Male Swimmer: Erik Vendt

DOB: 01/09/1981

Height: 5'11"

Weight:170 lbs.

Hometown: North Easton, MA

Residence: Ann Arbor, Michigan

High School: Boston College HS ‘99

College: Southern California ‘05

College Major: International Relations

Coached By: Bob Bowman

Club: Club Wolverine

(He was coached by Bob Bowman at UM before the Beijing but we could not find more accurate information about him. Rumors have circulated that he is retiring again so if anyone has more current information we’d love to hear it.)

Hobbies Outside the Pool: Politics, (he spoke at Republican Ron Paul’s Rally for the Republic back in September), traveling, history, reading

Favorites-

Movie: Braveheart

Music: Hip Hop

TV Show: Lost

Musician: Steve Earl

Sports Team: ANYTHING BOSTON

Accomplishments:

Erik has attended the Olympics three times and is a double silver medalist (2000 and 2004) in the 400m IM. He won his first gold medal in the 800m FR in Beijing by swimming relay.

He has also set various world rankings for the 1500m FR. Vendt has said he feels the 1500m FR is all about "guts, endurance, and heart." He originally started swimming distance events to build up his endurance but never stopped.

Vendt was the first American to break the 15 minute mark in the 1500m FR (that’s a MILE swim, OUCH) with that in mind he was also the NINTH person EVER to break the 15 minute mark as well.

Interesting Tidbits:

He started swimming at age 3 when he was living in Saudi Arabia..

After Athens in 2004 Vendt retired. Two years later while teaching children to swim in New York and while watching the winter games in Torino he found his inspiration again and decided to pack up and moved to Ann Arbor to begin training under the watchful eye of Bob Bowman, swimming with fellow Olympians for Club Wolverine.

Vendt qualified for the 2008 Olympic games in the 4X200m FR which was a surprise in and of itself. He is known to be a distance swimmer but didn’t qualify for his usual events.

Despite his smaller build Erik holds his own in the pool against competitors who have half a foot more height on him. Many attribute this to his smooth stroke which has been perfected with years of training. We respect the fact that he willingly subjected himself to the torturous (but FANTASTIC) training sessions of Mr. Bob Bowman. This just goes to show how dedicated he is to sport. We have love and respect for a man with so much heart. (Even if he may display diva like behavior every once in awhile)

We wish Erik the best of luck in training as well as whatever else he sets his mind to. (Maybe we'll see him in Indy if he comes out of retirement again?)

Female Swimmer: Margaret Hoelzer

DOB: March 30, 1983

Hometown: Huntsville, Alabama

Current Residence: Seattle, Washington

College: Auburn '05

Club: King Aquatic Club

Coached by: Sean Hutchison

College Major: Psychology with a minor in Criminology

Most influential person: her mother

Nickname: Marge

Fave movie: Robin Hood and Spartacus

Fave TV show: Nip/Tuck, America's Next Top Model and Grey's Anatomy

Hobbies outside of the pool: Reading and sleeping

Where we've seen her: Hoelzer has been on the world scene since World Championships in 2003. She was also at the Athens Olympics where she placed fifth in the 200m back final. In Beijing, she brought home a silver in 200m back and 400m IM relay and a bronze in the 100m back. While swimming for Auburn, she was a six time NCAA champion and 22-time All-American.

She has been breaking records and taking names since she came onto the world stage and we look forward to see her continue that all the way to Worlds in Roma and all the way to London!

(thanks to USA swimming and NBC Olympics)

Phelps has been suspended for three months.


USA Swimming has released the following statement:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - USA Swimming has reprimanded Michael Phelps under its Code of Conduct by withdrawing financial support and the eligibility to compete for a period of three months effective today, February 5.

This is not a situation where any anti-doping rule was violated, but we decided to send a strong message to Michael because he disappointed so many people, particularly the hundreds of thousands of USA Swimming member kids who look up to him as a role model and a hero.

Michael has voluntarily accepted this reprimand and has committed to earn back our trust.

(thanks swimnetwork.com)

Michael Phelps is considering the possibility of skipping the 2012 London games.
He spoke with reporters yesterday in Baltimore about it:

"This is a decision of mine that I'm not going to make today and I'm not going to make tomorrow," Phelps, 23, told the Baltimore Sun.

See the rest of the article here: We're hoping he just needs to get his head on straight.

Michael Fred is the one person who brought us together here at the DCC, he was the originator of our swimmer loving (yes it has grown like crazy in the last four years) but we really don't know how to react to the news. We're going to stay optimistic and hope that he does compete in 2012 or at least until he feels satisfied with what he has done for the sport.

Despite being in shock we kind of expected a statement questioning his training. It is only natural to question who you are and what you want to do with your life when you are a young adult. It has to be MILLIONS of times worse when every action you take is on display for the entire world to see.

Not that he'll ever see this but we'd hope he knows that his fans love him and that we'll stand by him with whatever decisions he makes in the future.


(Thanks to people magazine for the quote)

Note: The photo was taken in AZ. Phelps Road has been around a long time but thought the stop sign art was pretty fitting at a time like this. (Yes, a lame attempt at humor.)

Labels: 2012, London, Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps has released an official statement acknowledging that he engaged in inappropriate and immature behavior following the release of photos showing him smoking out of a bong.

You can view the statement on his facebook fan page here:
MP's fan page

and read an additional article at ESPN.com:
ESPN article

We'd like to state again that we stand behind Michael and send him our love and support through this difficult time. We can only hope that others are just as understanding and forgiving.