Happy Birthday Mrs H!!

We are off to the pool but we will be thinking only of you....


Well, we will definitely raise a glass to you at lunch! I hope you find a way to celebrate your life and the accomplishments of being a wonderful mother and and great friend. Happy Birthday!

New Meet Record and a Dandy Prize!

Photo from the Hy-Tek site

Brendan set a new meet record in the 100 Breaststroke tonight with a time of 1:01.29!

Brenton Rickard fought hard to try to keep his 2006 meet record of 1:01.58, but Brendan out swam both Rickard and his record putting his name back where it belongs on Santa Clara record books.

This meet is using the "skins" format for bonus prizes. Each race starts with a $100 prize. If the winner breaks a meet record, they are awarded that $100. If there is no new record set, that prize rolls into the next race. Bren was the first to break a record, so he got a sweet bonus. Actually $400!


1 Hansen, Brendan 25 Longhorn Aquatic 1:01.29MTRLS
28.95 1:01.29 (32.34)
2 Rickard, Brenton 23 Australia 1:01.60 TRLS
28.82 1:01.60 (32.78)
3 Usher, Scott 24 Boilermaker Aqua 1:02.00 TRLS
29.53 1:02.00 (32.47)
4 Snyders, Glenn 20 NZL 1:03.02 TRLS
29.77 1:03.02 (33.25)
5 Spann, Scott W 19 Club Wolverine-M 1:03.33 TRLS
30.10 1:03.33 (33.23)
6 Alexandrov, Mike 22 Wildcat Aquatic- 1:03.75 TRLS
29.82 1:03.75 (33.93)
7 McDonald, Robert 25 Australia 1:03.96 TRLS
29.83 1:03.96 (34.13)
8 Schurr, Christian 22 Longhorn Aquatic 1:04.47 TRLS
30.62 1:04.47 (33.85)
9 Hurley, Ryan 21 Curl Burke Swim- 1:04.82 NATS
30.77 1:04.82 (34.05)

Great job Brendan!

Americans Win Bulk of Titles on Day Two of Santa Clara Grand Prix
Jones sets meet record in Santa Clara

Brendan Tears Up The Prelims At Santa Clara International!

The Prelims for the 100 Breaststroke were held this morning at the Santa Clara International Invitational Swim Meet. B Hansen left no question that he is serious about holding his spot on the top of the podium.



1 Hansen, Brendan 25 Longhorn Aquatic 1:02.25 TRLS
29.74 1:02.25 (32.51)
2 Usher, Scott C 24 Boilermaker Aqua 1:03.02 TRLS
30.14 1:03.02 (32.88)
3 Spann, Scott W 19 Club Wolverine-M 1:03.40 TRLS
29.91 1:03.40 (33.49)
4 Rickard, Brenton 23 Australia 1:03.57 TRLS
29.71 1:03.57 (33.86)
5 Snyders, Glenn 20 NZL 1:04.00 TRLS
30.20 1:04.00 (33.80)
5 McDonald, Robert 25 Australia 1:04.00 TRLS
29.88 1:04.00 (34.12)
7 Alexandrov, Mike 22 Wildcat Aquatic- 1:04.11 TRLS
30.14 1:04.11 (33.97)
8 Hurley, Ryan 21 Curl Burke Swim- 1:04.30 TRLS
30.97 1:04.30 (33.33)
9 Schurr, Christian 22 Longhorn Aquatic 1:04.54 TRLS
30.61 1:04.54 (33.93)

The Hy-Tek Results are available if you want to see how everyone else is doing and to watch the results as they post live tonight.

For those of us who participated in the predictions contest, there were some last minute surprises. Canadian World Champion, Brent Hayden is swimming, (He was not on
the heat sheet...What?!!) and Ryan Lochte is not here as he has "torn his shoulder". Let's hope he can recover quickly to his full health and that reports of his injuries are exaggerated.

It was kind of chilly this morning and Brendan looked adorable and so cuddly all wrapped up in his towel.

New John Lohn Column

John has written a new column for his paper The Delaware County Daily Times about our own Brendan Hansen!

Sitting in his hotel room in Melbourne, quarantined by the USA Swimming medical staff, Brendan Hansen wasn't in the best of moods. Never mind that he'd already defended his title in the 100 breaststroke at the 12th edition of the World Championships. Forget that he won a silver medal in the 50 breast, an event hardly his specialty.

Felled by illness, a nasty virus that sapped his energy and forced him to be temporarily secluded from his teammates, Hansen was forced to withdraw from the 200 breaststroke, the discipline that placed him on the international map. Rather than chase his world record, the Haverford High graduate was sentenced to a period of isolation.

He had Internet access, but surfing the Web quickly grew old. On television, he had the chance to watch the meet, but witnessing the final of the 200 breast - won by rival Kosuke Kitajima of Japan - only heightened his frustration. The week, particularly for an athlete who has regularly produced world-class performances, had turned into a nightmare. Or, had it?

