Coach Kevin's China Blog [UPDATED]
Day Before Racing.
It's the day before the 200 Breast here in Shenzhen, China. So for everything has been fantastic. In China, when they bid to host an international event, everyone and everything gets involved. 2 years ago when they won the bid to host the games, a few things went into action. They have build a metro - raised-rail system with over 200 stops that is fully functional and free to the athletes. Not only that, buy they build an entire university campus with different world class athletics facilities, dorms for 20,000 people, dining halls, business centers, etc. The campus covers about 4 city blocks squared. Right now the campus is just for hosting the games, but after, they will remodel all the buildings to host an extremely large university. Here's brief video of the place:
The athletes are staying in newly constructed dormitories for the Shenzhen University, From Rifle, to biking, running, lifting, swimming, etc. There are over 25 sports and 65 countries represented by the thousands of athletes here. There are charter busses just waiting on standby to take anyone with a pass, anywhere they need to go, pool, dormitory, food, etc. The pools are some of the grandest i've been to. The thing that blows me away the most is the fact that there are two "King County Aquatic Center" like pools... back to back in the same building.
This morning I got to spend time on deck talking with the head coach of the USA swimming delegation, as well as the head coaches for Georgia, Ohio State, and Auburn. What a thrill! It's a great thing to be able to see how other cultures interact between the athlete and coach. When you watch close enough, or go ask... you find out that while it may not always sound the same, everyone is doing similar stuff. I'm learning a lot watching and talking with other coaches, and I even think we found a way to fix Rory's start. It's been a blast, and I'll let you guys know how everything goes tomorrow morning.
On a side note, In the welcome packet everyone was given a $500 McDonalds card. One of Me and Rory's favorite game to play the the cafeteria is to play guess the country/sport. a particular person is. The other day the Polish women's volley ball team walked by, all over 6'2". They made Rory and I feel small on our way to the cafeteria... lucky we sat next to the America Chess team. That made us feel better, especially after I ordered some McDonalds :)
Day after 200 Breast, Before the 100.
It was an awesome morning swim for Rory, 3.4 Seconds faster than any other before. If this meet was like any other national or international meet, Rory would have qualified for Semi-finals or consolation finals. A 2:16.4 200 breast is an Olympic Trials time by 4 seconds, a new team record, and the second fastest time Rory has every swam. One of the challenges of swimming is qualifying for finals, because many (like Rory) drop significantly more time in a finals swim than in the morning preliminaries. Either way, we focused on gaining front half speed this summer, and the work we've done has paid off, his first 100 split was 1.1 seconds faster than his best time. If Rory had a second swim as he has in the past, he likely would have dropped another 3-5 seconds. That would place him right on the Olympic Qualifying time, and helped punch his ticked to London 2012. Great work Rory, good luck in the 100!
