Ian Crocker Online Blog

New machine helps Bowdoin College swimmers enhance their swimming experience through the use of advanced technology.

BRUNSWICK — U.S. Olympic gold medalist Ian Crocker of Portland easily glides through Bowdoin College's Greason Pool, working on his form in preparation for his trip to China for the 2008 Olympic Games.

In a lane next to him, a novice swimmer from the college breezes past Crocker at a rate of three meters per second, making her strokes look easy and effortless.

No, Crocker didn't get passed as Maine's top swimmer, but was beaten to the wall with a new machine that is helping Bowdoin College swimmers enhance their swimming experience through the use of advanced technology....

To read the rest of the article check The Times Record

Other than that, Ian news has been kinda non-existent lately. I hope he's enjoying his vacation...I sure wish I was taking one too. Haha

Ian posted a new blog!

If anyone ever needs any reassurances about the amazing way this boy puts his thoughts into words, this entry should do it for you.

It's pretty long, but definitely worth the read:

Part one of why you haven’t heard from me is that it’s hard to focus on the creative side of myself while I’m trying to focus on the athletic side. Call me intense, but I have to focus on one thing at a time for best results. So, that explains the few months before the Games.


Part two is that, post Games my mind has been reeling. It’s not something that is unique to this go-round in Beijing, or a feeling of success or failure. It’s just hard to put together all the difficult emotions into a package that one can comprehend. This is my third Olympics and I’ve felt this after each one. The only thing that makes it easier this time is that I recognize the feeling for what it is and I’m not caught off guard like I was after Sydney.


8 years after Sydney and what seems like many lifetimes, I still haven’t been able to soak in the fact that I’ve even been to an Olympics at all, let alone three. I’ve spent every day since I first got on the National Team looking towards tomorrow. I think that’s about the only way to do it. As soon as a goal is reached, set a new one. Eighteen years of goals set, reached and reset, always looking ahead and having minimal time to enjoy the minutes you’re in, let alone the achievements as they pass. It all adds up to one day standing still and asking yourself, “what just happened”.


So, now I have some time. I’m needing to explore a bit of the world and more importantly myself. I’ve always found it impossible to do that from my couch, so I’m going to have to get off of it and do some travel.


I’m going to be exploring the here and now, mixed with heavy doses of reflection so that I can gain perspective and figure out what my future holds. Sounds easy right? I’m going to do all this for myself, but I’d love to share it all with you. I think that over the last 26 years I’ve accumulated some stories that are worth repeating. Some of them obviously take place around a pool. However, it’s just as important to look at the things off the pool deck.


Here’s where I am right now: Sitting on a bed in the Hilton off Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Here’s why I’m here: Last week I was asked if I wanted to be a guest on Oprah with a bunch of other medalists from Beijing.


Initially I said no because to be honest, with nothing to do, and no deadline for anything, and a little change in my pocket, I could be anywhere on the planet. Options are relatively new for me. I sit on my bed, I sit on my couch, I meet up with friends and all the while I feel like I’m free falling. I wake up at 2 am and I drive around the lake. I’ve got no reason to be asleep or awake at any time of the day. I bought a membership to a gym last week so I’d have some form of accomplishment other than making and eating breakfast, which I’ve been doing around 2 in afternoon recently.


I changed my mind about Oprah when I remembered that she films in Chicago. My best buddy Adam lives here now, so Oprah was the means to an end. I decided I’d stay up here for a few days after the taping because I thought perhaps I could get some thinking done.


You see, for the last two months I’ve been in a hotel room with nothing but time to think. Omaha, Palo Alto, Singapore, Beijing…books, movies, my guitar, and a purpose for being there. There’s something about the few months leading up to a major meet. Everything you need in your heart and mind and body for your best performance gets sucked in and magnified and everything you don’t need gets pushed away. This doesn’t happen by choice for me, it’s automatic. Being so focused on something gives you a sort of peace, like the eye of a storm. It’s one of the most intense experiences to sit through, but it’s also peaceful.


Now that I’m home, part of that has gone away and I thought that by getting out of the house, recreating the hotel environment, I might be able to think. Absurd, huh?


