Brendan does some Q and A from Training Camp

Because he's a Rockstar like that y'all.

1. What are you most looking forward to this time around?

I think I am really excited to enjoy the experience of the Olympics. I realized a lot of things in 2004 and going into these games I find myself thinking back to the Athens Games. I didn't really have fun in 2004 as crazy as that sounds. So this time I will. ;) I am going to bring it.

2. Can you kind of give us an idea what Olympic training camp is like? What is a typical day like and how do you spend your time when not training? What are the best and worst parts of it?

Training camp is the hardest part of the trip. The waiting around in the hotel room and endless card games to pass the time get to you after a while. It's kinda tough to put into words what camp is like other than it's as close to summer camp as it gets. Events are always planned out for you and everyone is always in uniform. The worst part is there really isn't much for us to do other than swim, sleep, and eat. The best part is we are extremely pampered. I am staying in the nicest hotel in Singapore. We are talking really nice. Massages whenever you want and the food is usually really good. A funny side note, my window blinds open by remote in my room which looks out to the city. I'm not going to lie, I have been playing with them way too much. You wanna know when you have reach a whole new level of bored? When window treatments take up a chunk of your day.

3. What are your responsibilities as a Team Captain and how is it different going into Beijing than it was in Melbourne?

Right now I wouldn't say that I officially have to do too much. If any of my teammates have a problem with something or want me to ask for something from the staff they come to me. When the meet starts it will be getting the team together and on the same page, cheers, motivations, unity all those kinds of things. Being captain of the Olympic team means more because the guys who voted for me are the best of the best and they see me as a leader. But for right now at the training camp I just keep my eye on the younger guys and make sure they are doing alright.

4. Any good rookie skits this time? What did the newbie Texas guys do? We will accept photos/videos as an answer. ;-)

I attached two photos. One of Cullen Jones as Steve Urkel where he was the host of a dating show where Larsen Jensen "known ladies man" had to pick between Katie Hoff, Dara Torres, and Allison Schmitt. Was hilarious. The second is of Garrett acting as Dara who was coming off the plane in Beijing and couldn't make it to the village without being stretched by her dynamic duo who was played by Caroline Burckle and Ben Wildman-Tobriner. Hope you enjoy.

Cullen Jones as Steve Urkel. The resemblance is staggering!


Garrett Weber-Gale, Ben Wildman-Tobriner and Caroline Burckle.

Brendan in the News

Photo Credit: Long Photography

College buddies Ian Crocker, Aaron Peirsol and Brendan Hansen back for more gold

"We more or less, in the last six years, have grown up together, have gone through college together, know the ins and outs of each other extremely well," Peirsol said recently. "We've all helped each other, not just physically, but letting each other know we belong here and that is half the battle. It really is."

Nike Steps Aside For Speedo At Olympics

"After conferring with Nike swimmers following recent training and competitions, Nike has decided to extend its limited exception allowing our athletes to compete in non-Nike Swift Swim technology," Stoyer told CNBC. "Nike is a company that exists to serve athletes - hence this limited exception to allow Nike swimmers to compete without distractions was the correct thing to do given the very unique circumstances."

"No one believes more than Nike that innovation is integral to helping athletes realize their full potential," Stoyer said. "Our medal winning Swim and Swift technology - has proven itself with 15 Olympic medals, 15 world records by US swimmers alone since Swift's Swim debut in 2003."

Brendan Scheduled to race Nike 10K in Austin, August 31st

In true all-star style, Brendan will continue a workout regimen even after the Games to train for the Nike+ Human Race 10K in Austin. Even though "my time is limited because of my Games schedule, I plan to use the Nike+ system and train with the nikeplus.com coaching tool." Brendan likes the system because "you can check out your pace, time, distance and calories burned for each run."

When asked how he felt about running in the race with Lance Armstrong, Brendan said, "It will be cool to see him run by me since I'm sure he's gong to beat all of us." Whether you're running to try and beat Lance's time or simply to get in shape, this race is a great opportunity for Texas runners because "you're running for a purpose in an event unlike anything you've ever done," Brendan said. "This is the first global race to reach such a large participant base and geographic scope." And, in Austin "Ben Harper is performing and Lance is running...so I'm looking forward to that." For only $35 dollars, I'm sure most of Austin is looking forward to it as well.

