Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello friends,
welcome to the Champions Mojo
podcast, where we celebrate theextraordinary stories of adult
athletes who inspire us withtheir passion, comebacks and
stories we can relate to andlearn from.
Today's guest is one of themost iconic figures in American
swimming when you combine USAswimming and master swimming.
(00:21):
Yes, it's Rick Colella, bornand raised in Seattle,
washington, who has competed intwo Olympic Games for the USA,
finishing fourth in the200-meter breaststroke in Munich
in 1972 and winning bronze inMontreal in 1976.
Rick currently swims for thePuget Sound Masters in the 70 to
(00:43):
74 age group.
After stepping away from elitecompetition, rick returned to
the sport decades later throughmaster swimming and he's been
rewriting the record books eversince.
He's set more than 120 Mastersrecords, masters National
records and over 50 worldrecords.
(01:03):
He swims pretty much everythingfreestyle, im and breaststroke
events and recently his lastmeet.
He did set six national recordsin all different events.
Rick trains six days a week andis a passionate ambassador for
swimming as a sport for life,crediting it for both fitness
and friendship.
Off the pool deck.
(01:24):
Off the pool deck, he and hiswife, terry co-founded friends
of fsh research, a non-profitfunding critical research in
finding a cure for a form ofmuscular dystrophy, which is
inspired by their son brian'sdiagnosis.
Rick's life is a powerfulexample of grit, longevity and
giving back, and today we get todive in to his incredible story
(01:48):
.
Rick, welcome to Champions Mojo.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Thank you.
Thank you, Kelly.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yes, oh, it's so nice
to have you.
I want to start off by askingis it as easy for you as it
looks, or do you have to workhard in practice and in the meet
to pull off as fast as you swim?
I just don't think peoplerealize how fast you're swimming
for someone in their 70s.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Well.
So that's interesting.
When you started talking aboutthat and you're saying how easy
I look and they all say it lookseasy, I'm thinking, boy, I
don't think it's easy, I thinkit's hard and I think it's um,
always, I always feel like I'mworking hard.
Uh, you know, in meets andraces, and I don't feel like I
(02:35):
mean, I see other people who Ithink look easy and I wish I
could look like them.
So maybe we all look betterthan we think we do.
I don't know, but I think thatif you're working hard, it's
going to be hard.
There's no way around it.
And so I find that in workoutsand stuff I'm working hard every
day.
I'm also feeling like it'sharder and harder as I get older
(02:57):
, but I keep going just becauseI think it's great fun, and I
always am glad when theworkout's over that I did it.
But when I start off, sometimesI think this is just so hard.
I can't keep doing this, but Ido.
So I don't feel like it's easyand I do feel like I'm working.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
I think someone was
an Olympian and they've done
this all their lives and theyjust get in there and it's just
easy.
So it's nice to know.
So when you're working hardlike that, you're training six
days a week with a group, or areyou swimming with kids, or how
are you keeping yourself so fit?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
So our team.
So I swim on Puget SoundMasters as a regional team at
nationals and that was of meets,but local meets as someone like
washington masters.
We have a team and so, likewashington masters, I don't know
how many members we have rightnow, but we have a coach and the
coach provides the workouts,and we have three options a day.
We have a 5 15 am workout, a 67 30 am workout and 11 45 am
workout, and so I go at 7 30because I don't have to get up
(04:06):
at 5 15 anymore and I likegetting it done in the morning
though.
So there's probably, you know,today I think we had 12 people
there that workout.
We have four lanes in the pooland varying abilities, but I'm
really fortunate that we have alot of good swimmers for me to
swim with and against inworkouts.
There's a lot of younger oneswho are a lot faster than me,
(04:27):
and there's some that are justbeginners, and that's one of the
things that I think is so greatabout Masters is that there I
am as an ex-Lithian but reallyold, with people who are young,
but some of them never swambefore and just trying swimming,
never swam before and justtrying swimming, and some were
(04:48):
high school or you know, maybesummer league swimmers, um,
maybe usa swimmers when theywere in junior high or high
school, and then they quit.
Now they're coming back becausethey think it would be good
exercise for them and so they'rereally starting off, you know,
out of shape, but they'reworking their way back and so we
just have such a wide varietyof people and it's just fun to
(05:08):
be with all of them and it'sreally fun to have a workout
group to train with.
For many years I trained on myown, so to speak.
I trained with a group ofpeople.
We kind of met at pool and wemade up our own workouts and we
did it together and that was.
We thought it was fun and wethought we were doing good,
(05:29):
until they decided to hire acoach for the master's team.
And when they hired the coach,one of the biggest things we
found out is that we'd gottenreally sloppy.
I mean, the coach said do youwant help with your strokes?
Cause you know, I know you're abig star, right, you know, can
I actually help you?
