2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Swimming: August 6-13
- Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro
- Prelims – 9:00 a.m/12:00 p.m PST/EST (1:00 p.m local), Finals – 6:00 p.m/9:00 p.m PST/EST (10:00 p.m local)
- SwimSwam previews
- Day 7 Schedule & Results
- Live Stream (NBC)
Tonight, after becoming the oldest swimmer in history to win individual gold with his 50 free win, Anthony Ervin said that he wants to keep on going.
“I’m gonna try and make the Tokyo team of course,” he said. “Obviously I like being in an environment where I can keep trying to swim to the best of my potential and I don’t think my age should limit me to that and I don’t think fear of defeat should limit that either because I don’t think about winning or losing, it’s just about being the best I can be for me and those that supported me.”
Interestingly, Ervin is also the youngest swimmer in history to ever win Olympic gold in the men’s 50 free, with his 2000 gold medal at 19. 16 years later, his journey has come full circle.
“It’s surreal, kind of absurd and you know when I touched, turned around and saw the one next to my name, I kind of smiled and laughed,” he said. “Then I wanted to show a little bit of emotion for the effort I’d put in, for my friends, for my family, for those watching at home and in the stands.”
Speaking about his race, Ervin emphasized the importance of the team of people who support him.
“I just got great people around me,” he said. “You don’t think about trying to get your hand on the wall first, you just think about trying to swim the race that you imagine you can do, the one that you’ve been practicing, the one that maybe starts as a dream and it’s a plan. You plan to do something, you start testing that plan and that was something I did at the Olympic Trials and something I did in the preliminaries. Then I refined the plan for semifinals and I tried to achieve an ultimate, best-to-do race for tonight and that’s what I did. It just so happened that I got my hand on the wall, one one hundredth ahead of [Florent Manadou], and you can’t control that. All I can control is how I do things and I just feel really lucky that I had a great team of people, my people to help me do it.”
the guy is amazing. great attitude. i hope he can work with young people especially young swimmers (athletes) to stress his healthy mindset now after having some turmoil.
Wow Irvin’s last quote ought to be etched in granite. Anyone wondering how to win should read it.
Ervin and Adrian swam at Master’s SCY Nationals in Santa Clara a few years ago (Grevers did the same in San Antonio). What a show. It was like they were doing a different sport.
That was the year that Adrian set an American record in the 100 scy free at the meet, but it was nullified because the touchpad delay was still on at 20 seconds. Masters swimming had never go under 20 seconds to the feet on the first 50.
It’s great when these older pros come swim in the Masters meets as tune-ups and to support their sponsors. Lots of Masters swimmers bring their kids to the meet, and we all (parents and kids) look up… Read more »
Congrats. We were pulling for u.
My man.
Ervin is a huge inspiration for all late developers in the sport! What a guy.
This was the swim I was the most excited about tonight. I wanted Anthony to win so bad, but I could not see it happening.
As happy as I am to see him at the top, I can’t help but wonder what might have been. How many golds could he have? He may have altered history, if he were on the 2004 (US may have one) or 2008 (Leak may not have had so much to overcome). How fast would he have gone in a plastic suit? Anyways, I am sure he appreciates it a lot more now.
With 2 golds, one at 19, one at 35, and an incredible journey in between, can we now say that Anthony Ervin… Read more »
I have no idea how to even begin figuring out who the greatest 50fr of all time is, but I do think that Ervin is the fastest man of all time (highest speed through the water).
I would have to agree. He had a much slower start in the semis and we saw a wonderful underwater shot of him swimming right past Nathan on the BBC. Incredible speed and a joy to watch
Nah man, don’t worry about what might have been. (Maybe he burns out and quits for good ten years ago, maybe he never loses a race. Can’t say.)
But I do know is what is is pretty amazing.
As soon as he broke out pretty close to Manaudou, I screamed “he’s gonna win!!”
Friggan incredible.
I thought so too. His start was sooooooo much better then in semis. What a great race.