Skip-Dawg on the Morning Swim Show

NEW! General Swimming Forum here at BHO

A close inspection of the menu bar above will reveal that the previous Chat room button has been replaced with a strange and new "Forum" button. You guys should click on it! But first, let me explain...

For the past 4 years I've somewhat lamented the lack of a good general swimming forum that was accessible for fans of all ages and levels of knowledge. Most of the current boards are primarily for swimmers, either college or masters, and can be somewhat intimidating for the casual fan who wants to talk about their favorite personalities with like-minded fans, get results and learn more about the sport. We all have to start somewhere and the casual every-four-years fan may eventually become the die-hard fanatic if given a place to indulge their interest. With Trials now past, and the Olympics in just 2 weeks, traffic at BHO is way up and this seems like a great time to try something new.

For the past week some of us have been testing things out, starting some topics, and working out the kinks. I think it's now ready for public consumption although still likely to undergo a few more changes. I'm trying out the name Gutter Talk, but it's still up for a vote so be sure to look at the other choices and put in your two-cents.

I hope you'll all join in and participate and get this forum off to a rocking start!

Training Camp Interview with Brendan

And it's from the lovely people at Floswimming of course..

Brendan through the years..

NBC has put together a slide show of Brendan pics courtesy of his mom. Many are ones she allowed me to add to the BHO Gallery here, but there are a few new ones, including a whole new Bren face! haha. Check out the "Git'er Done" hat pic and you'll see what I mean.

Slide Show here.

I'm especially fond of the new pic of little Brendan with the tiny fish and the one of him laying out.

Fan Video from Alexandra in Hungary

I just love when fans make Brendan art. This one comes all the way from Hungary!



Wheeee! I love it! Thanks Alexandra!

Photos from Training Camp

Ok, Beijing is officially official now because I've created the Beijing 2008 Gallery. In it you'll find a few fabulous photos of Brendan hard at work at the Stanford Training Camp, like this one...



Er, ok, well maybe this one...



Hmmmm, well he's obviously been working on the intense gaze anyway...



Perfecto.

There are a few others in the gallery and I'll add more as I get them.

Brendan named captain for the Beijing Games

Woot!

As the United States Olympic Swimming Trials came to a close last week, Brendan Hansen spoke of his desire to be selected as a captain for the American squad headed to the Beijing Games next month. Tuesday, Hansen got his wish.

Preparing for his second Olympics at the U.S. training camp at Stanford University, Hansen was named captain in a vote by his teammates. A Haverford High graduate, Hansen isn't a stranger to leadership responsibilities. He was the U.S. captain at last year's World Championships in Melbourne.

In Beijing, Hansen will compete in the 100-meter breaststroke, where he's the world-record holder, and the 400 medley relay. At the Athens Games in 2004, Hansen won gold in the medley relay, silver in the 100 breast and bronze in the 200 breast. He won't swim the 200 distance in China, due to a fourth-place finish at the Olympic Trials.

A member of the United States National Team since 2001, Hansen has long been respected by his teammates for his skill in the water, along with his motivational abilities. He'll be joined as a captain by Erik Vendt and Jason Lezak, a pair of three-time Olympians.

JOHN LOHN

Go Brendan! Go Brendan! Go Brendan!

Training Camp

Masters Swimmer, Roger von Oech, writes a short post about his pool being invaded by Olympians and thoughts from Eddie Reese about what makes motivates these athletes to train as hard as they do.

The one comment Eddie made that still sticks in my mind was his response to my question: "What motivates these Olympians?" He replied:

"If you ask a general population of athletes what motivates them, 80% will say something like 'the joy of winning.' The other 20% will say along the lines of 'I hate losing.'

"But 95% of the people here [i.e., the Olympians] are in the 'fear of losing' category. Their distaste for losing means they're prepared to work tremendously hard. But above all, it means that they are fierce competitors."

Interesting thought. And one that I've discovered has application in many other avenues of life beyond sports.

Read more.

HELP WANTED.