(05:50):
I said, no, I would love helpwith my strokes, because I
noticed she kind of helpedothers and never said much to me
, and so I told her, no, I'd behappy to hear the criticism.
And she said, okay, well, yourbreaststroke timing is terrible
and your freestyle is awful andyour butterfly sucks and your
backstroke?
It can't even make me want tovomit or something like that.
I was like, oh great, but youknow, it made a huge difference
(06:10):
to have somebody standing therewatching you, and also it's so
much better to me to havesomebody to tell me what to do.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah, so let's drill
down a little bit on the fact
that an Olympian can have stroketechnique issues and need work,
but did you notice a differencein?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I don't want to say
injuries exactly, but pains that
come up, shoulder issues, forexample.
You know, wearing the newbutterfly correctly was a huge
(06:56):
help to preventing shoulderinjuries and I think that's any
stroke could be that way also.
If you look back and mostpeople probably couldn't look
back this far, even remember butif you go back to the 70s and
look at breaststroke, it's awhole different stroke and we
were flat.
Our head could not gounderwater.
(07:16):
The water couldn't even breakover your head in the early part
of my career and so you're veryflat in swimming like this of
my career, and so you're veryflat in swimming like James.
And when you look at breaththrough now you know your head
can go underwater.
There's dolphin kick on theunderwater pole and the timing
has changed.
So we were taught to pull andkick together.
You pulled as your legs came up, you kicked as your hands went
(07:39):
forward.
Well, now you pull separatefrom the kick and I think that
was a hard thing for me to learn.
I mean, that's an interestingstory because the day that she
told the coach told me this shegoes.
What I want you to do is I wantyou to just push off and do
breaststroke.
I want you to pull and thenstop and count to two, and then
kick and count to two, so youcompletely separate the pull and
(08:02):
the kick.
And I thought, well, thatsounds easy, right, I could not
do it.
I could not stop my legs frommoving when my arms moved.
It took me, you know, a week ofjust staying after workout,
drilling that over and over,until I could actually do it and
I was surprised my legs justmoved.
(08:23):
I didn't intend for them to, butthey just went after you know
40 some years of doing it oneway.
It was really hard to switch.
So that was a huge advantage tohave somebody looking at that
and telling you that and reallylove the coach.
And the other thing for me withworkouts I mean maybe I'm just
lazy, but if I go do my ownworkout I do this thing where I
(08:47):
think, okay, I'll do 10 100s.
So I do a 1 100 and I think youknow I think I'll do 10, 75s
after this first one.
And then I think, and I'll doeight and I'll do 50s, and you
know pretty soon I'm not doinganything.
I can talk myself out of itbecause it's so hard.
But if the coach says, do10-100, I just do it.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yes, yes, I feel like
that's so true.
Just even a coach that's justwatching, like I know a lot of
Masters coaches won't actuallycorrect people.
They think they're going toinsult them or something.
I think coaches are so valuablein master swimming.
We just don't realize, and tohear you say that you are able
(09:30):
to correct your stroke at thisage, that's just phenomenal.
I'd love to ask you about howit's been for you, rick, to at
some point.
You've been swimming mastersfor a long time now decades and
I'm sure you were just the beastleader of the workout, and so
I'm sure you have had thatexperience where you've just
(09:54):
gone from being this dominantforce in a workout to having
people beat you.
How does that feel?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
That's a really good
question.
I noticed that in the last fewyears especially, we had a kind
of a new group of 20-somethingsjoin the team and they're now
maybe 30, late 20s, early 30s,and they were college swimmers.
They're fast and especially ifthey go fast.
(10:22):
I mean what's interesting issometimes if they were sprinters
and stuff.
If we do a more distant set Ican still eventually keep up
with them, but in the sprintstuff they just leave me in the
dust.
It's incredible to watch them.
So I feel a little bit like I'msometimes disappointed that I'm
(10:42):
no longer in that good of shape, but I also feel honored to be
on the team with them and thefeedback I get from them is that
they're honored to be on theteam with me.
And I think that's a great thingabout the master's program is
that people from late 20s to intheir 70s are friends and, I
(11:10):
guess, join each other's company, glad they can be there.
I mean, none of us are inanybody's way and that kind of
thing.
You know, like you might get onan age group team, you might
have more rivalry or something.
It's not that kind ofcompetition in masters.
So, um, I just and and Ithere's always something I can
learn from them.
(11:31):
I mean I would right now I don'twork out with them because they
all have to go to work in themorning, because they're young
and they have to go to theearlier workout.
So the thing I miss about notbeing with them is they kind of
inspire me watching them.
You know one guy's really goodbackstroker.
I mean I think he really helpedmy backstroke just to have him
there to watch and see how agood backstroker does it, and
(11:54):
you know.
But there's other people likethat in the workout I do some in
that are inspiring and good tohave around.
