Davis eyes comeback bid amid juggling family life
San Antonio Express (subscription), TX - Jul 23, 2005
San Antonio resident and former Olympic swimmer Josh Davis, at age 32, is planning a comeback. Josh Davis hopes to add to his total of five Olympic medals.
Davis eyes comeback bid amid juggling family life
Web Posted: 07/24/2005 12:00 AM CDT
Lorne Chan
Express-News Staff Writer
San Antonio resident and former Olympic swimmer Josh Davis, at age 32, is planning a comeback.
(William Luther / Express-News)
Josh Davis hopes to add to his total of five Olympic medals.
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Davis took the past year off and is not competing at the World Swimming Championships this week in Montreal.
But he hopes to qualify for the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.
He began training again Monday and said he will do so three hours a day beginning Aug. 15, when school starts for some of his children.
"I'm still the fastest guy in the world who's 32 years old with five kids," said Davis, a former Churchill and Texas standout.
Davis also has five Olympic medals. He won three gold medals in 1996 in Atlanta and two silvers in 2000 in Sydney. He fell short of making the 2004 team at the U.S. Olympic trials in Long Beach, Calif.
It's a different world for Davis now that he is balancing being a father of five, including 7-month-old Liam, with training.
"It really doesn't have much to do with age. It has to do with the ability to give much time," Davis said. "Some swimmers can spend five hours a day in the pool and I can't."
Between 1996 and 2000, Davis established himself as the top 200-meter freestyle swimmer in the United States. He set the American record in that event at the trials in 2000.
His American record has since been broken by Michael Phelps. Last summer, Davis' dream of a third-straight Olympics ended when he lost in the semifinals of the 200 free at the trials.
"Before the trials, a lot of times I had to choose the kids or the pool," he said. "There were so many days I chose the kids and I don't regret it."
After Davis did not make the Olympic team, he decided to take a year off, coaching at clinics and giving speeches instead.
He is looking for local sponsors to support him so he can devote more time and energy to training.
"My dream sponsor is H-E-B, since we spend all our money there on diapers anyway," he said.
Davis will split time between training in San Antonio pools, including the one named for him at Blossom Athletic Center. He will also commute to Austin occasionally to swim at the UT facility.
"Josh just does so many things right, lives right, trains right," said UT coach Eddie Reese, who coached the U.S. Olympic team in Athens. "I think he can make a comeback, but at some point during a comeback, you have to work harder than you've ever worked."
from
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Former Member
In Swimming Fastest, Maglischo makes the point that it takes longer to regain athletic performance (based on various parameters) than it did to lose it.
As for Masters swimmers performing better than they did in college, I wonder how common this really is. I suspect that the top ten, at least in my age group (45-49), is dominated by swimmers who were very fast in college and, while slower now (just like everyone else), are still faster than the competition.
In Swimming Fastest, Maglischo makes the point that it takes longer to regain athletic performance (based on various parameters) than it did to lose it.
As for Masters swimmers performing better than they did in college, I wonder how common this really is. I suspect that the top ten, at least in my age group (45-49), is dominated by swimmers who were very fast in college and, while slower now (just like everyone else), are still faster than the competition.