Ok y'all, it's like this...my brain just doesn't work like it used to. I've got what's known in medical circles as "the dumb". I don't know if it's the result of vitamin deficiency, early onset Alzheimer's, too much pork fat blocking the circulation of blood to my brain, or if my brain just got full - but I need your help with some ideas for the opening page. I've had the same graphic there now for a long, long time, perhaps longer than any other graphic I've ever put up there, and it's time for a change. I've got all these lovely new images from Peter Bick and "Original Sarah" that I've added to the Trials gallery and I can use them to make a new collage, or maybe I should just use one of the pics straight up with some text about the site or about Brendan. I dunno. What do you guys think?

Here are a few of my favs from Peter Bick...







Seriously. How sweet is that face?

And also, here's a story about Skip-Dawg and Bren's anthem.

Olympian Eric Shanteau Has Testicular Cancer

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Shanteau said he learned just a week before the Olympic trials in Omaha, Neb., that he has testicular cancer. His doctors cleared him to compete in that meet and he surprisingly made the team in the 200-metre breaststroke, finishing second ahead of former world-record holder and heavy favourite Brendan Hansen.

"If I didn't make the team, the decision would have been easy: Go home and have the surgery," Shanteau said. "I made the team, so I had a hard decision. But, by no means am I being stupid about this."

Although Shanteau's doctors have advised him to have surgery now, he's planning to put it off until after Beijing because he doesn't want to disrupt his lifelong goal. The 24-year-old Georgia native will be monitored closely over the next month and vows to drop out of the Olympics if there's any sign is cancer is spreading.

More quotes from Shanteau at the link.

Wow. This is just devastating news. Lance Armstrong overcame his testicular cancer and I'm confident Shanteau will as well. Hopefully they've caught it early. Best of luck and health to Eric.

Prediction Contest Results

I suppose it's appropriate that she win something on her birthday, but I know she did these at like 4 am after being awake for 2 days and she STILL beat me. How does that happen?

Lala is Champion Swim Fan (for now.)

Lala - 579
aqgallstars2 - 567
swimnswain - 560
John Lohn - 547
Michelle - 541
Jenny - 538
chri1720 - 535
Sarah - 517
AimsRos - 516
afadingvoice - 508
blairbecky - 499
burberryplaid - 491
Stella - 479
Andrea - 472
Jessie - 468
Messler - 408

Congratulations! And thanks to everyone who participated.

Official Anthem and Music Video for Olympic Swimmer Brendan Hansen Unveiled

From the press release...

July 9, 2008

Havertown rapper Skip-Dawg has just unveiled the official anthem (and music video) for U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist and World Record holder, Brendan Hansen, as excitement builds for the fast approaching 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

snip

Skip-Dawg penned "We Will Rise" as a tribute to his former teammate and longtime friend, Brendan Hansen, and has dedicated the song "to Brendan and to all the fans who love, support, and cheer him on in his quest for gold in the 100M Breastroke and 4x100 Medley Relay this August in Beijing."

Hey, that's us!!!

"We Will Rise" CD available at:Official Website, iTunes

2008 US Olympic Swimming Team

Nathan Adrian, Amanda Beard, Elizabeth Beisel, Ricky Berens, Caroline Burckle, Elaine Breeden, Natalie Coughlin, Ian Crocker, Mark Gangloff, Matt Grevers, Brendan Hansen, Jessica Hardy, Kathleen Hersey, Margaret Hoelzer, Katie Hoff, Megan Jendrick, Larsen Jensen, Cullen Jones, Kara Lynn Joyce, Klete Keller, Ryan Lochte, Jason Lezak, Christine Magnuson, Christine Marshall, Lacey Nymeyer, Aaron Peirsol, Michael Phelps, Allison Schmitt, Eric Shanteau, Emily Silver, Julia Smit, Rebecca Soni, Scott Spann, Gil Stovall, Chloe Sutton, Dara Torres, Kim Vandenberg, Peter Vanderkaay, Erik Vendt, David Walters, Mark Warkentin, Garrett Weber-Gale, Ben Wildman-Tobriner, Kate Ziegler

Kitajima continues to be giant sucking black hole of suckage

And Kitajima, the longtime rival of Hansen, was harsh in his post-race analysis. Of Hansen's fourth-place finish, he wrote on his own official website that Hansen basically choked. The language was more polite ("for a swimmer of his level it shouldn't be that difficult to qualify"), but the message was clear.

snip

"I think the only time Kitajima got to Brendan was when we had definitive [video] evidence of cheating in the 100 breaststroke in Athens," Schubert told The Times. "That got to him, but not in a negative way.