So I feel more like I shouldnot regret or rue the days when
I used to be the fastest guy inthe workout and just enjoy the
fact that I've got these peoplecoming along that are an
(12:17):
inspiration, a help to me andkeep me going.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, beautifully
said.
And does it ever occur to youhow much you probably inspire
them as well?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Well, they've said
stuff which almost surprises me
in a way that wow, they actuallythey don't think I'm just the
old guy in the way.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I'm sure you are
inspiring people before they
even realize you're an Olympian.
Like who is this fast guy?
That's over 70.
I want to touch a little bit onyour career with Boeing and
when you retired and how youworked your swimming into that
career.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
After the 76 Olympics
I basically retired from
competitive swimming at thatlevel and I started working,
actually in Boeing, in thatDecember.
That December and um, when Ifirst um started working, I
found ways to go swim atlunchtime.
(13:15):
So I still kept swimming and Idid other things too.
I did some running and I wouldrun at lunch and I'd sometimes
alternate run a couple of days aweek, swim a couple of days a
week, but, um, I always found away to still do something.
And then after work I wouldmeet up with people and go
jogging or we did some canoeingin the winter, cross-country
(13:39):
skiing and stuff.
I always kept my foot in thepool, I guess you could say over
those years.
And then as time went on, it gotharder to do things like
running for me.
I started getting sore hips andsore knees and I'd take time
off and from running and alwaysended up coming back and so
(14:01):
swimming just seemed to be abetter sport for me and uh and I
.
So I was doing the lunchtimeswimming and stuff.
And it gets hard when you'reworking to necessarily go at
lunch, so I'd have to, and inthe evening it was really hard,
especially after we startedhaving children and they're, you
know there's.
My wife is waiting for me tocome home from work, not for me
(14:23):
to go home and go out swimming,and so I had kind of thought I'm
not going to ever go in themorning again.
I was tired of that.
But it turns out that you don'tgo in the morning, you don't go
at all.
So so I switched to going inthe mornings around 1990.
And actually my first master'smeet was in 1977.
(14:45):
The master's nationals were inSpokane and I went to that meet.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
So I yeah, tell us
about, tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Well, I think I won
my races, but it was.
It was really mostly a funexperience and I don't know
quite why I didn't stick withgoing to meets at that point,
but I didn't for until 1990.
And then the Goodwill gameswere here in Seattle and they
built the pool in federal waywhere the nationals are going to
(15:14):
be this year and that pool, thefirst meet in that pool of the
master's meet.
So we all entered and went tothat so we can swim in this
brand new pool and it was kindof a tune up for before the
Goodwill games and all that.
And maybe not the only one, butone of the first meets they had
there, and so we all went to geta chance to swim there.
So that was when I backed to amaster's meet in 1990.
(15:35):
And then I'm not sure, it wasprobably quite a while again
before I went to another.
I mean, I might've gone to afew here and there, but not
regularly.
But I retired from Boeing in2013.
But by then I'd started goingto the Masters meets pretty
regularly and enjoying thecamaraderie and seeing everybody
(15:57):
and that sort of thing.
Then when I retired, I didn'thave to worry about eating and
swimming because of a meeting orsomething like that, so it
really worked out.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
When you said you
kept your foot in the pool.
You went to your first meet in1977.
You were swimming at lunch, youwere kind of running.
You just never took a giantbreak from swimming.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
No.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Never in your entire
life.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
No, I would say that
in the late 70s and 80s I would
swim probably a couple times aweek at least still, and maybe
more, and dabbled in otherthings, but swimming was always
something I just kept doing.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Rick, I truly think
that we have found the key to
your success.
You're just that example of ifyou just stay in touch with the
water a little bit, you don'tlose that feel, you don't lose
that fitness that you only getfrom being in the water.
So, wow, so why would you justkeep swimming?
You're the only person that Itruly know that's in their
(17:00):
seventies that's almost neverstopped swimming.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Well, I think that's
a good story in a way, because I
never have stopped.
So the first kind of I wouldsay post-Olympic workout that I
did after my races were over, Idid that in the Olympic pool in
Montreal.
I went and swam A workout,probably not very hard, but I
(17:23):
went swimming right after myrace was done.
The next day, or after theswimming competition was over, I
went over to the pool and wentto work out Me and some other
people not by myself, there wereothers like me.
I just love swimming.
I guess I'm not even sure Ieven recognize how much I like
it, except that I must, becauseI never stopped doing it.
(17:44):
And one day I was in one of theguys that I swam with.
I still swim with him and hewent to the University of
Washington and he's keptswimming all these years and he
and I were in a.
He was one of the group thatkind of did our own workouts.
In fact he was one of the oneswho made up the workouts most of
the time and we would swimevery day in the mornings.
(18:06):
This is starting in the 1990timeframe and there were about
five or six of us who gatheredevery day.
