Four former and current Florida swimmers are headed to the Olympic Games in Rio to represent the USA, but all of them left something to be desired in trials.
On Saturday, the second to last day of the USA Olympic swimming trials, Elizabeth Beisel and Caeleb Dressel fell short of furthering their chances for medals.
Beisel, who graduated from UF in 2014, had already made Rio by placing second in the women’s 400-meter individual medley but placed seventh in the 200-meter backstroke final. Beisel won silver in the 400-meter IM at the 2012 Olympics and earned bronze in the 200-meter backstroke.
Dressel, who will make his Olympic debut after placing second in the men’s 100-meter freestyle final, also fell short on Saturday, placing fourth in the 50-meter freestyle final. He’s the only current UF swimmer to make the American team.
The two remaining Gators headed to Rio for the USA — Ryan Lochte and Conor Dwyer — also didn’t advance in all their competitions, with Dwyer placing eighth in the 100-meter freestyle finals and Lochte placing third in the 400-meter individual medley, an event he won gold in at the 2012 Olympics.
Still, Dwyer will compete in three events (400-meter freestyle, 200-meter freestyle and the 4x200-meter freestyle relay) while Lochte, the 11-time Olympian, will compete in two (200-meter individual medley, 4x200-meter freestyle relay).
In addition to the Gator swimmers representing the US, eight other former or current Gators will head to Rio to represent other countries, according to FloridaGators.com. They are Mitch D’Arrigo (Italy), Hilda Luthersdottir (Iceland), Corey Main (New Zealand), Sebastien Rousseau (South Africa), Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez (Spain), Jan Switkowski (Poland), Dan Wallace (Great Britain) a
Contact Ethan Bauer at ebauer@alligator.org or follow him on Twitter @ebaueri.
Florida's Caeleb Dressel reacts after winning the 100-yard freestyle at the NCAA men's swimming and diving championships Saturday, March 26, 2016, in Atlanta. The initials on his face are in honor of a former teacher. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
