Buffalo Boy's Blog

I coach swimming for a USA swim club called the Stingrays Swim Club. We swim out of Depew, Cheektowaga, Cleveland Hill, JFK and Maryvale pools throughout the course of the year. USA Swimming is the same organization that supports our National Team as they ready themselves for the Olympic time trials in Omaha, Nebraska this summer. Over the next week or so Ill be posting bios on our US athletes and giving everyone some background on them and their chances of making the team.

During Olympic years we typically see a bump in numbers of kids joining swim clubs and swimming related activities, this year hopefully will be no different and with a strong season from our US team hopefully we will see that not just on our club but throughout the country.

My first swimmer I will preview is Margaret Hoelzer. Though she is not quite a household name her resume is impressive. She is 25 so, this is likely her last go round at the games. She swims with King Aquatics Club and boasts the following accomplishments:

Bronze in the 200 meter backstroke at the 2008 World Short Course Championships

Fifth in the 200 meter backstroke in the 2004 Olympics

Silver Medalist in the 200 meter backstroke in 2003 and 2005 at the World Championships

1st in the 2002 Pan Pacifics.

She swam 2:07.16 in the 200 meter backstroke in March of 2007, :28.53 in the 50 meter back in March of 2007 and 1:00.83 in the 100 meter back in June of 2008 all are still personal bests.

In addition Margaret also holds records in several relays including the 400 meter medley relay and the 800 meter freestyle relay. She also holds the American record in the 200 meter backstroke set in March of 2007.

Look for Margaret to make the team in any of the backstrokes and be in the running for the 400 meter medley and freestyle relays and the 800 freestyle relay.

In case you were wondering how these swimmers train, 10,000 meters a day, 5-6 hours per day, 5-6 days per week. Its literally a full time job.