And one day somebody had saidsomething to me about how I
don't know how you do thatswimming it's just back and
forth, back and forth.
It seems so boring.
And I said something about thisin the workout or in the locker
room.
I said somebody had saidswimming is really boring.
(18:28):
And Doug looked at me and saidboring.
I've never thought of swimmingas boring.
And I said, doug, that's whyyou and I are here every day for
the last 30 years and they'renot because we don't find it
boring.
I think if you've done it aslong as I've done it, boy it's
oh, I still just don't find itboring.
(18:49):
So that's why I like and stickwith it.
And I know a lot of swimmers Imean, there are swimmers on the
Olympic team with me who werelike as soon as my race is over,
I'm never putting on a swimsuitagain, I'm never going to the
pool, and some of them didn't.
(19:09):
But I think my sister, who wasalso an Olympian and she got a
bronze medal in Munich in 1972.
And she loved meats but shedidn't like workouts and she
didn't want to keep swimmingbecause she didn't like workouts
.
And I just feel like I likeworkouts better than meats.
Now is she your younger orolder?
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Older, so was she a
big, inspirational part of you
getting into swimming.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Well, we all started
at the same time.
I was 8 and she was 10, and westarted in summer league and at
the end of the first summer ofsummer league the coach said I
have a friend who does ayear-round team if you'd like to
try out there.
And so we went and tried outand joined that team.
So we were the same age when westarted but she, being a girl
and being older, achievedsuccess through her and that was
(20:02):
a big inspiration to me.
I wanted to do what she wasdoing going to national meets or
going to the big meets andstuff.
And then we had another boy onour team man boy.
He was 15, and he broke theworld record in the 1500 at the
national at 15 years old, andthat was a huge inspiration for
(20:26):
me.
I mean, I just dreamed of beinglike she was, Well you did that
and you've not been able to getLynn into master swimming at all
.
So she did.
She did do a little bit.
I mean, I think she did thatmeet in 1990 because we all did
and she did some meets back thenbut she never liked working out
.
But then lately, about twoyears ago, she decided maybe she
(20:47):
should get back into it becauseher big thing is playing soccer
and she loves soccer.
But she was worried that at 80years old 75 to 80, someday
soccer may be over for her.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
So she decided to go
back to swimming and so she
joined the team, joined our teamand she started swimming and
she actually went to the meetsand she liked the team.
Joined our team and she startedswimming and she actually went
to the meets and she liked themeet, but she still didn't like
going to the workouts much andthen her shoulders started
bothering her and they told hertake eight weeks off and
probably again, and she was like, oh, I'm just not going to do
that.
So she's just stuck with soccerso far.
(21:25):
But she's a year and a half,two years, older than me, so
she's 75 and she's playingsoccer still, though I had
something to drop off at herhouse this morning on my way
from workout and I stopped thereand she wasn't home, and but I
got a text from her.
She said I was at soccer, soshe's still doing it gosh and
(21:46):
soccer's such a tough sport.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
That is contact and
oh hard on the knees and the
hips.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Good for her, yeah
and she plays with younger
people not young people,necessarily, but people in their
50s and 60s who are going tosay, well, you don't want an
80-year-old on our team.
Well, I can imagine.
Maybe you want her.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Probably not a whole
lot of 75 and ups playing soccer
so she's got to be.
That is so inspirational.
Oh my gosh, that is crazy.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Yeah, I mean, I think
it's great that she does it.
I just wandered to get back toswimming because I thought it
was a better long-term sport forher although long-term at our
age isn't all that long.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
You have this amazing
joie de vivre that you have for
swimming for life.
I just cannot believe that youworked out the day after the
Olympics Like what were youtraining for?
Who knows?
Just life, but I love it sohave you had any health issues
that have kept you out of thepool for even short amounts of
time?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
I fell a couple of
years ago and broke three ribs
and that put me out for eightweeks.
That was tough because not outof the pool, but I'll do
something else.
I couldn't even move, Icouldn't even, couldn't even go
to bed, I couldn't lay down.
I had to sit up in a chair 24hours a day for a few weeks and
so that was probably the longestI'd been out of anything for an
(23:07):
injury.
And when we traveled and stuff,I'm not.
I'm not that it's funny.
You'd think I might be moreobsessed, but I'm not really.
I mean, if we go on a two-weektrip and I don't swim, it's fine
.
I just pick it up when I comeback and I'm not like I don't
have to search for pools whenI'm traveling and sometimes I
like to, but it kind of depends.
(23:30):
Sometimes it doesn't work outand it's always fine with me.
So I'm not obsessed in that waylike I've got to work out every
day, but I do.
When I get back then I startback in, but those are usually a
week or two then gone very muchmore.
So I think the broken rib isthe longest I was out.
(23:50):
I would caution anybody who'sbeen out of the water.
The hardest thing is that firstday is back.
