Longhorns - Beijing Bound

There is a really cool article out there at The Statesman.com that speaks of the Olympic hopeful Texas exes and current UT athletes. Well, in such an article there has to be a few mentions of our own B Hansen. The article was posted on the date marking one year until the games begin in Beijing in Aug 8, 2008.

It speaks of the break a lot of the athletes are taking before the crunch begins.

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Brendan Hansen

Austin connection: Texas ex lives and trains in Austin.

Olympic outlook: Almost a lock: At Beijing, Hansen should continue his rivalry with Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke and win at least one individual gold.

"The Olympics are our Super Bowl," said 2004 Olympic gold, silver and bronze medalist Brendan Hansen. "You don't want to have any what-ifs. You don't want to look back and say, 'What if I'd trained harder or not done that?' The stress is already starting to build, but everyone is excited and most of us are ready to get strapped in for the ride."

While Texas exes Crocker, Hansen, Aaron Peirsol and Neil Walker are among the most experienced Olympic candidates, they count as many as 10 swimmers from their local training group who could make the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.
Hansen already had one vacation this year. In May, he and brother Sean went duck and dove hunting with the Reese brothers, Eddie and Randy, in Argentina, at a lodge about 100 miles south of Buenos Aires.

Currently, Hansen is driving around this country and will be going from Philadelphia to Austin, looking up old friends along the way. "I'll say hello and then 'Goodbye, I won't be seeing you for a year and a half,' " Hansen joked.

Later this year, he'll forgo a trip home for Thanksgiving and trim Christmas break to three days. "You lose your feel for the water extremely fast and you don't want to do that this year," Hansen said. "In an Olympic year, you highlight everything that will help you swim fast."

You should read the whole article, it is really interesting how many Olympic athletes and coaches are based at UT. In 2004 a third of the men's swim team was a Longhorn. You may have to register to see the original article, but it is worth it and they don't spam. And there is a Super!cute picture of Brendan that accompanies the article!

Thanks for the link Jenny!

Since we are in the birthday mood, let's wish a Big Happy Birthday to Cutie McHottie - Sean Hansen! He turned 29 on the 16th! Laura shares that BDay with him so Happy Birthday Sean and Laura!