Open Water Olympic Trials. This One Really Counts!! But Don't Forget......

They know the race.  The distance is not intimidating to them. They have confidence in their training.  They are coming together as a Team at Camp.  Their coaches are spending their would-be sleep time on strategy (or at least they had better be).  They have their own secret feeding formulas. But then, it will hit them, hopefully in a bolt of confidence, that they only have themselves, their own thoughts, their own demons, their own mental video that they have played over and over in their heads of winning the race. 
This, I can only hope, is the video that is playing in their minds.  The one where they win.  The one where our Flag flies in the top two elevations above the podium.  Once for the women, then for the men. We blazed a trail for this 3 years ago.  A trail that had no intention of trying to qualify for the Olympics, but a trail that attempted to WIN at World Championships.  The talk preceding the race by those that were clearly ignorant was that of "just get him in the top ten, then he makes the Olympics".  Can you believe that?  There were really only two people that took on the same perspective that I had as a coach:  Train and race to win.  One was my Athlete, one was my Head Coach. The race did happen to be a qualifier for the Olympic Games, but that was not what the event was.  The event was the 10k World Championships. It needed to be respected as such..  One Coach did approach me for advice on my experience after this years Trials in Florida.  I relayed what our goal was for Seville in 2008.  It was fun to watch him realize that what I was saying was a great foundation for preparation.  "Let the ignorant advisers encourage you to get in the top ten.  But realize you are preparing for the 10k World Championships and the only worthy goal is to win".  The Olympic berth will take care of itself.  Until the member nations are trusted to send their own athletes to the Games like every other Swimming event, we must use this race to do it.  Hard work and great politics will change this selection procedure eventually; but this is what we have for now.
Alex, Eva, Sean, and Christine: this is your time. This is your opportunity to win an unprecedented FOUR medals for the United States at the 10k World Championships.  That is my challenge to you.  Enjoy every bit of the journey.  Raise the flag, Make them play our National Anthem in a Foreign Country.  Then, come home and get started on the next chapter: LONDON GOLD.