It just feels so awkward, itdoesn't feel good, but it'll get
better, you keep going.
You just got to keep going.
You can't say, well, it feelsso terrible after being out for
three weeks or four weeks or amonth.
I'm not going to do it, justkeep showing up and eventually
(24:13):
you'll be back.
And that's probably one of thethings that I've learned over
the years is that there's timemostly hopefully, to come back
and if it takes two or threeweeks before you feel good again
, it's going to take two orthree weeks, but two or three
weeks will go by.
So don't panic.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
I think that's good
advice and I think it is much
easier to take two weeks off ona vacation if you know you're
always going to be back.
It's way easier to come backfrom three weeks off when you've
been swimming for 20 years or10 years.
But if you take two years offit's a totally different feeling
than if you take two years offand come back.
So even three weeks, four weeksfor a vacation is very
(24:51):
different.
In fact, there is a trend inmaster swimming where people
swim at the bottom of their agegroup and then they take two or
three years off at the top oftheir age group because you're
always faster.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
I think you mentioned
before and I said I hadn't been
to any meets in the last coupleof years and I did when I was
70, 71, I did meets andnationals and and the local
meets here and then let's see.
So last year I didn't do meetsbut I was thinking, well, it
doesn't really matter becauseI'm not in the bottom eight
(25:23):
group and I already did thoseevents when I was younger and
did those records.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
So do you actually
set goals Now you're moving into
, you're at the top of your agegroup now, 70 to 74.
Are you going to swim inSeattle at nationals in your
bike.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
I plan to.
Yes, I've not entered yet, butI do plan to.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Let's zip ahead to
when you're going to be eligible
for 75-year-old.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
January 1 of 2026.
So in six months.
You're right, so?
Speaker 1 (25:50):
in six months six
months from now you're going to
be able to swim in a shortcourse meters.
Meet in January and set 20world records.
Do you set goals like that?
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yes and no.
I mean, when I looked at the Idon't want this to sound wrong,
but when I turned 70, I lookedat the records I thought, oh, I
could do those and so I shouldenter the meets and some of
those different events and shootfor the record.
(26:22):
So I had the goal to kind ofmake those records.
I don't.
I'm thinking the same thoughttowards the 75 is that if I'm
still let me, I'm still able todo it.
You just never know.
I'm hoping that's the case.
It's not that far out.
But yeah, I'll be able to breaksome more records.
So I do look to that as a goalto keep in good enough shape to
(26:43):
do that and make it not hurt toobad.
But I don't specifically settime goals for myself, I would
just look at the record.
So I want to break that and Idid set in when I was turning 70
.
I did look at the records inbackstroke, which is not my best
(27:05):
stroke, and realized that Icould probably do those records
too if I worked at it.
So I did work specifically onbackstroke for a while in order
to get the records and thebackstroke events in the, the
I'm sure course yards andactually a couple since been
broken, but that was kind of funto set a goal like that in the
stroke that I knew that I wouldbe a challenge.
(27:28):
More to make the record versusthe breaststroke was not a huge
challenge for me, but I stillwant to do a time decent to what
I've done before and not toomuch slower.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, that is
actually a piece of advice that
some of the other Olympians thatI've interviewed that are
masters say they tell theirother Olympian friends hey, come
to masters and swim an offevent, and then you're not
comparing yourself to what youwent to the Olympics in.
I think that's really a coolthing to do.
So that's how you set yourgoals.
Have you seen a decline in yourtimes significantly every five
(28:06):
years?
Speaker 2 (28:06):
No, I don't feel.
I feel like you know it's funnybecause when we got the coach
back when I was in my 60s, I sawmy times improve from what I'd
done in my 50s, but now that'snot the case.
I just have to face the factthat there's no way I'm going to
be the same speed I was in my60s and my 70s and 80s.
(28:27):
My coach is a big masterswimmer One of my coaches from
A-Drip Swimming and USA Swimmingand he always said just hit you
at 82.
That's when it just hit him.
I always just laugh about thatbecause I was just thinking
really, bob, you made it to 82.
This is now you see a decline,so hopefully I can be as good as
(28:49):
he was.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Oh yeah, everybody's
got their number.
Like I talked to differentpeople like oh, I've heard when
you hit us, then it's alldownhill from there.
But, it's really not, because,without a doubt, the record book
is slower and slower and slower, so it's just the way that it
is.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah, and I think
that the records, though, and
the swimming, it's a inspiration, it's a challenge, it's a
reason to keep going in themeets and to be able to do,
whether you break records or not, being able to just continue to
swim in the meets and have funis inspiration to keep going on
a daily basis so that you can dothat.
And I think you kind of broughtthat up a little bit with when
(29:30):
you talked about other peoplewho had comebacks after the
large break sign and had that.
One of the big things that Ithink is important with swimming
and this is whether you're 10years old or 80 years old is
consistency.
