Stanford athletes in the Olympic trials!

I know this happened a while ago, but I was reading the Stanford magazine and saw the huge numbers of current and former Stanford athletes that were participating in the Olympic trials and wanted to learn more about it:

For a full list of the Stanford athletes in the trials, look in the most recent issue of Stanford magazine or see http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2008/julaug/features/contenders.html.

After seeing the large amount of press they were getting, and as a former swimmer myself, I was especially interested in the Stanford swimmers at the trials.

The swimming trials took place in Omaha, Nebraska, and the results are pretty extensively documented on gostanford.com, where I got this information. Ben Wildman-Tobriner, who just graduated from Stanford, was the only Stanford male to qualify for the Olympics at this year’s Trials after he placed second in the 50 free. 12 other men competed in the Trials, with several advancing to the finals of their events. The women were even more successful than the men, with two swimmers heading to Beijing. Two juniors, Elaine Breeden and Julia Smit (not to be confused with fellow Stanford swimmer Julie Smith ‘11, who I don’t believe competed). Breeden won the 200 butterfly and got second in the 100 fly at the Trials! Julia Smit placed third in the 200 free and the 400 IM (individual medley), and will be part of the 4 x 200 freestyle relay in Beijing and possibly the 4 x 100 free relay. A total of 10 Stanford women competed in the Trials.

In fact, Breeden and Smit make Stanford the only college program in the country with two female swimmers going to the Olympics this year!

There’s a great article here: http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/w-swim/spec-rel/070808aad.html on the Go Stanford site that does a great job of explaining the impressive legacy of Stanford women’s swimming and gives the results from all the women at the Trials.

If any of you also get the Stanford magazine at home, or want to check it out on the website above, there was a great article following up with several Stanford alums who are planning on going to the Olympics this year and chronicling their injuries, setbacks, and comebacks.

Be sure to keep an eye out for Stanford athletes in all sports as you watch the Olympics this August!

-Julie