Post 200 Press Conference

From the good people at Floswimming.org.



I've got a lot of photos from the meet to upload when I get home this week. Particularly I'm anxious for you all to see the photos from Friday and Saturday's autograph signings that he did down in the Aqua Zone. I think it's fair to say he's had longer lines than anyone else I've seen, including Mark Spitz. I talked to so many young swimmers and their parents who just love Brendan and wanted to wish him the best in Beijing. It was great to see him getting so much support. Tim and Stella went through the first day and got autographs and photos and Aims, Jenny and myself went through the line yesterday. This meet didn't give us quite the result we were expecting to see, but has revealed so much about Brendan's character and of course we were all so proud of how he responded.

In stunning loss, Texas ex proves he's a real champion

Thanks to Anne for linking the article below in her comments.

By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL
jenfloyd@star-telegram.com

OMAHA, Neb. - Texas ex Brendan Hansen felt fatigue settling in, his usual smooth breaststroke failing him in the final meters of Thursday's 200.

Just get to the wall, he thought. One or two, just qualify.

His teammates at Longhorn Aquatics, Scott Spann and Eric Shanteau, were quickly reeling him in, though, getting closer and closer, until all of them were touching in a flurry.

"And I knew it," Hansen said. "I touched the wall and, Scott, his right was faster than mine. And I just said 'You son of a ...' "

He said this last part with a smile. Though Hansen had been thinking of this race since taking bronze in Athens, since his world record had recently been shattered, since almost forever, he also understands how to lose with class.

And class dictates being gracious even in heartbreaking defeat.

So on a night when he finished fourth - 2004 Olympian Scott Usher also passed him at the end - thereby failing to qualify to swim "his baby" in Beijing, Hansen smiled and talked about his excitement for his University of Texas training partners going to their first Olympics.

And I do not think I have ever been more impressed by an athlete than I was in that moment. He obviously realizes this Olympic thing is bigger than him and what happens to him.

"It's going to be hard for me," Hansen admitted. "But I'm going to tell these guys what they need to do to beat him. Because if I can't do it, I'm going to make sure that they do. And him, you know who I am talking about."

Almost 10 Japanese reporters began nodding.

Him is Japanese Olympian Kosuke Kitajima. And he is why Brendan had almost a reverse Godzilla situation going in Omaha this week, being quasi-stalked by Japanese journalists.

OK, so this assembled media contingency is friendly, actually a very nice group that is just super interested in Hansen and his rivalry with Kitajima, who beat him twice in Athens and broke his world record.

"Not only Hansen," Asahi TV reporter Yuji Kitano said, "but mainly Hansen."

Only Obama and Madonna rank above Brendan in popularity, Kitano said, with stories on Kitajima running daily. So is Hansen viewed as an honored competitor or villain?

"We are hoping he'll be like a villain, but he's such a nice guy actually," Asahi's Izumi Shiraishi said.

So when Hansen failed in his bid to qualify in the 200 breaststroke, his Japanese entourage was truly bummed. He is still going to race Kitajima in the 100 meters, but everybody was looking forward to a real showdown with The Texan.

Sorry, Aggies, Kitano said burnt-orange horns have come to signify Texas to many in Japan. "You know, like on Brendan's T-shirts," he said.

Read more...

Brendan Hansen Fourth in 200 Breast

"I really don't know what to say," Hansen said. "I didn't have a good feeling after my warmup and those guys brought it. I might have been worrying too much about getting the job done. My hat is off to those guys. I train with them every day. Maybe I trained them too well."

More here.



I'm not gonna lie. I'm a little broken hearted. I'm also really thankful Brendan made the Olympic team when so many other outstanding swimmers have failed to do so and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in the 100 Breaststroke in Beijing.

Brendan's 200 Breast Semi-final

Video from Olympic Trials

Brendan joined Floswimming's Pre-Game Show last night...


Brendan's 200 Breaststroke Prelim from this morning...



Check out the post-200 Prelim interview video at Swimming World Magazine.

Brendan's 100 Breast Final and Awards Ceremony

Plus a little fun in the AquaZone...



Brendan fans Brianna and Brittany make a sign for Brendan before the 100 Breaststroke Final on Monday afternoon.



Lala entertaining us with the swimmer cutouts.