In this Gold Medal Minute takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast we have Olympic swimming icon and television star Summer Sanders.

Summer was the most decorated swimmer of the 1992 Olympic Games, earning four medals, two gold, one sliver, and a bronze. At that time she was the first female to make the U.S. Olympic Team in four individual events since Shirley Babashoff did it back in 1976.

At Stanford University Summer won nine NCAA Titles and helped the Cardinal to an NCAA Team Title in only two years. She gave up her eligibility after her sophomore year.  (We didn't say turning pro back then.)

Summer's career burned white-hot. She accomplished a great deal in a very small window, one quad, 1988-92.  The big moment, the ah hah moment, came at the tender age of 15 when she got 3rd at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 400 IM. From that one point forward Summer medaled at all international events representing Team USA.

While Summer gained fame at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, her star really rose throughout her 25-year TV career.  Her credits are too long to list, but she's worked with nearly everyone, CBS, ESPN, NBC, MSNBC, FOX SPORTS, MTV, etc..  However, I think her biggest fans grew out of her Nickelodeon show FIGURE IT OUT.

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We sat down with Tom Jager, the man who held the 50m freestyle world record longer than anyone else to date. He got into the nitty-gritty of how he developed speed, including learning to listen to his body and do what he needed to do, not necessarily what every coach at the time thought he needed. This eventually evolved into his trademark set, 10x50 all out (this was in the late 80's... sound like anyone else in our current swimming community?). 

Jager also enlightened us on what he and Matt Biondi tried to change in terms of swimmers getting paid, by USA Swimming and by outside sponsorships. He speaks openly about how upset he was that athletes were getting scraps compared to what coaches or officials were taking home. 

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Music: Otis McDonald www.otismacmusic.com

We sat down with Tom Jager, the man who held the 50m freestyle world record longer than anyone else to date. He got into the nitty-gritty of how he developed speed, including learning to listen to his body and do what he needed to do, not necessarily what every coach at the time thought he needed. This eventually evolved into his trademark set, 10x50 all out (this was in the late 80's... sound like anyone else in our current swimming community?). 

Jager also enlightened us on what he and Matt Biondi tried to change in terms of swimmers getting paid, by USA Swimming and by outside sponsorships. He speaks openly about how upset he was that athletes were getting scraps compared to what coaches or officials were taking home. 

Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

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Music: Otis McDonald www.otismacmusic.com

We sat down with Olympic medalist and world champ Brent Hayden. Brent discussed that while he is commonly perceived as intimidating, that typically dissipates when he opens his mouth. Brent is, in a word, a sweetheart. He's incredibly intelligent and finds solace in photography, of which he's had numerous shows (you can see his work here).

What you may not know about Brent is that at his first Olympics in 2004, after already performing poorly by his standards, he was mistaken for a rioter in the streets of Athens and assaulted by numerous policemen, resulting in an elbow injury which kept him out of the short course world championships the following autumn. However, this entire Olympic experience did give Hayden the motivation he needed to really commit, and push himself to new heights in the pool, including his world championship title in 2007.

Hayden (who has been making a comeback since 2019, something you can listen to more of here), is now putting his efforts in SwimSecrets.com, his own freestyle master course, taught by him. During these classes, Hayden teaches you all of the tricks to having a world-class freestyle.

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Music: Otis McDonald www.otismacmusic.com

We sat down with Olympic medalist and world champ Brent Hayden. Brent discussed that while he is commonly perceived as intimidating, that typically dissipates when he opens his mouth. Brent is, in a word, a sweetheart. He's incredibly intelligent and finds solace in photography, of which he's had numerous shows (you can see his work here).

What you may not know about Brent is that at his first Olympics in 2004, after already performing poorly by his standards, he was mistaken for a rioter in the streets of Athens and assaulted by numerous policemen, resulting in an elbow injury which kept him out of the short course world championships the following autumn. However, this entire Olympic experience did give Hayden the motivation he needed to really commit, and push himself to new heights in the pool, including his world championship title in 2007.

Hayden (who has been making a comeback since 2019, something you can listen to more of here), is now putting his efforts in SwimSecrets.com, his own freestyle master course, taught by him. During these classes, Hayden teaches you all of the tricks to having a world-class freestyle.

Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts

Click here to listen and subscribe on Podbean

Click here to listen and subscribe on Google

Click here to listen and subscribe on YouTube

Music: Otis McDonald www.otismacmusic.com

We sat down with me, Coleman Hodges, to tell you a little about who I am, why I got into swimming, and how I ended up at SwimSwam producing a lot of its media, including the SwimSwam Podcast and Practice + Pancakes. In short, from my perspective at least, I made myself be reliable and consistent with my work and always embraced new opportunities. I think it helped that I was a total swim geek too.

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Music: Otis McDonald www.otismacmusic.com

We sat down with me, Coleman Hodges, to tell you a little about who I am, why I got into swimming, and how I ended up at SwimSwam producing a lot of its media, including the SwimSwam Podcast and Practice + Pancakes. In short, from my perspective at least, I made myself be reliable and consistent with my work and always embraced new opportunities. I think it helped that I was a total swim geek too.

Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

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Music: Otis McDonald www.otismacmusic.com

We sat down with the Texas men's assistant coach, Wyatt Collins, to pick his brain about the extremely storied Texas Tradition. Collins talks us through his own swimming career, coming to Texas as a swimmer, learning the Texas way through being a volunteer coach for 3 seasons, and finally what led to him being the assistant to current head coach Eddie Reese. 

Wyatt admits that over the last 2 seasons, he's learned to step out of the shadow of legendary associate head coach Kris Kubik, and make the Texas Tradition his own. That seems to be one reason why Austin Katz described this last year's team as "the weirdest we've ever been", in a good way. According to Collins, this included lots of very bad jokes being told before practice, singing during practice, and even a cricket-hunting competition outside of practice.

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Music: Otis McDonald www.otismacmusic.com

We sat down with the Texas men's assistant coach, Wyatt Collins, to pick his brain about the extremely storied Texas Tradition. Collins talks us through his own swimming career, coming to Texas as a swimmer, learning the Texas way through being a volunteer coach for 3 seasons, and finally what led to him being the assistant to current head coach Eddie Reese. 

Wyatt admits that over the last 2 seasons, he's learned to step out of the shadow of legendary associate head coach Kris Kubik, and make the Texas Tradition his own. That seems to be one reason why Austin Katz described this last year's team as "the weirdest we've ever been", in a good way. According to Collins, this included lots of very bad jokes being told before practice, singing during practice, and even a cricket-hunting competition outside of practice.

Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify

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Music: Otis McDonald www.otismacmusic.com

We sat down with 2016 Olympic head coach David Marsh and picked his brain on how small changes can make huge differences, especially when you want them to. Marsh has a history of working with athletes for a very short amount of time and it making a big difference. 

This first started with none other than SwimSwam Co-founder Mel Stewart, as Mel went to train with Marsh for 8 weeks in the summer of 1990. Marsh made technical changes with Mel, and the next January in 1991, Mel broke his first world record in the 200 fly in 1:55.69. 

Marsh goes in-depth about other athletes he's trained to success, including Cullen Jones, who was a toss-up to make the 2008 Olympic team heading into Trials, but who stormed his way onto the team in the 4x100 free relay.

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Music: Otis McDonald www.otismacmusic.com