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.