Swimmers and stars come together at Golden Goggle Awards

November 19, 2008 -  If you’ve been wondering where your favorite swimmers have been hiding since Beijing, most of them were at the New York Hilton on Monday night for USA Swimming’s fifth annual Golden Goggle Awards (clever name, huh?).

Olympic champions Natalie Coughlin and Michael Phelps were the big winners at the event, which was hosted by Bob Costas and celebrated the accomplishments of the totally awesome 2008 Olympic Swim Team.

Coughlin won top honors on the women’s side, taking home the Female Athlete of the Year trophy. Coughlin earned six medals at the Olympics – one gold, two silver, and three bronze, becoming the first woman in any sport, to win six medals in one Olympiad. In 2008, Coughlin broke the 100m back world record three times and set a total of 11 American records.

“This was a great year,” Coughlin said. “This year was really special with so many records being broken and I’m really glad to have been a part of it.”

Phelps’ record-setting performance in Beijing earned him three Golden Goggle Awards at USA Swimming’s annual banquet including Male Athlete of the Year and Male Performance of the Year.

Women’s swimmer Rebecca Soni was honored with two Golden Goggle awards, the Breakout Performer of the Year Award and the Female Performance of the Year Award for her stellar performance in the 200m breast at the Olympics in 2008. The USC senior took home a total of three Olympic medals in Beijing, a gold in the 200m breast and silvers in the 100m breast and 400m medley relay. Soni broke the world record in the 200m breast, and defeated heavy favorite Leisel Jones of Australia to win her first gold.

Dara Torres, 41, who won three silver medals at the Beijing Olympics, said at the New York banquet  that if she can stay healthy, she hopes to race at the world championships next summer.

Among the celebrity guests in attendance tonight were Donald Trump, Tiki Barber, David Blaine, Ana Ortiz (”Ugly Betty’), Heather Matarazzo, as well as Olympic legends Summer Sanders, Pablo Morales, Gary Hall Jr., Lenny Krayzelburg, Jenny Thompson, and Rowdy Gaines.

In other swim news, the AP reports that Katie Hoff is now training with Michael Phelps’s coach, Golden Goggle winner Bob Bowman, who has returned to the North Baltimore Aquatic Club after four years at the University of Michagan:

Swimmer Katie Hoff has changed coaches after a disappointing Olympics in which the six-time world champion failed to win a gold medal in a half dozen events.

Olympic Hangover

September 17, 2008 - So the competition for the gold medals is over. But if you’re still jonesing for more Olympic action, check out the following:

Gymnastics Superstars Tour - Gold medal winner Nastia Liukin, silver medalist Shawn Johnson and teammates join musical artists Jordan Pruitt, KSM and others on a two-month 37-city trek across the United States. Can’t make it to one of the arenas? There will be a two-hour special airing on TV on Sept. 26th.

Achieve Your Gold Tour – If you’re a fan of the gold medal winning U.S. Women’s Soccer Team, they’ve hit the road for a a post-olympic tour playing a series of matches around the county. Check schedule here.

Miss beach volleyball? Catch gold medalist Misty May-Treanor when she partners with Maksim Chmerkovskiy on the seventh season of Dancing with the Stars which premieres Sept. 22nd.

May-Treanor will also play herself in an upcoming episode of The Disney Channel’s “Wizards of Waverly Place.” The episode air date has not yet been announced.

Still want more?  Here’s a vid that recaps some of the great moments from the Olympics. How many athletes can you identify? 

Girls rule the pool – records fall at U.S. Swim Trials

July 2, 2008 – The U.S. Olympic Team Trials in swimming began June 29 and will run to July 6 in Omaha, Neb.  The good news is that NBC and sister station USA are providing live and highlighted TV coverage of the event. The bad news for U.S. swimmers is that it’s a tough venue – no more than the top two swimmers in each event, aside from the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle, are eligible to be named to the Olympic team.

Expectations are high and for good reason. Intense training, combined with the controversial LZR swimsuit, are causing world records to fall on an almost daily basis. In many cases, a sixth place this week would have been worthy of a gold medal last time.

Natalie Coughlin blitzed to a world record in the 100-meter backstroke to highlight another breathless day of action on Tuesday. Coughlin stormed to the wall in a time of 58.97 seconds, trimming 0.06 off her own mark to become the first woman to dip under 59 seconds.  

A day earlier, Hayley McGregory knocked off Natalie Coughlin’s 4 1/2 -month-old mark in the 100 backstroke with a time of 59.15 seconds, only to have Coughlin take it right back in the next heat at 59.03.

Christine Magnuson, a Tennessee swimmer, booked a ticket to the Olympics with a win in the 100 butterfly. The victory was helped by Coughlin’s decision not to swim, even though she holds the American record. Jessica Hardy also claimed her first trip to the Olympics by winning the 100-meter breaststroke in 1:06.87 ahead of 2000 Sydney gold medalist Megan Jendrick.

Teenager Katie Hoff, who has claimed a world record in the 400 medley and two Olympic spots, looks poised to add to more events to her Beijing program after posting the top times in the 200-meter freestyle and 200-meter individual medley. Hoff is from the same North Baltimore club that launched Michael Phelps and is quickly becoming the sport’s other resident superstar.

With the trials as exciting as they are, will we see even more records fall at the Olympics?