If you're consistent, I thinkyou look.
I look back at swimmers who werehave tons of talent when they
(29:51):
were 12 and 13 and 14, but justdidn't have the work ethic or
the desire and they never quitemade it.
And then there's people who hadno talent in the water but they
were the hardest workers, theywere at every workout, never
missed, and they were prettysuccessful.
And then there's people Ialways said Michael Phelps is
the perfect example of someonewith amazing talent and amazing
(30:15):
work ethic.
It's a deadly combination.
Look what he was able to do.
I mean, it's just extraordinary.
Somebody like that comes alongand he has both the talent, the
feel for the water, everything,and works really hard.
And look where it got him.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
An amazing coach.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Yeah, an amazing
coach, yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
But Mark Spitz was
that way.
He was very hardworking when hewas younger and had amazing
talent in the pool and he waslike just different than
everybody else.
I remember a story in the 72Olympic training camp where he
decided to do three 200s,butterfly in the workout and
descending, and so he goes thefirst two pretty fast and he
(30:59):
goes the last one faster thananybody else in the whole world
can swim a 200 fly.
And I just thought, if you cando that in a workout, how can
anybody beat you?
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Wow, where was that?
Speaker 2 (31:14):
That was actually at
West Point in the 72 Olympic
training camp before theOlympics, before Munich, after
the trials.
Just impressive to watchsomebody who could do that.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Any other spit
stories, since you were on the
team with him?
Speaker 2 (31:28):
My good Mark spit
story is that I actually did
beat him one time myself.
We were together in Japan andwe went bowling and I beat him
in bowling and I still have thescore sheet to prove it.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
How did competitive
Mark Spitz take that one?
Speaker 2 (31:44):
I think he replayed
another game and he beat me, but
I don't remember that one.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Well, you could beat
him in breaststroke, right.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeah, I could beat
him in breaststroke.
Yeah, that's cool he sometimesswam the IM and he was so good
in everything else.
Even then he did pretty good.
That's cool.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Rick, All right.
So you obviously set goals.
You're consistently workinghard.
You've never gotten out ofshape swimming-wise.
How does mindset play in yoursuccess?
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Well, I have a great
story about that.
How does mindset play in yoursuccess?
Well, I have a great storyabout that.
It goes back to 1975 when I notmastered swimming, but in UFA
swimming, au swimming.
Back then we had a trainingcamp before the world
championships and at thattraining camp they brought in a
(32:38):
person to talk to us aboutattitude and mental preparation
for races, and one of thereasons they did that is that
that was when these German womenwho had just come on a couple
years before, and our women'steam was pretty demoralized and
they were trying to get them tonot just think about being
crushed by these Germans.
But you know, maybe they couldactually have a chance being
crushed by these Germans, butmaybe they could actually have a
chance.
And so we had these sessions,meditation, therapy, discussion
(33:03):
about mindset and mentalattitude, and then we went off
to the meet and then we cameback and the Nationals were
after all that, and so I was atthe Nationals and I got a cold,
really bad cold, at nationalsand I slammed 100 breaststroke
in the prelims and I qualifiedseventh for the finals and I was
like seated first and I I wasmy biggest competition john
(33:27):
hankin wasn't there and so I wasexpected to win and I was like
barely made the finals and I wasreally depressed with that and
feeling down.
And I talked to the guy who'ddone these seminars was there,
and so I was talking to himbetween the prelims and finals,
(33:48):
probably at the finals or thewarmup, and he starts telling me
all this stuff about how youknow, well, are you?
Yeah, you're sick, you havethis cold, but are you out of
shape?
I mean, did you get out ofshape in the last day or two by
getting a cold?
What's changed?
You know why are you?
And he was just like put thisout of your mind and and just
swim.
You know, yeah, you can have acool, but don't let that turn
(34:13):
your mental attitude into that.
I can't do this, yeah and uh,so I, I took the advice of him
and I and all this stuff and Ihad never been very much into
mental thing.
I just you know more like whatI felt like and did I do the
training and I just said, okay,I'm just going to swim, I don't,
I swim like I would normallyswim, don't worry about it,
(34:37):
don't think about it.
And I won.
From lane one I got first placeand I was like, wow, that really
worked.
I really opened my eyes to howmuch the mental, how much of
your performance can be mentalas well as physical.
I mean, you have to do thetraining, obviously, but when it
(34:59):
comes down to the race, yourmental preparation for that race
can have a huge difference, andit was like I did my best time.
I won the race and everybodywas like, where did he come from
?
We thought he was out of itbecause he barely made the final
.
So learn, then, that yourmental attitude makes a huge
difference, and how you prepareand set yourself up for racing
(35:23):
or for even going to yourworkout.
It's just if your mind is rightyou can do what you do and of
course you want to have thebackground, the consistency from
all the training.
