No, this is not really that relevant.
Yes, it’s probably pure coincidence.
But one of our commenters pointed it out, and we thought it was too good not to share.
In December, SwimSwam contributor Max Mitchell headed from his home in Atlanta to the collegiate Georgia Invite in Athens, and while he was there he conducted interviews with 5 swimmers.
The list is going to like rather familiar to anybody watching this week’s Olympic Trials:
- Leah Smith
- Gunnar Bentz
- Jay Litherland
- Ryan Murphy
- Olivia Smoliga
All 5 swimmers have made the Olympic Team.
If we went to a meet with the intent of interviewing the 5 most likely Olympians, this wouldn’t be hard to pull off. But Max went to Athens to grab whomever was brought to him, and the 5 that were brought to him, while all very good swimmers, were far from sure-fire Olympians. Even Murphy, Smoliga, and Smith, all NCAA Champions coming into the season, had their best bets in very competitive events and were far from assured of their spots in Rio, and all 5 (pending the completion of some technicalities) will be on the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team.
Relive the interviews, before they were Olympians, below:
Swimswam won’t have any difficulty filling interview spots in the future!
Not surprised!!! 🙂
Can you come interview me?