at the international level in general. I’m not a huge fan of comparing swimming events to track events, because I don’t believe they perfectly overlap, but in this case I just cant ignore it. 

If you haven’t realized it by now, swimmers are some of the nerdiest athletes in the world of sports. From the sets we do, the counting, the times we go, etc., etc., there’s a lot that goes into becoming a high-level swimmer, and a good portion of it comes down to being just plain nerdy. We’re going to break down the nerdiness of our sport into three categories, counting, data and more data.

I’m not someone who likes to live in the past, but the purpose of this is to keep swimmers from making the same regrettable mistakes as this swammer. Some may seem simple and some more complex, but each of them just as easily done as the rest. Hope you enjoyed that accidental rhyming sentence as much as I did. Poetry aside, let’s get into it.

Practice #1

Let’s go ahead and make one thing clear. Swimming is a brutal sport and there are absolutely going to be ups and downs throughout your career. The goal here is to help you, or someone you know, decide whether it's just a rough day or time to walk away.

Iowa City - The Texas Hall of Fame Invitational caught swimming attention as Wisconsin’s Beata Nelson lowered an already quick American Record in the 100-yard backstroke. Of the mid-season meets, few garner more attention than the Longhorns annual meet, comprised this year of Southern California, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Stanford’s men among others.