Hansen sets his sights on Beijing

By John Lohn, jlohn@delcotimes.com

Now that the calendar has flipped to 2008, Hansen's once distant goal has been cut to a 200-day journey, one dotted with a few tuneup stops, the last being the United States Trials in Omaha from June 30-July 7. Ah, Nebraska, where all Olympic dreams start, right? Anyway, Hansen knows the critical nature of each day's training and maintaining his health. Remaining motivated will not be a problem.

"It's an Olympic year. That says it all," Hansen said. "There's a different mentality than in other years. Between Olympics, you try to build motivation, but you can't replicate the feeling of an Olympic year. You know you're going to work harder than ever. The focus is being as prepared as possible."

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"I've learned a lot since (Athens) and I feel like there's a lot more I can bring to the table," he said. "When I was a 12-year-old, I made it a goal to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics. That's something I still haven't done. I've gone through all these stepping stones, winning state championships in high school, winning NCAA championships and national and world championships. I still have that ultimate goal.

"In some of these meets coming up, I want to put some things out there where other guys see them and say, 'Oh bleep.' I want to knock the wind out (of the competition)."

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"The goal is to keep going," he said. "I don't see any reason why I can't get faster. The one thing I won't do is overstay my welcome. I won't be a has-been who is hanging on. But I plan on going through 2012 and going to London. As long as I'm loving what I do and as long as I'm swimming fast, there's no reason to stop."

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