Article Contributed on: 9/18/2009 11:49:30 AM
The electricity in the air was just like the Academy Awards at the Castle Rock Recreation Center last weekend, but instead of wearing high heels, they were wearing flip flops and instead of donning Versace, they were sporting Speedo.
One hundred competitive swimmers between 7 and 17 yrs. old were anxiously awaiting the recipient of ESPN's, "Sports Moment of the Year" award - Olympic Gold Medalist, Jason Lezak. Jason swam the fastest 100 meter freestyle in history to win the gold medal for the Americans despite the French teams promise to "smash the Americans". His feat also kept Michael Phelps hopes alive to win 8 gold medals in a singleOlympics.
By far the best Olympic moment since Kerri Strug nailed her vault landing after tearing up her ankle in her first vault, at the 1996 Atlanta Games. She collapsed in pain and was carried off the mat by her coach, Bela Karolyi and taken to the awards ceremony. It was the biggest standing ovation that I can remember until Jason did his 46:06 last August.
Jason Lezak was here to host a Mutual of Omaha Breakout Swim Clinic with fellow Olympians, Kim Vandenberg and Gabe Woodward. Kim who swam for the UCLA Bruins earned a bronze medal in the 800 free relay in Beijing while Gabe earned a bronze medal for the 400 meter free relay in 2004 and swam for the USC Trojans.
Each Olympian took the time to speak to the kids about their own individual swimming journeys, You see the ups and downs, the successes and heartbreaks of sports on television all the time, but to hear them speak of the emotion behind it was incredible. As a parent, I enjoyed them talking about their college experience and that all of these kids can swim in college if that is their choice and they are willing to do the work to get there.
My daughter, Kristi was most moved by Jason Lezak's words regarding all his failures. He went from being the best on the high school team to one of the lowest performing swimmers, was kicked off the UC- Santa Barbara team because of a bad attitude but in his own time, when he made the decision to get the job done - he became an Olympian. In a sport where one hundredth of a second can make you the winner or the loser, there's a kind of inner strength and dedication required thatis unique to this sport.
The thrill of the race was not missing at this event as all the athletes were given the opportunity to race the Olympians. Definitely, the excitement of the Academy Awards, except the pool was the stage... Instead of Spago for dinner - Chipotle donated burritoes.Aside from trying to sweep up rice and beans from the deck, it wasa glorious afternoon that none of us that were lucky enough to be there will ever forget.