Young U.S. Swimmers Get a Lift from Pan Am Games

United States swimmers collected much more than gold medals by competing in the Pan American Games.

They added valuable experience which will help the team maintain its dominant position in the sport, according to U.S. Coach Skip Kenney.

“We have the perfect blend of veteran experience with the great enthusiasm of the young athletes on their first trip,” said Kenney. “This will produce better Olympians in the future.”

The best U.S. swimmers did not compete at the Pan Am Games. They were already committed to a Pan-Pacific meet in Brisbane, Australia, an agreement which was reached three years ago when the Pan Am Games had been scheduled for Quito, Ecuador.

As a result, the U.S. team that competed in the Pan Am Games was made up of the third and fourth place finishers in the national championships. It provided them with an unexpected opportunity to face international competition before next year’s Olympics.

“Next year, there is going to be a lot of younger blood coming up. This experience is going to be invaluable for next year’s Olympic team,” said Mike O’Brien, U.S. men’s swim co-captain and a veteran of the 1983 Pan Am Games in Caracas, Venezuela.

“In Caracas, it was a different situation. The team chemistry is a lot different. There were a lot of older swimmers there because of the 1980 boycott. This is a much younger group.”

Living conditions are also better for athletes in Indianapolis compared to those of Caracas, O’Brien said.

“It’s much better because we’re at home,” he said. “In Caracas, we were on the 14th floor of a 15-floor dormitory we called Alcatraz. There was dirt on the floor and no hot water for showers and it was a 90-minute ride to the pool. Here conditions are much better, everyone is excited about the Games and that makes it a lot easier on the athlete. Instead of worrying about taking a shower, you are concentrating on your races.”

Lori Heisick, 16, of Edina, Minn., was one who benefitted most from the Pan Am competition.

“She is going to be one of the leaders of the competition in 1990 when all of us old guys are gone,” O’Brien said.

Heisick looks forward to the Olympics like most of her teammates, but she is aiming at 1992, not 1988.

“I’m excited about the position I’m in. I’ll only be 21 in 1992. I have a lot of swimming left to do. It makes all the pain and time worthwhile,” she said.

Heisick said she will long remember her first Pan Am Games. It gave her much needed exposure to athletes from other countries.

“I felt a little uncomfortable at first but they have all made me feel like part of a family,” she said. “It’s a big deal for me. When other people got their uniform it was like, ‘oh well.’ For me, it was great to put on my sweats and see USA on them.”

Heisick said she will not be disappointed if she is not an Olympian next year but admitted some her high school athletes would be perplexed.

“It’s kind of funny. Kids go up to you and say, ‘Are you going to be in the Olympics?’ Then you have to sit down and explain the whole complicated thing to them,” Heisick said.