Yesterday it rained all day here. I sat in my room watching the boats in Lake Michigan and the rain on the street. I tried to write (which is how I make sense of the collage of thoughts in my head) and couldn’t express anything.


In the evening, when Adam was done with his Law School functions, we met up for a beverage and had a chance to talk about everything. A year ago he was in a similar position to where I am right now. Graduated from the Engineering Department at U of Texas, looking for a Law School, no idea where he would end up. Now he’s got a nice niche here in Chicago, school is going well, future’s so bright he’s gotta wear shades.


I have faith that I’ll be able to be there soon enough. I don’t know how, or when, or what I’ll be up to, but that’s the beauty of faith. I think that a common misconception about faith is that if you have it, you don’t worry. For me, worry is desire to contribute. An artist can’t function without that. In words so nicely arranged by Bob Dylan, “it’s a restless, hungry feeling”.


So, that’s where I’m at. The next thing on my calendar is Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) in Austin. I’ve got some time to kill before then because it’s not for another three weeks. I have a strong desire to get behind the wheel but I’m going to wait until after the festival because I don’t want to drift too far from Austin and have to break the road trip to come back. The only place I have on the “must go” list is to mom and dad and home up in Portland, Maine. I’m going to look through old photographs and videos, boxes of swim meet t-shirts and old ribbons and try to make sense of it all.


I invite you to come along and I’ll tell you stories of what’s gone on along the way. Maybe we can find my missing years.

-Ian

Check out and comment on this or his other blogs here.

Oprah Winfrey's's PR folks have released the full list of Olympians who will gather in Millennium Park on Wednesday for a special edition of her talk show.

The tickets that were available to the public have already been snapped up (as this Tribune story notes). There will also be some lawn seats available for the 10 a.m. Wednesday rally, but if you want to try that option, you'll have to line up starting at 6 a.m. If you don't want to get up that early, you can see the Olympians basking in the Oprah-rific glow on your TV when the talk show returns on Monday.

....

Swimming (Men's)
Ian Crocker, Mark Gangloff, Matt Grevers, Brendan Hansen, Cullen Jones,
Jason Lezak, Ryan Lochte, Aaron Peirsol, Michael Phelps, Peter Vanderkaay,
Garrett Weber-Gale

Swimming (Women's)
Elaine Breeden, Caroline Burckle, Natalie Coughlin, Margaret Hoelzer, Katie
Hoff, Megan Jendrick, Kara Lynn Joyce, Christine Magnuson, Christine
Marshall, Lacey Nymeyer, Allison Schmitt, Emily Silver, Julia Smit, Rebecca
Soni, Dara Torres, Kim Vandenberg

Be sure to watch, or tape, or TiVo.

Monday, September 8th. Check your local listings for the time.

Happy Birthday Crockah!!!!!!

Screw Labor Day weekend, my holiday is Ian's birthday! Our favorite boy turns twenty-six today!

To celebrate here's a list of 26 reasons why I think Ian is made of awesome:

26. Fastest butterfly ever
25. His blogs never fail to entertain or make you think
24. He's deeper than most 'jocks'
23. He's become a total Texas boy
22. He's pretty good-looking
21. Those rings/longhorn tattoos
20. Any boy who can play guitar well is great in my book
19. Super approachable
18. The scruff. Oh man, the scruff.
17. He has a hot car
16. ..that he actually knows how to work on himself
15. Looks damn good in a Speedo
14. Cooks
13. He's not a media whore (although, it would be nice to see his face a little more often...)
12. He's a family man, with an awesome family
11. Has manged to stay totally grounded, no ego at all.
10. I guess multiple Olympic medals count for something, too
09. Oh, and those World Records
08. Excellent role model
07. He's got that quiet cool
06. Knows how to balance his life with swimming, keeping it all in perspective
05. Fantastic taste in music
04. Great sense of humor (aka This )
03. Shutterbug who takes some pretty cool pictures
02. He's not completely terrified of me and/or his many other fans who follow his life
01. He just is

I could list more, but I'm afraid I've already gotten a little too sentimental as it is

Anyway, Happy Birthday Ian!! I hope its great and you enjoy the heck out of your day, and make it a great one. I'll throw a few back for you as well.

