Elizabeth Beisel is a lot like Ryan Lochte in that they both get better with more races, according to coach Gregg Troy, who trains both swimmers.
That’s why Beisel swam the 400-meter freestyle, an event she wasn’t likely to qualify to swim in London, at the beginning of the U.S. Swimming Olympic Team Trials, Troy said. In addition, Troy hoped the race would help to calm Beisel.
“She’s a lot like Ryan. The more she races, the better she gets,” Troy told the media after the trials. “And she does have a little trouble with nerves sometimes, so we felt like the more times we put her up the more comfortable she would become.”
In addition to coaching Lochte, Beisel and several other 2012 Olympians at Gator Swim Club in Florida, Troy has been named the head coach of the men’s Olympic swim team.
Troy also said that Beisel and Lochte swam so many events because he likes to use meets such as the Olympic trials as training events. Because the meet is so long, it gives those swimmers who compete in multiple events the opportunity to do a lot of racing, Troy said.
“It’s a little bit of a training factor. You finish this meet and you’ve raced four or six days of the eight and you’ve have a really great training session,” Troy told the media after the trials. “Everyone coming out of (Olympic Trials) who is a multiple event swimmer, this was six days of really quality training. You can’t beat it.”
Heading into London, Troy said he expects his swimmers to lift light weights in the gym and become sharper in the pool. With more rest, he expects swimmers such as Lochte and Beisel to swim faster and perform better at the 2012 Olympic Games, he said.
In order to prepare his swimmers for London, Troy plans to have the swimmers lift enough to “tune up” while “refreshing the aerobic end,” he said.
Sandra Johnson was a competitive swimmer for more than 15 years before she began coaching. She is a longtime Olympic fan, and while working for the United States Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs, Colo., she had the opportunity to immerse herself in the Olympic Movement. Follow her on Twitter: @SandraJohnson46
