2008 University of Michigan women’s diving recruit, Amanda Lohman, said the following about Sir Phelps after meeting him during her official visit to the school.

He’s really big. He’s not my type. He’s really into himself, but he should be after all he’s an eight-time gold medalist. I’d like to get one myself.

HAHAHAHA!

As you can see, the bolded portion of the quote is what amuses us. Don’t act like you didn’t laugh too! Not to mention her bit of backpeddling with the whole “he should be” bit. Good stuff. She’d likely have been crucified if she ended the quote there. Phelpsi fangirls don’t play!

We’re also going to overlook the 8 gold medals thing. If she’s referring to the Olympics, she’s a little off with her numbers. It happens A LOT. 8 overall medals, with 6 of them being gold. For all we know, she could be clairvoyant and letting us in on Phelps’ final gold medal haul for next summer.

In any case, Amanda Lohman FTW.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

I thought I’d add a little wintery effect to our home on the interweb. Mostly because of how the warm weather Swim Aids always claim they want snow. (They don’t. They don’t realize you have to drive in it.) So here is their snow. It’s much better this way. Trust me.

Anyway, sorry we are boring again. Lots of training trips about to kick into gear, so not a lot of news.

A few of us will be congregating in H-Town for NYE, so that should be crazy. Don’t expect us to post much evidence of our shenanigans on here. Could be very incriminating. And we don’t need that, do we?

College football bowl season is upon us. So, that’s what’s been occupying most of my freetime. I’m not going to lie.

In other news, our fave CW duo is doing a clinic together today in Virginia. Oh, to be a fly on the wall…

We’re just sayin…

Because I have routinely shown love to Austin Staab here on Swim Aids, I think it’s time to spread the hometown love to another Columbus area swimmer. I can do what I want, remember? Aren’t blogs grand?

Anyway, Reynoldsburg, OH (suburb of C-Bus) native and former Univ. of Arizona swimmer, Adam Ritter officially turned professional. Way to go! Earlier this year, he came back to his old swim club, Greater Columbus Swim Team of Ohio and did a clinic. He is scheduled to do another two during the holidays. Love when athletes give back to the community and clubs that they came up through. It’s nice to see!

Here’s the rundown on Adam’s recent signing. He did not go the Octagon/PMG route. He will be repped by Arluck Promotions, based in Miami Beach, FL. Adam already has a website, located at AdamRitterSwim.com. And before anyone asks, no, we had nothing to do with his site. Although we have made the collective prediction that Adam will be Beijing-bound after securing a spot on the 800 Free Relay.

So, now that another swimmer has signed with an agent, which swimwear co. do we think he signs with? Arizona is a NIKE school, but they only seem to sign 1 or 2 swimmers per quadrennium. I’m going to guess TYR because they’re high up on my list lately.

I know that I totally aged myself with the post title, yet most of you probably won’t make the connection. And that will age me even more…

In any case, we here at the Swim Aids are very big on the Swim Chicks and they were in full effect over the weekend breaking records and posting best times.

Last week, our fave coach tipped me to some fast swimming in Maryland. He also rubbed salt in the wound since I wasn’t covering the meet in person. Paul, I’m going to need you to cover my airfare and offer me your couch if you want me to cover NBAC meet in person. Just sayin’

So, this post is dedicated to Katie Hoff, Felicia Lee, and Kate Ziegler. We are very impressed, but not surprised. You girls rock!

The Hoff broke 4 American Records and 1 individual NAG record, in addition to swimming on a NAG-breaking relay too. Flee put up 6 (yes, 6!!) best times throughout the meet, plus the same relay as the Hoff that broke a 15-18 NAG record. Kate Z. was swimming at the Tom Dolan Invite and battling The Hoff in many of the same events. In fact, we’ve heard that prior to Katie’s 500y Free American Record at the NBAC meet, Kate had broken it just a short while before; in the same night! Now that’s some fast swimming goin’ on! Earlier in the weekend, Kate had already broken the 1650y Free American Record.

O/T: For those of you who didn’t pick up on my opening thought, this might help. Now how many of you knew that was what I was referring to? Yea, that’s what I thought! I miss the 80s.

Ever since it was announced, we’ve had a few gripes about the selling of the Olympic Swim Trials tickets.

We understand that VISA is a major USAS sponsor, so they want to hook them up. But we thought only allowing Trials attendees (who aim to pay with a credit card) to pay using VISA was a bit much.

And then there was the you-can-only-buy-all-session-packages mantra. Not cool. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot when bringing the sport’s biggest domestic meet to a new city! The casual fan is not going to buy a $300+ package if they only want to see what the big deal with swimming is. They may want to check out a couple of sessions/days, but they can’t with this practice in effect.

Well, it seems USA Swimming came to their senses with regards to our second complaint. Three mini-packages for Trials have been announced and are now available to purchase. Check it out:

Now available, mini ticket packages include morning preliminary and evening final competitions for two or three days. This ticket package is perfect for individuals and families that would like to attend several days of the Trials.

Ticket prices:

$112 and $84 - Includes Sunday/Monday, June 29-30
$168 and $126 - Includes Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday, July 1-3
$140 and $105 - Includes Friday/Saturday/Sunday, July 4-6

We’re glad the ticket options are being expanded! Good thinking!

Link: http://www.h2omaha.com/ticket-info.php

No, seriously. GO!

Not only is that Leila Vaziri ad badass, but there’s also a video on their new Tracer Light suit that shows you some of the shots from their new catalog.

We’ve always loved the little promo/behind-the-scenes vids that are showcased on the site, but this one is just tops all the others! Now we will concentrate on trying to find a way to get our hands on the TYR catalog. This photoshoot looks awesome!