Last week, continuing a charge he began three-plus years ago, Hansen was in Chicago, taking part in a fundraiser to raise awareness of leukemia and brightening the days of several youngsters fighting the disease. A spokesman for the Leukemia Research Foundation for three-plus years, Hansen is also a member of Toyota's Engines of Change Campaign, a program that highlights endurance athletes as community difference-makers. Those groups came together in Chi-Town.

"Chicago was awesome," said Hansen, a triple-medal winner at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. "I love hanging out with those kids. They've been through so much, so if I can just lift their spirits a little and take their minds off what they've been going through, that's what I want to do. It's a blast to see them light up when they put an Olympic medal around their neck.

"I've been lucky enough to have been given a talent to do something I love at a high level. These kids have to go through the pain of getting a spinal tap every week. I'm not going to complain about going through a hard practice or getting sick in Melbourne. I definitely didn't want that to happen, but you deal with it and move on. It wasn't the end of the world."

Since returning from Down Under, Hansen has been in heavy training at the University of Texas, his alma mater. His long-term focus, quickly becoming a short-term objective, is securing a second trip to the Olympics, then chasing further hardware on the biggest stage in sports. With a little more than a year before the United States Trials are held in Omaha, Nebraska, Hansen is simply trying to fine-tune all the little things that have made him the fastest man in history in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events.

Beginning Friday, he'll take part in the Santa Clara International Invitational, a meet that has been a staple on Hansen's summer schedule. He'll race his primary events Friday (100 breast) and Sunday (200 breast) and get a feel for where he stands heading into the United States Nationals in Indianapolis from July 31-Aug. 5.

Whether Hansen pushes his world-record times of 59.13 and 2:08.50 in Indy is of no significance, really. If he happens to uncork some lightning-quick efforts, always a possibility, consider it a bonus. More than anything, he's eager to get some racing under his belt. Before he tangles with his countrymen at Nationals, Hansen will square off this weekend with Australia's Brenton Rickard, a man who has stated several times over the past year that he believes he can supplant Hansen as the world's premier breaststroker. It's worth noting that Rickard's top time in the 100 distance is more than a second slower than Hansen's global standard. The gap in the 200 sits at more than two seconds.

"I don't know what I did, but I guess I'm a hated man," said Hansen, coached by Eddie Reese. "I know Kitajima and Rickard have been talking, but I can only worry about me. I'm going to do what I've always done, work hard and keep raising the bar. I hope I can put something out there at Nationals, then we get a little break. After that, we work toward Beijing. I was talking with Eddie the other day and told him I wanted to train so hard that if I have a bad race, I'm still going to win. He said he's never heard anyone say that before."

Beyond Beijing, Hansen is unsure of what his swimming future holds. Certainly, he has nothing to prove, even if he left the sport today. He's a sure-fire Hall of Famer who has lowered the times in his events to levels others haven't even sniffed. Basically, he'll take the day-at-a-time approach, weighing his status to see if a run at the 2012 Games in London is on the agenda.

If nothing else, his priorities are in line.

"I love what I do," he said. "I enjoy the sport and I love giving back to the kids and trying to make a difference. The kids I visit in the hospital have so much courage and heart. If they can tackle leukemia, they can do anything they put their mind to. When I visit, they look up to me. But, it's the other way around. I see them as my inspiration."

To contact John Lohn, e-mail jlohn@delcotimes.com

Thanks John!

For those of you who had trouble donating to LRF prior to Brendan's walk, I just clicked the logo to the right and this time it went through perfectly. It's never too late to give to this important cause.

Santa Clara International - Prediction Contest

It's Prediction Contest time again! The Psych Sheet is here for the Santa Clara International Invitational Swim Meet, being held Thursday June 28th, through Sunday July 1st. So let's do it!

The Rules:
Name the top 3 finishers for each race, or you can name 4 in case one of your picks is a no show for that race and I'll move the others up. You get 10 points for each correct placement, 6 points if you get the athlete right but the placement wrong and 3 points if they make the finals but don't place. -5 if they DQ.

Predictions must be posted on this thread prior to the first preliminary swim on Friday morning.