But when you've done it, uh,your mind can make a big
difference in the last, the lastpush.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
And have you applied
that all through your master's
career?
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Yes, yes, I mean I.
I always remember that andthink about how I'm feeling.
Just try and get ready for therace and don't let it happen,
more than than worry about itand think about it.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Do you get nervous?
Speaker 2 (35:58):
still yes, that's
yeah, that's the thing that
bothers me most about going tomeets is they're so nerve
wracking and so nervous I mean Ieven think about it.
You mentioned I'm going to goto the national in Seattle and I
started thinking about that andI get nervous and it mean I
even think about it.
You mentioned I'm going to goto the National in Seattle and I
started thinking about that.
I get nervous and it's I alsoknow and tell myself that if I
(36:22):
didn't get nervous there'd besomething wrong.
I don't think you can swim likeI've swam and do those things
and not get nervous before arace.
It's built into you part ofbeing a competitor and I think
everybody would feel that wayand I've had a lot of swimmers
say I get so nervous I know youprobably don't get nervous at
(36:44):
all and I say no, I get nervousjust like you do.
We're all in the same boat.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah, I truly believe
.
If you're not very nervous, youdon't have the adrenaline you
need to swim fast.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Yeah, and if you're
not nervous, well, I mean, I
guess there could be a situationwhere you just don't care in
what you're doing, you know itdoesn't matter.
But I mean I just I know I'mgoing to be nervous before every
race, no matter what, and so Ijust accept that.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Oh, I love it.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
And so I just accept
that.
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
What other rituals or routinesdo you have?
Speaker 2 (37:20):
that you think play a
role in your success?
I think it's the consistency ofgoing to workouts and
participating at the pool andI've done some dry land things
and stuff at times.
Do you do dry land?
Not not too much.
I mean, sometimes in themornings before workout I do
push-ups, sit-ups.
I do a couple things forshoulder issues.
(37:42):
The swimmer magazine had athing about shoulder like two
issues ago and I have followedsome of those exercises before
workout just to keep myshoulders.
I had another fall in mybackyard and my shoulder kind of
hurt from that and it's beensurprisingly okay for swimming.
(38:04):
But I keep doing theseexercises and trying to keep the
muscles strong.
I read somewhere that everybody, by the time you get my age,
has damaged strong.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
I read somewhere that
everybody by the time you get
my age has damaged.
I like to put this out therefor listeners who might listen
to this episode but not anotherone on the Champions Mojo
website.
If you go to championsmojocomto the resources tab, there'sa
tab in there called shoulderhealth and I would love for you
to tell Lynn about this andcertainly you can use it.
(38:33):
So I found this book by Dr JohnKirsch, an orthopedic surgeon
who's done over a thousandsurgeries on swimmer and tennis
shoulders and basically all youdo is hang.
You don't do pull-ups, you justhang from a bar like that and
it literally remodels yourshoulders.
Literally it remodels yourshoulders, dr Kirsch says is if
(38:53):
people did the same amount ofphysical therapy that they do
after a shoulder surgery beforea shoulder surgery, they
probably wouldn't need theshoulder surgery.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
There's an article
about that in Solar Magazine a
few years back.
That said the studies show thatthe outcomes from surgery
versus PT and no surgery are thesame.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
But I know, you know,
my friend Zena Courtney, who's
from the Northwest, out thereand she's doing awesome.
She just turned 65 and she'sset in a whole bunch of records
and she was having shoulderissues and she's been doing this
hanging routine and she's beenable to swim great and she was
having real shoulder issues.
She swam at Stanford and hasdone a lot of yardage, like our
shoulders have.
(39:34):
So I'm just putting that outthere.
I put this into about every20th show, but I want you to
hear it and I want the listenersto hear it and I want you to
tell Lynn because it's so easy Iwould love to see Lynn in a
swim meet and maybe at 80, shewon't be able to play soccer
anymore.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
I mean that would be
great.
You know, there's other peopleon our team who always have
shoulder problems and they'regone for a while and they come
back and their shoulder is stilla problem, and I think that
maybe I should point them tothis.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
I want to ask about
your nonprofit work and what you
and your wife are doing andwhat kind of got you into that?
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Okay, so my son was
diagnosed with FSHD muscular
dystrophy, which is a shortenedname for fascioscapular
neuromuscular dystrophy.
I mean, it was devastating tous to have him have this
condition, and so it's a type ofmuscular dystrophy that's a
slow degeneration of musclesover their lifetime.
It doesn't directly affectlifespan, except that if the
(40:28):
muscles deteriorate so much itcan cause problems, like if you
got pneumonia and you can'tclear your lungs and things like
that.
So we looked at donating moneyto different places and we found
that there weren't very manygroups doing anything about
research for this condition andthere was only one group in the
(40:50):
US that was even directlyrelated to this condition.
