USA Swimming names Beijing Olympic Swim Team

Swimming is one of the more well-known summer Olympic sports here in the United States. It’s also one where we usually do well. Hopefully, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing will be no exception. Yesterday, USA swimming posted the final roster of the swimmers who will be representing the United States in Beijing.

The men representing the United States are Michael Phelps, Larsen Jensen, Brendan Hansen, Peter Vanderkaay, Ricky Berens, Klete Keller, Aaron Peirsol, Scott Spann, Garrett Weber-Gale, Jason Lezak, Cullen Jones, Nathan Adrian, Ryan Lochte, Mark Gangloff, Matt Grevers, Gil Stovall, Eric Shanteau, Ian Crocker, Ben Wildman-Tobriner, Erik Vendt, David Walters and Mark Warkentin.

Swimming in the women’s events are Natalie Coughlin, Katie Hoff, Christine Magnuson, Jessica Hardy, Allison Schmitt, Julia Smit, Caroline Burckle, Elaine Breeden, Kathleen Hersey, Elizabeth Beisel, Margaret Hoelzer, Megan Jendrick, Kate Ziegler, Rebecca Soni, Amanda Beard, Dara Torres, Lacey Nymeyer, Kim Vandenberg, Christine Marshall, Emily Silver and Chloe Sutton.

Michael Phelps is no stranger, and he’s definitely on to watch, as he will be trying to break Mark Spitz’s Olympic record of seven gold medals. 41 year old Dara Torres is turning heads as the oldest woman in the pool. She’ll be competing in her fifth Olympics. That means she’s been competing at the Olympics since before I could drive a car— wow! These are only two of the many swimmers we’ll come to know better over the coming weeks and during the Beijing Olympics. I’m looking forward to seeing which of the many athletes competing will become household names.