Welcome to 2025!
Olympians,
Welcome to 2025! We're aiming for an event per month this year. Some in person, some remote!
Just Finished: Swimming III: 200yd Freestyle
T en swimmers handed in times for our first ever remote swimming event. All eyes were on the prize, to beat Nepal's Duana Lama who set the slowest time (2:20) in the 200m freestyle at the Paris Olympics. Being that we were swimming only 200 yards in a half length pool which allows over twice as many wall push-offs, we had the advantages stacked in our favor like we were in Shaq Vs. We even had former swim team members in Farrell, G. Nigon, and Richards.
So how did we fare? Well, Our new friends south of the Equator couldn't find a 25 yard pool, so they did it the hard way and swam in a 50m lap pool, with reasonably longer times. In Arizona, Farrell put in the first time, but was soon eclipsed by G. Sexauer, followed by K. Sexauer. All three were still at least twice as slow as Lama! L. Nigon then claimed J. Sexauer had the flip turn mastered. That plus her incredible speed would certainly put her atop the board. 3:34. Dunn turned in a respectable time, coming in just ten seconds slower than J. Sexauer. Despite the typically wet conditions in the Pacific Northwest, G. Nigon couldn't find a regulation pool, and dove into his 10 2/3 yard pool to take advantage of using the wall eighteen times! It pushed him ahead of J. Sexauer, but just. It seemed this was the last word, but Richards, 2022 Our Olympics Athlete of the Year, brought the speed back to a standard pool, furiously crawling to a time of 3 minutes, 18 seconds. Still a ways off of Nepal's finest, but enough to earn the Our Olympics gold medal!
Winner Interview with Kel Richards
OO: What's your prior experience with swimming?
KR: I grew up swimming on the swim team. I hated racing, but I really enjoyed swimming!
OO: Had you swam a 200 before?
KR: I had never done a 200 yd race before, and I was pooped at the end of it!
OO: Where did you learn to flip turn... presuming to go that fast you had to flip turn?
KR: I learned to do flip turns while on the swim team, I didn't actually do flip turns in this race though.
OO: Would you rather swim against a dolphin, a dog, or an eel?
KR: I'd rather swim against a dolphin because they would likely just be playing as we swam, so it would just be fun!
OO: What's you favorite natural body of water to swim in?
KR: I love rivers!
OO: What was your training regimen?
KR: I really don't swim that often anymore, but I have a strong background in swimming endurance and technique, so it feels easy to get back into it.
OO: What do you eat to power such an amazing time? Michael Phelps apparently has 18 eggs for breakfast. Do you? Do we all need to eat more eggs to match your performance? Is the dark secret of competitive swimming that it boils down to who can devour the most eggs?
KR: I can't remember what I had for breakfast that day, but it definitely wasn't 18 eggs. It was likely an egg (singular) sandwich though!
OO: Would you rather be a truck driver, a lumberjack, or a prospector and why?
Invite: Freestyle Skiing I: Big Air
We're rolling right into the next remote event: Skiing Big Air. From now until Memorial Day, head out to your local ski area and find the biggest jump in the terrain park. Then find the smaller jump that you are more comfortable doing and send in video of your three best tricks! Judging format, TBD, but if you'd like to be a judge instead of compete, please reach out!
Update: Pickleball Singles and Doubles
The long term pickleball tournaments give us a chance to have a remote event with a group stage and bracket that aren't limited by time, theoretically ensuring that all games can be played. After no progress to either the singles or the doubles tournament in 2024, a shakeup was in order, and we whittled down both tournaments to just the players that have begun competing, and a couple other hopeful starters. If you have the drive to compete with others on your own time, contact Gustave to join either tournament.
Happy New Year, and see you at the next event!
-Gustave
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