Friday
Event 3 - Women's 100 Free
Event 4 - Men's 100 Breast
Event 5 - Women's 200 Breast
Event 6 - Men's 200 Free
Event 7 - Women's 400 Free
Event 8 - Men's 400IM
Event 9 - Women's 100 Fly
Event 10 - Men's 200 Fly

Saturday
Event 13 - Women's 400 IM
Event 14 - Men's 100 Fly
Event 15 - Women's 100 Breast
Event 16 - Men's 400 Free
Event 17 - Women's 200 Free
Event 18 - Men's 200 Back
Event 19 - Women's 100 Back
Event 20 - Men's 50 Free

Sunday
Event 23 - Women's 200 Fly
Event 24 - Men's 200 Breast
Event 25 - Women's 50 Free
Event 26 - Men's 100 Free
Event 27 - Women's 200 IM
Event 28 - Men's 200 IM
Event 29 - Women's 200 Back
Event 30 - Men's 100 Back
Event 31 - Women's 800 Free
Event 32 - Men's 1500 Free

20 Bonus Points for anyone who predicts the top three of the Men's 100 free correctly.

Prize:
Bragging rights to say you are the "Best Predictor Ever!" (But just for now.) And Michelle says there might be something else when she returns from her amazing trip to Italy. Let's see if Andrea, our World Championships winner, can take Gold again.

Good luck all.. I am feeling pretty lucky.

Texas Senior Circuit Continues Through Second Day

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, June 24. LONGHORN Aquatics dominated the second day of long course meter competition at the Texas Senior Circuit meet held in College Station, Texas from June 22-24. Overall, five out of the eight individual titles went to swimmers from Longhorn.

Olympians Ian Crocker and Aaron Peirsol put on a show in the men's 100 fly as Crocker touched in 52.82 for the win ahead of Peirsol's 53.34.

Teammate Elizabeth Tinnon followed with a triumph in the women's 200 breast in 1:11.61, while world-record holder Brendan Hansen easily claimed the men's edition in 1:01.12.

Meanwhile, Longhorn's own Ricky Berens topped the men's 200 free in 1:49.54 over Peirsol's 1:50.59, while Caleb McDermott hit the wall first in the men's 400 IM in 4:26.48.

Other winners on the day included Samantha Woodward of Chesapeake in the 100 fly (59.52), Kirsten Groome of First Colony in the 200 free (2:03.05) and Kristen Heiss of Aggie Aquatics in the 400 IM (4:58.01).

More results available at Swimming World.

TGIF!

It's a beautiful day here in Cortona, Italy. I'm done with classes for the week and enjoying some pear gelato in the common room. I hope you guys had as good a week as I've had.

From Craig Lord at SwimNews.com - Kitajima Throws Down Gauntlet - At His Own feet

Kosuke Kitajima has thrown down the gauntlet - at his own feet. The Olympic champion over 100 and 200m breaststroke has declared his intention to break at least one of Brendan Hanson's world records at the Japan Open International in August.

Good luck with that Kosuke (no, not really).

Also, a couple of new photos from Brendan's Uncle "A" added to the gallery...



Brendan's 5 year old cousin Brooke intimidates her competition with intense concentration on the blocks. Of her butterfly stroke Uncle "A" says, "it's more a controlled drowning". Sounds a lot like MY butterfly stroke.

Olympic-sized dreams

Lauren Heist - Beep Staff Writer
Monday, June 18, 2007

Brendan Hansen fought hard to win gold, silver and bronze medals in swimming at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Now the 25-year-old is fighting for people who can't fight for something else: people with leukemia and lymphoma.

Hansen, who's been a spokesman for the Glenview-based Leukemia Research Foundation since 2004, says he became interested helping those who suffer from the disease when he was doing hospital visits after he came back from Athens a hero.

He says he met children who had never been able to walk a day in their lives, and suddenly he was struck with how many people were aware of what he had just accomplished and how few people were aware of those who suffer from leukemia.

"I got such a positive response from competing, I wanted to help people and see them, instead of just having them see me on TV," he says. "I don't need a personal event to happen before I start getting involved."

Hansen will be in Chicago on Thursday to participate in the 13th Annual ABC7 Jim Gibbons 5K Run, 3K Walk and Survivors' Strut, which will take place in Grant Park.

If you want to participate, it costs $28 to register online at leukemia-research.org through noon Wednesday. If you register at the event, it's $35. Registration begins at 4:30 p.m. The men's 5K begins at 6:25 p.m., and the women's 5K begins at 6:40 p.m. Proceeds go to support leukemia research.

Also, Toyota has agreed to donate $20 per person who registers and clicks on leukemia-research.org/brendanhansen, up to $10,000.

For Hansen, the current world record-holder in the 100-meter breaststroke, running five kilometers isn't exactly a challenge. This guy's training insanely hard so he can qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

He swims for two hours in the morning and three and a-half hours in the afternoon, five days a week. He lifts weights. He does workouts on land where he does sprints to increase his speed.

"Our (land) workout is about trying to get faster off the block, and it's about getting more explosive," Hansen says.

He even runs all the way to the top of the 80,000-seat football stadium at the University of Texas in Austin and back again. "That's really hard," he admits.

Is he Superman? Nope, he just really, really, really likes to win, and he'll do whatever it takes to succeed.

"I'm not racing my roommates to the car or timing myself about how fast I mow the yard," he says. "(But) I've never met a swimmer who doesn't want to win. When they get behind the block, they change instantly."

