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tom911 goes to Olympic Swimming Trials, Omaha - 8 days of swimming ahead

tom911 goes to Olympic Swimming Trials, Omaha - 8 days of swimming ahead

Old Jun 30, 2012, 11:05 pm
  #31  
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Natalie is London bound!

Originally Posted by wrp96
Fingers crossed for Natalie.
Seems to have worked as we're all going to London.

Just in from dinner at Crave with her sister, parents and grandparents to celebrate. I have award tickets in place from last August on AA as well as hotel nights with Priority Club. Ready to go!

Natalie placed 6th in 100 freestyle which qualifies her to be an alternate on the relay team for 4X100 freestyle relay. Very likely she would swim prelims unless needed to swim finals, but both prelim and final swimmers get Olympic medals and that gives her a shot at Olympic medal #12. Hopefully she'll be the team captain as she has the experience needed to guide younger swimmers going to their first Olympics. 17 year old Missy Franklin has been quoted a number of times this week as to how she could not imagine going to the Olympics without Natalie. See more in the article below:

Natalie Coughlin sneaks onto Olympic swimming roster

OMAHA -- It wasn't the way she wanted to make the U.S. Olympic roster by any means, but she'll take it.

Natalie Coughlin is headed to the Olympics for the third time. She'll be a part of the women's 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay team. She earned that spot with her sixth-place finish in Saturday night's 100 free final.

Had she swum 18 hundredths of a second slower and finished seventh, she wouldn't be going to London.
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Old Jun 30, 2012, 11:37 pm
  #32  
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Natalie on the starting blocks 100 freestyle finals in lane #1:



and she's off (lane #1):



and the results:



Dinner at Crave (me in the middle with USA Swimming shirt):



one of our entrees:



New photos start here:
http://tom911.smugmug.com/Swimming/....8124&k=PSVgbkb
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Old Jul 1, 2012, 7:16 pm
  #33  
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Congrats to Natalie on another Olympics.

Question, are the swimming events the first week or the second week of the Olympics?
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Old Jul 1, 2012, 9:25 pm
  #34  
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Swimming is the first week. Natalie will swim on the first day.
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Old Jul 1, 2012, 9:47 pm
  #35  
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Originally Posted by tom911
Swimming is the first week. Natalie will swim on the first day.
Well shoot. I'll be out of the country without access to a tv and possibly Internet that first week. I'll still keep my fingers crossed though.
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Old Jul 2, 2012, 1:46 pm
  #36  
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The first of our party of 7 was scheduled to fly out last night, but her Southwest flight to DEN at 7pm took a 3 hour delay, so she spent another night in Omaha rather than overnight in Denver. Today two of our party are due out this afternoon with five more in the morning. As much as we have enjoyed Omaha and Council Bluffs, we're all ready to go home. Have to start preparing for our flights to London in 3 weeks!

Breakfast/early lunch this morning was at the Radial Cafe on 40th Street (I had the skillet plate with hash browns, eggs and chicken fried chicken, other had burgers and salads) and dinner last night was at Union Pizzeria near the TD Ameritrade Stadium (spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parmigiana and spaghetti, ice cold Fat Tire beer).

Some final photos-

Natalie signing autographs before finals last night:




Officially on the 2012 US Olympic Team (third from left in both photos- her medal has the aqua ribbon):






We'll be at the pool one last time tonight to see the last events.
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Old Jul 3, 2012, 10:52 pm
  #37  
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2012 USA Olympic Swim Team (Natalie Coughlin front row, center)

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Old Jul 4, 2012, 4:18 pm
  #38  
 
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Thumbs up for your report, I'll be staying tuned for the third Olympics of reading your dispatches. You have an insider's view that's refreshing and fun. I hope you have a great trip to London.
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Old Jul 4, 2012, 7:39 pm
  #39  
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Not sure I'm going to do an Olympics report this year. I do have access to some tickets but they're way outside what I want to pay, or have paid in the past. With Natalie Coughlin only swimming one event (unlike Beijing where she won 6 medals and Athens where she won 5, swimming almost every day), there's just not going to be much to report on this time around as she'll only be swimming prelims in a relay one day unless things change, and that gives her a shot at her 12th Olympic medal. We're all glad she has made the team and may just do a few days in London before heading north. Still working out details as we have a large group involved, most still needing hotels, and I'm not the decision maker for the travel arrangements.

One thing I have noticed is a significant drop in hotel prices, just like in Beijing where I booked just a few weeks out. This time I have award nights already in place.
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