Matt Biondy was in town!

On Tuesday, November 23rd Matt was in town. Thanks to long time friends of his and Marlins parents Karen and Howard Luria, Matt was invited to speak to the St Marks kids during the their general assembly. Of course  I had to be there.

Matt Biondy is one of the most distinguished swimmers of all times, competed in 3 Olympic Games 84, 88 and 92 and broke many records (more info here). At the height of my swimming carrier, I remember Rowdy Gaines was a big focus for me for one main reason: Rowdy was fast (he won the 100 free at the 84 Olympics) ... and he was just a short as I was - actually, he was the shortest swimmer in that race. Yes in the world of freestyle sprinters, 6'1 is short, and I must admit that it was too easy to latch on to that excuse as a ceiling for my performances.

In any case, Rowdy did help me during my competitive years as a reminder that you didn't have to be a giant to swim fast. All was well, until I attended an international meet in Monaco in 85 or 86 where many countries would send their national teams as a gauge meet. No one broke any records there (as far as I can remember) as every swimmer was still in the thick of training (it was in May), but just being there with the best swimmers in the world was, well, it was awesome!

When I was not warming up, racing, warming down, stretching and hanging with my teammates, I would go  sit amongst the various team attending the meet. The US team and Australian was a bit more interesting because I could understand bits of what was said between the swimmers, but sitting next the the Russians or Japanese was fascinating. It was like traveling abroad and not understanding anything, still realizing that we were not all that different in our needs (stretching, visualizing, talking with coaches). Anyways, at one point in the meet I found myself trying to figure out a way I could swim in the same lane as some of the great swimmers during warm-up. I know I sound like a groupie, whatever, what if by some kind of miracle, swimming within feet of them would rob off on me. Nothing magical happened of course except for the fact that I actually found my self standing right next to Matt Biondy as he was about to get in the pool for warm-up. Granted he didn't have his hand on my shoulder as depicted in the picture above, but I was close enough that I was looking straight into his eyes ... just kidding, straight at his shoulder!

Matt was the Michel Phelps of my time and I know it was an honor for Jeff and I to be part of this event at St Marks. Thank you Karen.