As many of you have probably seen already, the Crocker's wrote a blog from Beijing while they were there, chronicling their trip. It' a great read, and really cool to see what their experience was like.

For those of you who haven't checked it in a while, there is a new addition to the blog page. When the C's got back to Maine they were interviewed on the local news channel. The video has been added, along with a couple of pictures that they took while in Beijing.

This can all be found here.

Alright, now that the swimming part of the Olympics is over, the boys can get to the relaxing and partying.....and interviewing. Haha. There has been quite a few that have popped up in the last few days for me to share with you all.

For all of you who have been speculating about Ian retiring from the sport, well, this won't give you any clear answer, but its Ian addressing the issue, and how he feels about Beijing overall.



For me, that video just reinforces the fact that Ian is quite possibly the cutest thing ever.

Yahoo sports interviewed Ian at the Speedo athletes party a couple of days ago that you can watch here.

Due to his great swim in the prelims of the 4x100 Medley Relay, and the World Record breaking finals swim by Peirsol, Hansen, Phelps and Lezak, Ian has yet another gold medal to add to his pile.

Unfortunately the 100 fly didn't turn out the way we had hoped, but it was a ridiculous race.

Now he can get home and just take it easy. Good job, Ian. You're forever and always my favorite Olympian.

Last night (Yesterday morning, Beijing time) and this morning (Last night) Ian swam in the 100 fly semi-finals and the semi's of the 4x100 Medley Relay. It's shaping up to be a good race tonight. Here are the results:

100 Fly Semi's:

1 2 4 CAVIC Milorad May 31 1984 Serbia 0.80 23.67 50.92
27.25
2 1 4 PHELPS Michael Jun 30 1985 United States 0.72 24.24 50.97
26.73 0.05
3 1 3 LAUTERSTEIN Andrew May 22 1987 Australia 0.76 23.93 51.27
27.34 0.35 OC
3 2 1 CROCKER Ian Aug 31 1982 United States 0.72 23.91 51.27
27.36 0.35
5 1 5 DUNFORD Jason Nov 28 1986 Kenya 0.71 23.78 51.33
27.55 0.41
6 2 5 SERDINOV Andrii Nov 17 1982 Ukraine 0.73 23.93 51.41
27.48 0.49
7 2 6 FUJII Takuro Apr 21 1985 Japan 0.69 24.37 51.59
27.22 0.67
8 1 1 PINI Ryan Dec 10 1981 Papua N Guinea 0.82 23.98 51.62
27.64 0.70



Medley Relay:

1 2 4 USA - United States 3:32.75
GREVERS Matt 0.65 26.06 53.59 53.59
GANGLOFF Mark 0.36 27.52 1:00.35 1:53.94
CROCKER Ian 0.42 23.60 50.85 2:44.79
WEBER-GALE Garrett 0.26 23.02 47.96 3:32.75
2 1 4 AUS - Australia 3:32.76 0.01 OC
DELANEY Ashley 0.52 26.09 53.74 53.74
SPRENGER Christian 0.20 27.51 59.95 1:53.69
PINE Adam 0.07 23.92 51.66 2:45.35
TARGETT Matt 0.20 22.09 47.41 3:32.76
3 1 5 JPN - Japan 3:32.81 0.06 AS
MIYASHITA Junichi 0.62 26.14 54.29 54.29
KITAJIMA Kosuke 0.13 27.62 58.79 1:53.08
FUJII Takuro 0.24 24.10 50.86 2:43.94
SATO Hisayoshi 0.07 22.92 48.87 3:32.81
4 2 3 RUS - Russian Fed. 3:33.59 0.84 ER
VYATCHANIN Arkady 0.81 26.42 53.86 53.86
SLUDNOV Roman 0.17 27.74 59.63 1:53.49
SKVORTSOV Nikolay 0.22 23.52 51.62 2:45.11
GRECHIN Andrey 0.36 22.37 48.48 3:33.59
5 1 6 GBR - Great Britain 3:33.83 1.08
TANCOCK Liam 0.62 26.33 54.67 54.67
COOK Christopher 0.07 27.60 59.40 1:54.07
ROCK Michael 0.15 23.90 51.99 2:46.06
BURNETT Simon 0.13 22.41 47.77 3:33.83
6 2 8 NZL - New Zealand 3:34.09 1.34
BELL Daniel 0.56 26.42 54.52 54.52
SNYDERS Glenn 0.22 28.04 59.46 1:53.98
SWANEPOEL Corney 0.17 23.78 52.12 2:46.10
GIBSON Cam 0.05 22.90 47.99 3:34.09
7 2 6 RSA - South Africa 3:34.16 1.41 AF
ZANDBERG Gerhard 0.64 26.17 54.19 54.19
van der BURGH Cameron 0.27 27.34 59.68 1:53.87
FERNS Lyndon 0.22 23.67 52.33 2:46.20
TOWNSEND Darian 0.23 22.41 47.96 3:34.16
8 2 7 ITA - Italy 3:34.32 1.57
di TORA Mirco 0.55 25.88 54.05 54.05
TERRIN Alessandro 0.10 27.73 1:01.25 1:55.30
NALESSO Mattia 0.05 23.39 51.96 2:47.26
MAGNINI Filippo 0.00 22.42 47.06 3:34.32

