July 2004

Alumni Make it to Final Stages of Olympic Trials

Most people regard the summer Olympics as the stuff of television and movies and cereal boxes. For alumni, like swimmer, Ethan Bassett, CAS/BS '04, and runner Sean O'Brien, CAS/BA '03, the summer games represent dreams they have chased with hours of toil and sweat.

Both Bassett and O’Brien reached the final stages of the Olympic trials, with Bassett finishing seventh in the 200 breaststroke and O’Brien finishing 21st in the 1500 meter run semifinals.

O'Brien, who worked as an assistant coach this season, qualified for the Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif., by running the tenth fastest 1500 meters in the nation this year.

Sean O'Brien

“The Olympics have always been a huge thing for me,” O'Brien said. “In 1996, I had a bad bicycle accident and couldn't get out of bed for two weeks and that was the two weeks of the Olympics. I got up and watched coverage all the way until 2 a.m. and then got up and did it again... It's a dream to get there.”

For Bassett, the cut for Athens was extremely tight—he needed to finish in the top two of his event. “Because swimming's an amateur sport, the Olympics are sort of the ultimate goal,” Bassett said. “It's always in the back of your mind.”

The AU swimming program has a proud tradition of Olympic success, and Bassett competed in the 2000 Olympic Trials. This year he was joined at the trials by former teammates Dominick Szabo, KSB/BSBA ’04, and Mark Liscinsky, SOC/BA ’04, as well as incoming freshman Megan Thiel. Several members of the AU swim team traveled to California to cheer on the trio.

Ethan Bassett

-Adapted by Mary Skinner from article by Kenny Lucas, originally published in American Summer Weekly, July 7, 2004

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