Hansen says he got his first taste of victory when he started swimming competitively around age 12 and was living in suburban Philadelphia. Each time he won a meet, he just wanted to keep on beating better and better competitors, he says.

In 1999, Hansen won his first National Championship, and a year later he narrowly missed qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke. That didn't stop him from trying; it only made him try harder.

The mark of a great athlete, Hansen says, is learning how to lose.

"You have to be able to deal with failure," he says, adding that you have to be able to learn from your mistakes and use each failure as motivation for the next time.

Four years later, Hansen made the Olympic team, and he ended up taking home the silver in the 100-meter, and a bronze in the 200-meter breaststroke. His shining moment, however, was when he and his teammates won gold in the 4 x 100 medley relay.

"To sing the anthem with the wreath around my head and the medal around my neck was a childhood dream," Hansen says.

But even a gold medal doesn't guarantee you a spot on the team when the next Olympics rolls around. To make it to Beijing, he's going to have to come in either first or second in the Olympic trials just six weeks before the games. And he's planning to do just that.

"Once you go once, you get really hungry and you want to go again," he says.

As lala mentioned in the comments below, if you can't walk but would still like to contribute just click on the LRF logo on the sidebar.

Photos from Brendan's Swim Clinic now in the Gallery!

More in the Gallery...

Thanks Peter for sending them to me and thanks lala for uploading them.

Some Brendan links....

Work, dedication keep Olympic dreams afloat

While other kids his age can't wait to dive into the ocean, Gemmell continues to train at least 20 hours per week in the pool with the Olympics always in the back of his mind.

"It can be tough sometimes, but I don't mind the work," Gemmell said. "Everything we do is to prepare for the 2008 trials and to make the team. What gets me going is that every morning when I wake up around 4:30, I look at my wall in my room where I have a picture of Brendan Hansen. He's the world record holder in the 100- and 200-breaststroke. There's a quote talking about what drives him. I look at that every day."

Brendan to host Indianapolis Swim Clinic this Saturday

Lawrence North High School will hold a clinic from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday featuring Brendan Hansen, an Olympic gold medalist who holds the world record in the 100- and 200-meter breaststrokes. Cost is $50. Ten spots left.

Three-Time Olympic Swimming Medalist and World Record Holder, Brendan Hansen, Set to Join the Leukemia Research Foundation and Toyota for the 13th Annual ABC7 Jim Gibbons 5k Run/3k Walk & Survivors' Strut, Thursday, June 21, 2007

Brendan Hansen Leading Fundraising Effort

Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Brendan Hansen and Ryan Lochte will headline the Santa Clara International Invitational swim meet that begins June28.

Be an Engine of Change...

Start by joining Brendan at the ABC7 Jim Gibbons 5K Run, 3K Walk & Survivors' Strut in Chicago on June 21st. Toyota will donate the $20 entry fee for every person who registers to walk or run.

Read more at the LRF website.

Brendan in Splash Magazine this month

Brendan is featured in the Summer Swim Club Memories feature shown above and also in their Worlds recap feature. Mmmmm, Purplesaurus Rex.

June's Swimming World Magazine....

Swimming World has a Breaststroke article by Michael J. Stott featuring Brendan, along with Mike Barrowman and Bill Mulliken. Each of them talks about their race strategies both as a whole, and in snapshot - discussing what they did in a specific race. Brendan has "done it every possible way. I've gone out really fast and died, gone out really slow and come back fast, but I always though I had to go out in 1:01 to break the world record. This summer at Pan Pacs, I went out in 1:02.4 and had an absolutely awesome third 50, and it just played into my fourth 50, and I broke the world record. That opened up a lot of possibilities."

It is interesting to read how each swimmer approached their races so differently. Brendan is the only one who never talks about what his competitors were doing and how they changed his race. He focuses on the time he wants to swim and getting the right stroke quickly so he can achieve his goal. Barrowman and Mulliken both let their competition determine how fast they swam. Barrowman was most interested in the mental aspect of the 200, the strategy and gamesmanship. One of the quotes from him is: "My favorite coaches' line was always, 'Don't worry about the guy in lane 5, only the guy in your lane.' The only thing I ever worried about was the guys in the other lanes." Mulliken says "my strategy for the first 50 of a 200 was to get the pace and rhythm of the guy next to me, then I just held my stroke for the 100. My theory was to be in first place by the 150 and finish hard."

Y'all go get a copy and read the whole thing. It's really good.

Rickard sails to battle best

On last year's American and Japanese tours, Rickard upset world 100m breaststroke champion Brendan Hansen and world 200m titleholder Kosuke Kitajima at their home meetings.

The 23-year-old hopes to challenge Hansen again next month in the States, and Kitajima in August in a Japan World Cup leg.