Ryan FranzmanComp12 1/aSeptember 6, 2000When I think back to the most influential experience I have ever had I will think of a rather recent opportunity I decided to partake in. A few weeks back I had the opportunity to volunteer and help the 2000 Olympic Trials for Swimming by serving as a deck marshall. Being a swimmer myself I quickly jumped at the chance to help. During the trials I saw many exciting races and learned tons upon tons of little things that could aid my swimming stroke and make me an all around better swimmer. I would encourage any one to go and see a swimming event; they are actually quite interesting. I was amazed to discover that this year the women’s Olympic team is the oldest it has ever been, the average age on the women’s Olympic team is 23.
Dara Torres, at the age of 33, will be the oldest member of the women’s Olympic team. The men’s team is quite the opposite in the fact that they are the youngest team since 1980. This meet hosted Michael Phelps, the youngest male swimmer ever to swim in the Olympic trials; he is merely 15 years old. During the final qualification rounds and championship heats the crowd became extremely involved. Never in my life had I seen so many people cheering on and supporting the swimmers that would represent us at the Olympic Games in Sydney. The 2000 USA Olympic Swimming Trials were most definitely a record breaking event: 11 American records, 5 U.
S. Open records, 23 Meet records, 21 National records, and 2 World records were broken! The 2000 USA Olympic Swimming Trials was most definitely an astonishing event and one that I will remember for years to come.-Ryan Franzman .
