Rowdy Gaines Chat Recap
Rowdy was a total rockstar, did anyone doubt he would be? Sarah and Blair must now add Rowdy crushes to their long lists. Among the things discussed...
Golden Goggles:
Rowdy loves them and expects there to be about 100 past and present Olympians in attendance. Those of you who would like to watch the red carpet walk should get to the Hammerstein Ballroom around 5:30 pm on November 14th. It seems we have quite a few BHOer's planning to attend. Take lots of pictures you guys! (especially of Brendan which should go without saying). Sarah says she's wearing her BHO shirt and Rowdy says he wants an autographed one. I'm going to get to work on that this week.
There is no Humanitarian of the Year award this year but Rowdy says that athletes are doing great things outside of the pool and it's a special award that will probably be back every 4 years.
Training:
What should sprinters work on to improve their 50 and 100 free? -
Strength training, Technique, Distance per Stroke, Core training and TURNS. You can never work on technique enough and Brendan is the best example of that. Lala say's Brendan is perfect and Rowdy agrees, but I think Rowdy was talking about Brendan's technique.
The hardest part of training for him was getting up at 5:30 am but he was able to stay motivated because he was on a team and they worked together. He couldn't have done it without his teammates. He really loved the relays and two of his three gold medals were won on them.
The 1980 Olympic Boycott:
Not the right decision because it didn't work and the games still happened. Rowdy had 1984 but there were other athletes that didn't have another chance, like Craig Beardsley who was favored to win the 200m Butterfly. The athletes who made the 1980 team ARE still Olympians, pure and simple.
General Swimming stuff:
The upcoming NCAA Season - The Auburn men should be the favorite with U of M a dark horse and maybe the Georgia women.
Is Katie Hoff really the next Michael Phelps? - "She's got the talent"
Is Aaron Peirsol unbeatable? "Aaron and Brendan are my heroes...they can't be beat. What's special about those two is they are better people out of the pool than in."
Favorite event from Athens 2004 - "100 men's fly for sure!!!! Brendan had great races too.. I just didn't like the results. He got revenge this past summer though."
Which was the bigger event in his career, his first world record or his first Olympic medal? - "Medal by far, They'll never take that from me. World records will always be broken.. even Michaels."
Is his daughter still in love with Aaron? "Oh yeah."
I can't thank Rowdy enough for the time he took with us tonight. Y'all please note that our chat with Roland Schoeman will be a couple of hours earlier than usual next week. I hope you're all able to join us.
Golden Goggles:
Rowdy loves them and expects there to be about 100 past and present Olympians in attendance. Those of you who would like to watch the red carpet walk should get to the Hammerstein Ballroom around 5:30 pm on November 14th. It seems we have quite a few BHOer's planning to attend. Take lots of pictures you guys! (especially of Brendan which should go without saying). Sarah says she's wearing her BHO shirt and Rowdy says he wants an autographed one. I'm going to get to work on that this week.
There is no Humanitarian of the Year award this year but Rowdy says that athletes are doing great things outside of the pool and it's a special award that will probably be back every 4 years.
Training:
What should sprinters work on to improve their 50 and 100 free? -
Strength training, Technique, Distance per Stroke, Core training and TURNS. You can never work on technique enough and Brendan is the best example of that. Lala say's Brendan is perfect and Rowdy agrees, but I think Rowdy was talking about Brendan's technique.
The hardest part of training for him was getting up at 5:30 am but he was able to stay motivated because he was on a team and they worked together. He couldn't have done it without his teammates. He really loved the relays and two of his three gold medals were won on them.
The 1980 Olympic Boycott:
Not the right decision because it didn't work and the games still happened. Rowdy had 1984 but there were other athletes that didn't have another chance, like Craig Beardsley who was favored to win the 200m Butterfly. The athletes who made the 1980 team ARE still Olympians, pure and simple.
General Swimming stuff:
The upcoming NCAA Season - The Auburn men should be the favorite with U of M a dark horse and maybe the Georgia women.
Is Katie Hoff really the next Michael Phelps? - "She's got the talent"
Is Aaron Peirsol unbeatable? "Aaron and Brendan are my heroes...they can't be beat. What's special about those two is they are better people out of the pool than in."
Favorite event from Athens 2004 - "100 men's fly for sure!!!! Brendan had great races too.. I just didn't like the results. He got revenge this past summer though."
Which was the bigger event in his career, his first world record or his first Olympic medal? - "Medal by far, They'll never take that from me. World records will always be broken.. even Michaels."
Is his daughter still in love with Aaron? "Oh yeah."
I can't thank Rowdy enough for the time he took with us tonight. Y'all please note that our chat with Roland Schoeman will be a couple of hours earlier than usual next week. I hope you're all able to join us.
posted by Michelle at
10/24/2005 12:43:00 AM
7 Comments:
Great recap Michelle! Rowdy did great! You would think that he had been interviewd a few times before! :) I was glad he was willing to talk about the 1980 boycott. That was such a mistake.. I am still angry that somthing like the Olympics can be so openly used for political gain when that is completely opposite of the purpose. I remember being devistated when the announcement was made that we were not going. Especially since it was following the "Miracle on Ice" by only a few short months. I just wish that the announcers would stop saying "in a non boycotted games",. I feel it takes away from the athletes who's countries allowed them to compete. It is so great to see someone stay so involved in the sport as Rowdy is. Alot of the greats seem to just swim off into the sunset. People, these guest chats are such fun. I cant wait for Roland to come!
By
lala, at 10/24/2005 1:42 AM
Thanks for doing the recap so quickly, Michelle! Sounds like you all had a great time. I was going to post comments on the 1980 Olympics and see that lala has already eloquently stated pretty much everything that was on my mind. I was pleased to read that Rowdy said that those athletes are still Olympians. My heart still breaks for those that trained so hard, then were told they couldn't go.
So, Roland is next week at 6pm cst? I should be able to make that one! It's a perfect time of day for me. Now if I can just get everything done before it starts (and you can bet I'll put my heart and soul into that), I should be good to go. Whee!
By
Teagan35, at 10/24/2005 8:23 AM
Nice recap there Meesh, now what time did you actually get it finished? Haha.
Rowdy was/is awesome. I really can't think of a way to thank him enough for coming to chat last night. He was just as great as he seems. I have to agree with lala, and Rowdy, about the 80 games. Those athletes are Olympians, there should be no little * next to their names.
And, wow, Roland next week. That's bound to be a lot of fun!
By
Sarah, at 10/24/2005 1:08 PM
I missed another good chat. Thanks for the summary.
By
mk391419, at 10/24/2005 7:32 PM
It's was great!
I asked deep questions because i'm a deep person. This is not true about me...but totally funny- "Shallow like I could stand in a puddle of you and not get my feet wet" Sorry, just had to say it. Rowdy was a pretty cool guy, and the chat was even better because of the official greeter...even though I slacked off a lot. oh well...it was still fun. So I'm looking forward to Roland next week!
Btw...tomorrow (10/25) is kara lynn joyce's birthday! she will be the big 20! (Just in case you were wondering)
By
Timtheswimmer, at 10/24/2005 8:31 PM
I missed it! Damn school paper crap! Let me just say that this education thing is seriously disrupting my internet time.
How much earlier is the Roland chat? Can someone give me in Eastern time?
By
Dana, at 10/25/2005 6:49 AM
6 eastern/5 central
By
Timtheswimmer, at 10/25/2005 8:08 AM
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