The US Olympic Trials came to a close this evening, and the last event of the meet was the men's 1500 freestyle. Everyone expected a great battle between Erik Vendt and Larsen Jensen. Then came the parade of finalists.
Every time the parade of finalists is walking around the pool to the starting blocks, there is wild, upbeat music blasting over the loudspeakers. Most of what we've heard during the meet was modern techno/house music.
So what did they play for the men's 1500?
"Radar Love" by Golden Earring!
Although many people didn't get the significance, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was SO psyched!!!
For those of you who haven't read the book "Four Champions, One Gold Medal" go out and get a copy of the book right away!! "Radar Love" was the song Brian Goodell had going through his head during his intense training sessions and many of his races. It was his favorite psyche song.
As the swimmers walked out to "Radar Love" I thought about Brian Goodell, who I'd just met for the first time a couple days ago. There we were in Southern California, not far from Mission Viejo. There was a huge section of Mission Viejo fans in the stands, and two Mission Viejo swimmers in the final, including 800 meter American Record holder Larsen Jensen.
As the race was coming to a close, Larsen Jensen was in command and was just about to break the American record. I looked over to my right, and there was Brian Goodell, two boxes over, behind lane three, standing at the front of the box, whistling as loud as he could. Jensen broke the American record by one tenth of a second with a time of 14:56.71.
It was truly an extraordinary moment!!
By the way, Brian is doing some Masters swimming these days, and told me he plans to swim Masters Nationals at Mission Viejo next summer.
Later, I went over to Brian and told him how excited I was to hear Radar Love. He had a little sparkle in his eyes. Apparently, he had made a special request to the DJ.
For me, it was a defining moment in American swimming, and I couldn't think of a better way to wrap up these Trials.
WOW!
~Bill
