Charles Hartley, a free-lance writer based in New Jersey, has written more than a thousand published sports articles. He earned Master’s degrees in Business Administration and Journalism. In addition, he was awarded his Bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University where he majored in English and Communications.
Does anyone really know what it feels like to be Madison Kennedy these past few weeks?
Last month at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials, she finished third in the 50 meter freestyle event. This meant she did not qualify to swim in this race for the U.S. in next month’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She’s out even though she swam faster than 176 out of 179 swimmers who competed in the event and proved that she is in the top 8 women on earth in the 50 freestyle. She’s out because only the top two finishers quality for the U.S. team in each event.
One person who can relate to her plight is Jack Conger. Despite swimming faster than 80 other men – the nation’s elite — he will not represent his country in the men’s 200 meter butterfly because he placed third (though he has earned a spot to swim in the 800 free relay).
Kennedy and Conger are not alone. There is a long list of U.S. swimmers who finished in the dreaded third spot. Others included Leah Smith (200 freestyle), Stephanie Peacock (800 freestyle), Lisa Bratton (200 backstroke), Cullen Jones (100 freestyle), Matt Grevers (100 backstroke), and Josh Prenot (100 breaststroke).
Third place in the Olympic Swimming Trials – it’s an unpleasant place
It’s not where you want to finish. You were close to reaching your lifelong dream for which you have sacrificed huge parts of your childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. Yet were just not enough. You were almost there. You had it in your grasp.
But you’re out of the money.
For days and weeks and months and years afterward imagine how often these third place finishers think about how close they were to their dreams, re-playing in their minds the races that got them third. You can be they have thought to themselves had they done a cleaner flip turn, or shot off the start block just a half second faster, they believe they would got second. You can imagine them waking up in three weeks and watching the opening day of the Olympic Swimming events and saying to themselves “I could have been there. That could be me on that starting block. What happened? Why me? Why of all people did I have to be the one to finish third? Was waking up at4:30 in the morning for the past 10 years to practice swimming worth it? Everything I did these 10 years was focused on making it to the Olympics and I’m not going. In grade school, high school, and college it seemed that swimming practice consumed so much of my life. Was it worth it?”
Does anyone really know what this feels like to finish third except others who have finished third in these Trials? Does anyone really know how frustrating and disheartening this is? Does anyone know how many hours these people practiced, how much pain in their arms and shoulders and legs they swam through with grit, thinking about how if they did so they would have a better shot at making the Olympic team? Does anyone really understand the feelings they had when their alarm clocks went off in the middle of the winter at 4:30 am? Does anyone know how much they would have preferred to stay in bed for a few more hours like all other non-swimmers whose schedules weren’t so demanding and constant?
I have tremendous respect for swimmers. I know how it feels to practice early in the morning day after day. I know how many times my alarm went off and my first thought was that I wanted to stay in bed rather than swim laps, feel pain and strain, and be alone with my thoughts under water wondering why I was doing something so strenuous and mentally trying.
For those third place finishers in the trials, I feel sadness and empathy. All that work, all that time, all that pain, all that discipline, all that mental toughness – for years and years and years, so many years, so much swimming – and they won’t get to race in these events in the Olympics.
It’s something none of us except those who have finished third in these Trials will ever really understand. It is their burden to endure.
We should salute their efforts and talents and wish them well. In the next Olympic trials, we should root for them to finish first or second.
They deserve that.
Sorry, but Jack Conger, Leah Smith, and Josh Prenot all made the team in some capacity, so their “plight” is not nearly as great as Kennedy, Grevers, Jones, Leverenz, Clary, Licon, Galat, etc.
Come on, Charles Hartley, get with the program. While I like the majority of your article-your choice of examples, not so much.
Plight Factor, Thanks for the great feedback. Yes, I was aware that Conger, for example, made the team despite finishing third. But it still doesn’t diminish the frustration of finishing third in at least one event. I could have made the list complete. Good point, But I decided to select a few names and write the article the way I did.
No recognition for Tyler Clary? One of the biggest names to miss out in both the 200 Free and 200 Back
Seth Stubblefield finished 0.04 out of a spot in the 100 fly. Crazy to be in the top 8 of the world and not be at the Olympics. I wonder how many of the 3rd place finishers will sacrifice another 4 years. Life goes on and the money to justify intense training in lieu of “getting on with life” is so poor I suspect several will move on with life. Hopefully the Licon’s, the Congers, the Stubblefield’s, etc will try again in 2020 but the sponsorship deals are limited as long as some of the other professionals continue to hang around.
I too cannot understand why there are only TWO spots on Olympic swim teams instead of three. And I do not understand why there hasn’t been more energy devoted to changing that back to ~ pre-1976 times when three swimmers qualified for the Olympic games. Back then, it may have had something to do with the US and East Germany sweeping all the medals. But times have changed and it’s time to change this back to THREE qualifiers. In swimming, an athlete can be 3rd or fourth in the world and not make the US Olympic Team. In track & field, three long jumpers, three discus throwers, three in every running event. So why not swimming? It’s not right.
US Swimming have one vote. The Europeans ha e sway and influencing others. All those others Don’t send full teams and some have there own standards. So why vote for 3 if you are not the US who always had Full team no matter how the swimmers would at the games.
What’s not right is you implying the US can set their own rules. One country 1 vote.
I will never ever forget watching world and American record-holder as well as Olympic gold medalist and NCAA champion Pablo Morales get THREE 3rd places at the 1988 Trials.
They raced and two other swimmers else beat them. At that moment, they were 3rd best.
Swimming races are closer than almost any other Olympic sport. Hundredths of a second.
Why is that?
All racing sports have close races that come down to hundredths of a second quite often. Swimming isn’t unique in that aspect.
I still don’t really understand why USA Track gets to send 3 per event and swimming sends two. (Not sure I would advocate for 3 slots given the heavy finances/logistics of the Olympics, but I’m always puzzled by the discrepancy.)
The Olympics rule is not USA-specific.
Even 2 slots is not automatic. The US is unique in that since the FINA A / B standards were introduced they have always had 2 swimmers make the FINA A time. A couple of times the 2nd place in the men’s 1500 was close to missing the cut.
I thought caityln leverenz was a huge 3rd place as well and deserves recognition
.05 has to suck, I think her race was the closest third place finish out of them all. Haas was like .34 and Licon .14.
Seth Stubblefield missed it by 0.04 in the 100 fly