Olympians to Compete at Mizzou

Is that misleading? Did you hope it was going to be the Dream Team in an exhibition with the MU Hoops squad? My money would be on the Dream Team, even if they are all sixty years old. The truth is that its not the Dream Team, or anything as spectacular, but Olympians nonetheless.

Eight time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps will be here. Five-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin will be here. And 19 others will be here. All of them gearing up for the World Championships in Melbourne, Australia next month. The meet, held at the Mizzou Aquatic Center, is the last major meet before the Championships.

At least 23 members of the United States national team will also be competing, as well as a host of prime time international competitors. The meet is set to be one of the largest and most competitive in the country this year, perhaps meaning that the tremendous amount of money MU put into its recreation center may be starting to pay off. I know one thing for sure, the big boys with the green wallets will all be in attendance smiling boastfully and showing off the treadmills equipped with DVD players, the excessive amount of flat screen, high definition televisions, and the obsessive amount of Tiger paintings all over the building. Phelps and company will no confusions about where they are, there's at least eleven Tiger paintings in the aquatic center.

Lindsey Mintenko, the managing director for the US national swim team, said "We've heard the facility is spectacular and we wanted a meet in the midwest."

Spectacular. Yes. Excessive and obsessive. Yes also.

The event will be held from Friday through Monday this coming weekend and consist of seven sessions beginning Friday evening at six A.M. It will cost you a measly five bucks to see Phelps attack a world record. Supposedly, Mintenko thinks there could be one or two World Records beaten during the course of the weekend. Whether this is a publicity stunt or the truth, who knows?

A chance to see these studs in person sounds like a pretty neat experience. "I think a lot of people will be surprised with how exciting swimming is," Mintenko said. If there's no college basketball games, no hockey games, if all my friends are out of town, and FSN is having technical difficulties then I'll probably see you there.