Re-charged Coughlin not yet done in the pool
U.S. star aims to make splash in Rio
Natalie Coughlin wasn’t happy with her performance at the London Olympics. Or with her 2012 season in general.
So when that dreadful year finally came to a close, she made some changes. She switched coaches — from Cal’s women’s swimming coach, Teri McKeever, her coach of 12 years, to Dave Durden, Cal’s men’s coach.
Since then, Coughlin has focused her training primarily on the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events, adding in the 100 backstroke in recent months to mix things up a bit. She trains with four-time Olympic medalist Nathan Adrian and two-time Olympic medalist Anthony Ervin — two of the best sprinters in the world.
Training with the guys has been a change for Coughlin, and a revitalizing one at that. It’s put her on track, she hopes, to swim well this year heading into next summer’s Olympic trials, and then nab a spot on the U.S. national team for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
“There are a lot of differences,” Coughlin said Friday at the Arena Pro Swim Series event here. “The guys I train with ... they take their time in warm-ups and the drills. They know when it’s time to be fast — they’re really fast — but other than that, they’re so, so highly focused on what they’re doing.
“When you’re in a group of all women, I’ve found women race each other from the very beginning. I got sucked into that. In warm-up, in the drill — I always felt rushed. I was trying to beat everyone in things that don’t really matter.”
Coughlin said another significant difference in her training this quadrennial has been strength training. With the guys, she’s doing more of it than she ever has, spending four days a week in the weight room and adding weight belts and resistance chutes in the water.
Coughlin remains optimistic this new training regimen and some encouraging recent swims — she qualified third in the 50 free (25.34 seconds) in Friday morning’s prelims — mean she is headed toward Rio eventually. She’ll swim in the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto this July because she did not qualify to com- pete in the world championships, which will be held in August in Kazan, Russia.
Coughlin said she was sick and in the hospital last summer during the 2014 national championship meet that helped determine roster spots for worlds. But she refuses to dwell on her disappointing nationals; she said she’s excited for Toronto and for attempting to take a roundabout route to Rio.
“A year out from the Olympics, this is where I need to be,” Coughlin said.
Coughlin is tied with Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres for the most Olympic medals among American women; she has won a medal in every Olympic event that she has entered.
But her medal from London left a bit of a sour taste in her mouth.
At the U.S. Olympic trials in 2012, Coughlin failed to qualify for a roster spot in any individual event. She made the U.S. team as a member of the 4x100 freestyle relay but then was chosen to only swim the prelims in London.
She received a bronze medal, along with the other members of the relay team, giving her 12 Olympic medals total to tie her with Thompson and Torres — but it was a strange experience — being handed a history-making medal after not swimming the final.
She wasn’t thrilled with London, but she wasn’t finished with swimming either. Coughlin has continued to train and swim because she loves it, and she’s embraced that piece of it, knowing she can’t keep doing it forever. Going down to the 50 free, sprinkling back in some backstroke events — all of that helps keep her engaged and growing in a sport she has spent her life competing in.
Now, with Rio fast approaching and a potentially historic medal dangling just within reach, Coughlin’s new coach and new training style are about to be put to the ultimate test.
“I have 100% confidence in the path he’s decided for us,” Coughlin said of Durden, smiling. “That’s really cool.”