Coach recalls Olympics that weren't

Bright and early last Tuesday morning, Greg Ruminski, the assistant men's swimming coach, was awakened by the ring of his phone. Dutch swimmer Pieter Van Den Hoogenband had just broken the world record in the men's 100 meter freestyle at the Sydney Olympics and Ruminski's boss, men's swimming coach Kris Kirchner, wanted to share his excitement.\n"He said 'Hey did you hear the news?' and he told me the news and I was like 'OK, great,'" Ruminski said. "But I wanted to go back to bed."\nAlthough Kirchner has been following all the events at the Sydney pool with a similar amount of zeal, the men's 100 free holds special significance. Kirchner qualified for the event at the 1980 Olympic Trials for the games held in Moscow. But unlike the U.S. swimmers taking medals this year in Sydney, Kirchner earned his spot knowing he would never actually compete in the Olympics.\nThen-president Jimmy Carter called for a boycott of the 1980 Olympics to protest the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. The United States and about 60 other nations did not send any athletes to the 1980 Games, leaving a whole generation of men and women who would not add an Olympic medal to their list of accomplishments in sports.\nFrom the age of six until his retirement at 22, Kirchner swam competitively, spending a good portion of his time in the pool. \n"Up until 1979, I was not really in the national or international spotlight," he said. "In 1979, I earned a spot on the Pan-American team. From that point on, I made big progressions."\nIt was at this point that all of Kirchner's training began to come together. As a junior at the University of Texas, he took second in the 50 freestyle at NCAA's and fifth in the 100 free. By 1980, he had the fourth best time in the world in the 100 free.\n"By then I knew what I wanted to do and what I thought I could do," he said. "It all began to become a reality."\nAs Kirchner's training came together, the political relations between the United States and the former Soviet Union came apart. In the spring of 1980, Carter announced the boycott. The U.S. Olympic Trials were pushed back that year to coincide with the Moscow Olympics. Even though the United States would not be competing, the country still named an Olympic team and recognized those athletes who had earned a spot.\nKirchner earned his spot by finishing third in the 100 free. Just as the U.S. Olympic qualifiers saw their names go up on the wall at this year's trials in Indianapolis, Kirchner remembers the announcement of the 1980 team.\n"(U.S. Swimming) still selected the Olympic team, you just knew that you were not going. It was still a competition and, you still did what you had set out to do," Kirchner said of the trials. "It was still an honor to be one of the top swimmers."\nAlthough he can't speak for all the athletes who were kept out of the 1980 Games, Kirchner understands Carter's actions from a political standpoint. He sees the boycott as something he had to deal with as an American and one that may have been worth it.\n"This is the best country to live in the the world," Kirchner said. "I've been to others and seen a lot and this is where I want to live. The tough part is when I made the decision that I wasn't going to swim anymore. After I knew that that was my only time to compete at the Olympic level. In my mind, I would go to Moscow, kick butt and find out if I could win at the Olympic level."\nWhile swimmers like 33-year-old Olympian Dara Torres can make the money to keep themselves training after college and even into their thirties, this wasn't the case in 1980. At 22, Kirchner was viewed as an "old man" by swimming standards. To stay in competitive shape for the 1984 Los Angeles Games, he would have had to foot the bill for coaching and training himself with little hope for endorsements or other profit opportunities. \n"As I get older, it's an awful feeling when I think that it was the only opportunity I had," he said. "At 22, I was retired and I know now at 42 that at 22 I could have been better. I know I would have improved, but I had no financial way to do that." \nNow Kirchner is working to make it back to the Olympics -- this time as a coach. He has coached a British and a Belgian Olympian in the past, but Kirchner's goal is to go back as part of the U.S. team.\n"Coaching at the Olympic level is very difficult," he said. "It's more difficult to just watch because when you are coaching you aren't in control of what the performance is. I'm not going to be satisfied until our athletes at IU make the transition to the Olympic level. We took five guys to the swimming trials and they performed pretty well. But pretty well doesn't get a spot."\nAs Kirchner watches U.S. swimmers winning medals and crushing record times this Olympics, he feels satisfied with the direction of the sport.\n"I watch these Olympics and feel very satisfied to be an American," he said. "It proves we have the best swim team. Even if you don't win every event, if you can show dominance, it proves you have the best country in the world"