It's a rare form, affectssomewhere between 500,000
million people worldwide and inthe US maybe a couple hundred
thousand.
It's not as rare as some things, but it's not very common and
it's one of the major forms ofmuscular dystrophy, of which
there are nine different majorforms and plus sub forms of all
(41:12):
those different ones.
So he was diagnosed in 2004 andwe thought, well, we should do
something to help him and wethought we could raise money for
research.
So we formed our ownorganization and started an
annual auction fundraiser event,which are very popular here in
our area, and so first year, Ithink, we raised about $180,000
(41:38):
and we thought that was greatand we funded a couple of
research projects for 50,000 peryear and hoping that we'd get
enough the next year to keepthose going.
And anyway, we just kept going.
We're now in our 21st year andour event last year raised
$960,000 and funded $1.3 millionin research this past year, and
things have changeddramatically since we started.
(41:59):
There are now moreorganizations raising money for
this condition.
There's also a big organizationin Canada that is putting a lot
of money into it, and there'spharmaceuticals involved
research going on in the privatesector and there's clinical
trials being run and conducted.
My son was a part of one ofthem a couple of years ago and
(42:20):
it ended sort of unsuccessfully,but not without good feedback
for the industry, and there'snew ones coming along and he's
doing really well, and so we'rehopeful that something will pop
up out of all this that willactually help him before too
long.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
That is wonderful.
Yeah Well, that is incrediblework, and I'm so glad to hear
that Brian is doing well.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
Yeah, he's doing good
.
It's been a very rewardingthing for us to do.
It keeps us very busy.
Yesterday I was puttingtogether all the summary.
Our fiscal year ends on May31st, so now it's time to pull
everything together and get withthe tax man.
My wife and I always say isthat we started doing it for
Brian, but now we do it forBrian and George and Chris and
(43:04):
Brad and all the other peoplewe've met through this that
we've never would have hadcontact with and never know
anything about if we hadn't donethis.
So it opened up a whole newthing for us and the support
from our my Master Swim team,from old swimming friends and
from new friends connected withsomehow with swimming, who
(43:25):
connected me with somebody elseand brought in sponsors.
If I hadn't been a swimmer andhad those connections, I don't
think it would have ever takenoff like it did.
So, swimming again is is been ahuge part of that.
Speaker 1 (43:39):
Another testimony to
swimming.
So if you're raising a milliondollars and more for research,
do you take a nap?
You go to swimming and then youwork on this and work in the
yard.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
What does a day in
the life look like.
Well, I get up in the morningand go swimming, I go after
swimming, I go to coffee withthe group and we sit around for
an hour or so talking.
I don't know how we always haveso much to talk about, but we
do.
Then I come home and then I'llwork in the yard or I'll work on
something to do with theorganization.
(44:10):
I think working on a nonprofitis one of the things that does
keep me working.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Is there anything
that I haven't asked you that
you want to share?
Speaker 2 (44:18):
I'm really lucky Our
team.
We have four Olympians on ourteam.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Yeah.
So there's myself, lynn whenLynn was swimming Charlotte
Davis, and then there's CamilleWright Thompson, who was on the
US team in 76 with me and weswim together every day and have
since 1992.
It's really fun, charlotte andI.
She started in summer leaguethe same time I did.
She's your age of my sister, soshe was 10, I was 8.
(44:45):
We started swimming together in1960 when she was 10 and I was
8, and we still swim together.
I just love that and we're allone happy family.
It's great.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
That is.
That's probably a big part ofyour love of just going to
practice and not finding itboring.
All right, we are going to dothe sprinter round here.
It's just a few fun littlequestions, nothing too hard, and
it just helps our listeners getto know you a little bit better
.
Breaststroker freestyle.
What's your true love right now?
Speaker 2 (45:15):
Freestyle.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Favorite post-meat
treat.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
Oh, ice cream, Ice
cream, I love it, I love ice
cream Swimmer you admired mostgrowing up.
I mean Steve Krause on our team.
He's the person I mentioned whodid the world record.
I just admired him and wantedto be like him.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
What's one thing that
might surprise you that people
don't know about you?
Speaker 2 (45:38):
Well, my favorite
movies are rom-com movies.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Do you know how
self-secure you have to be to
say that Rick Hardest swimmingevent in the pool?
Speaker 2 (45:51):
400 IM.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
What do you feel when
you are swimming?
What word comes to mind whenyou're swimming?
Speaker 2 (45:57):
I think at home.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Yeah, that's great.
That's my word, and very fewpeople say that.
All right, Rick, this has beenso fabulous.
Really really appreciate yourtime.
Thank you so much and good luckin Seattle at the meet.
Don't get too nervous.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
Yeah, oh, I will.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
I won't be there, but
I look forward to seeing you on
the pool deck soon and reallyappreciate you.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
All right, well,
thank you very much for having
me.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
Thank you.