That relay split is pretty darn good. Gets me excited for the 100 fly final tonight!!!! GOOD LUCK CROCKAH!!!!!!!!!!

ps: Sorry this is so late y'all. My computer picked the worst possible time to stop working, so I'm currently at my grandma's in order to post this stuff for you. Hopefully I'll have it all fixed for tonight, but if I don't, try not to chase after me with pitchforks for being slow on the updates. I'm doing the best I can. Be sure to watch whatever TV station is airing the Olympics for you to see the race live, as I'm sure you don't want to miss it anyway. However, if you cant this site is the best that I have found for results. I'll post the pictures and other stuff I've found as soon as my laptop is functional again.

Thanks for understanding!!

GO IAN!!!!!!

Ian did what he had to to make it to the semi finals tonight with a 51.95

1 9 5 CAVIC Milorad May 31 1984 Serbia 0.78 23.45 50.76
27.31 OR
2 9 4 PHELPS Michael Jun 30 1985 United States 0.70 24.41 50.87
26.46 0.11
3 9 7 SERDINOV Andrii Nov 17 1982 Ukraine 0.72 23.79 51.10
27.31 0.34
4 7 5 DUNFORD Jason Nov 28 1986 Kenya 0.70 23.71 51.14
27.43 0.38 AF
5 9 2 MANKOC Peter Jul 04 1978 Slovenia 0.71 24.06 51.24
27.18 0.48
6 7 3 LAUTERSTEIN Andrew May 22 1987 Australia 0.83 24.05 51.37
27.32 0.61 OC
7 7 7 FUJII Takuro Apr 21 1985 Japan 0.68 24.50 51.50
27.00 0.74 AS
8 8 5 SUBIRATS ALTES Albert Sep 25 1986 Venezuela 0.74 24.30 51.71
27.41 0.95
9 8 1 SWANEPOEL Corney Mar 17 1986 New Zealand 0.68 24.10 51.78
27.68 1.02
10 6 2 BREUS Sergii Jan 30 1983 Ukraine 0.71 24.14 51.82
27.68 1.06
11 7 4 BOUSQUET Frederick Apr 08 1981 France 0.77 24.02 51.83
27.81 1.07
12 6 8 SHI Feng Nov 06 1988 China 0.73 24.00 51.87
27.87 1.11
13 8 4 CROCKER Ian Aug 31 1982 United States 0.71 24.15 51.95
27.80 1.19
14 7 2 PINI Ryan Dec 10 1981 Papua N Guinea 0.78 24.04 52.00
27.96 1.24
15 5 3 FERNS Lyndon Sep 24 1983 South Africa 0.77 23.98 52.04
28.06 1.28
16 9 6 ALMEIDA Kaio Oct 19 1984 Brazil 0.67 24.41 52.05
27.64 1.29

Nice start, good luck tonight/tomorrow morning Ian!!!

Well, the 100 fly starts tomorrow, which is good, because my nerves have been building like whoa every day. I can't wait to see Ian in the water!



Good Luck Crockah!!!!!