Missy Franklin and Ryan Lochte Shine During USA Swimming’s Golden Night

Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin holding their awards. 

        On Sunday, USA Swimming hosted the 8th annual Golden Goggle Awards at the JW Marriot in Los Angeles. The master of ceremonies was actor and comedian Kevin Nealon, but the stars of the night were Missy Franklin, Ryan Lochte and the U.S. 2011 World Championships Team.

            Missy Franklin, 16-year-old phenom, took home three awards Sunday night. Her shining moment came when a speechless Franklin was given the Female Athlete of the Year award, “I have no idea why I’m standing up here right now,” she said, “I definitely don’t feel like I deserve this.”

She also took home the award for Female Race of the Year and shared the award for Relay of the Year with her 4x100 Medley Relay teammates Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni and Dana Vollmer. Franklin has been compared to the “female Michael Phelps of swimming” because of her success at such a young age.

            Phelps was noticeably absent Sunday night as his teammate, and rival, Ryan Lochte took home the Male Athlete of the Year award. Lochte expressed his love and thanks to his coach, Gregg Troy, who took home the Coach of the Year award. Lochte also shared a tender moment with his mother “Mom, you’re so beautiful,” he said, “I love you.”

Ryan Lochte and his mother on the red carpet.

Lochte took home the award for Male Race of the Year for his performance in the 200 Individual Medley, in which he broke a world record breaking an 18 month world record drought. Lochte thanked Phelps, who swam against him at the world championships in this event, for pushing him to many limits.

Peter Vanderkaay and Alex Meyer rounded out the winners. Vanderkaay took home the Perseverance award while Meyer took the Breakout Performer of the Year. Meyer is the first American swimmer to earn a spot on the 2012 Open Water swimming Olympic team. 

Hardy Wins Aquatic Athlete of the Year

Jessica Hardy at the 2011 Shanghai World Championship after
winning the gold in the 50 breaststroke. 

           On No.10, USA swimming member, Jessica Hardy was awarded the Aquatic Athlete of the Year award at The Long Beach Aquatic Capital of America Foundation’s 3rd annual Aquatic Athlete of the Year Ceremony in Long Beach, Calif. 

             Hardy was recognized for her accomplishments at the 2011 FINA World Championships held in Shanghai and USA Swimming’s National Championships in Palo Alto, CA both held this summer.  Hardy became a world champion in the 50-meter breaststroke and a U.S. national champion in the 100-meter breaststroke. She took silver along with her teammates in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay in Shanghai.

Hardy currently holds three world records, both the long and short course record in the 50-meter breaststroke and the long course record for the100-meter breaststroke. “When someone is breaking world records like that and defending them all over the world, you have to respect and honor that commitment to the sport,” said Ray Burton, board member at the Long Beach Aquatic Capital of America Foundation.

            Burton served as the night’s emcee and Tom Shadden, who serves as co-chair of the board along with Burton, handed out the awards. The dinner was hosted by law-firm Keesal, Young & Logan. Hardy’s parents, Denise and Bill Robinson, were on hand to accept the award on their daughter’s behalf. Hardy was unable to attend because she was competing in Minneapolis at the first grand prix of USA Swimming’s Grand Prix Series.

Hardy won against a number of other aquatic athletes including open water swimmers Ted Bramble, Parks Wesson and Lexie Kelly; two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Misty May-Treanor, along with a number of other athletes. A committee set up by the foundation looks at eight categories of sports and chooses the nominees and winner for the year. “We look at the range of competition, success in that competition, and to what extent it has brought recognition to the sport and to our community,” Burton said.

This is Hardy’s second Aquatic Athlete of the Year award.  She is a Long Beach, Calif. Native and graduated from Wilson High School in 2005. 

Four-Day Olympic Trial Tickets Now on Sale

Quest Center Omaha during the 2008 USA Swimming Olympic Trials

USA Swimming has announced the availability of four-day Olympic trial tickets. The 2012 swimming Olympic trials will take place in Omaha, Neb. at the Quest Center Omaha during the week of Jun. 25 through Jul. 2.  Swimming fans will now have the option of purchasing packets for either the first four days of competition, Jun. 25-28, or the last four, Jun. 29-Jul. 2.

Ticket prices range from $180 to $290 depending on seating placement and availability. Ticket packages include both the morning preliminary sessions and the nightly final sessions.  Packages can be purchased online through Ticketmaster or at the CenturyLink Center Omaha box office , either in person or by phone. 

This new ticketing option will appeal to those who cannot attend the full week competition or cannot afford to. Andrew Perez, Former swimmer and Pasadena, CA resident, says he changed his mind about not attending after hearing about this new option, “Initially it was too expensive,” he said, “Now my expenses will be cut about half and that changes everything.” 

USA Swimming initially began selling full session tickets in July. They included all eight days of competition and the prices for that package ranged from $325 to $525 based on location. Those tickets are no longer available online but can still be purchased by contacting the box office.

In July there were also 140 exclusive seats made available. Those who purchased these seats for $1000 were able to snag the best seats in the house. Those people will be seated on the pool deck watching USA’s best swimmers battling for a coveted spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. “As a former swimmer, being on deck at Olympic trials would be an amazing experience,” he said, “Definitely the best seats available.”  
 One-day tickets have not been made available but USA Swimming says they will be made available at a later date. For additional information on the swimming Olympic trials please visit HERE.

Presentation of Olympic team at 2008 trials. 

The Golden Goggles are Coming to Los Angeles

Olympian Rebecca Soni accepting the Female Athlete of the Year
award at the 2010 Golden Goggle Awards. 

USA Swimming will be hosting its 8th annual Golden Goggle Awards on Nov. 20 at the JW Marriott Los Angeles at L.A. Live. The event is organized to honor the achievements of the world championship team that competed this summer in Shanghai and also serves as a fundraiser for the USA Swimming Foundation.

The Golden Goggle Awards recognize the national team’s best performances and give an opportunity to the swimming community and swimming fans to vote for their favorites. Mariah Cunnick, Director of Development at USA Swimming, talked about the importance of the Golden Goggles to the swimming community “It’s huge,” she said, “ It's really our only centerpiece event focusing entirely on our athletes.” 

Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin lead the nominations with four a piece. Phelps and Lochte are both nominees for Male Athlete of the Year and they along with Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay make up the gold winning 4x200 Freestyle Relay team, which is nominated for Best Relay Performance of the Year.

Lochte has two nominations for Male Race of the Year. The first for his world-record-breaking performance in the 200 Individual Medley and the second for the 200 Freestyle.  Phelps also holds a nomination in that category for the 200 Butterfly. Phelps shares a nomination for Best Relay Performance with Nick Thoman, Nathan Adrian and Mark Gangloff for the 4x100 Medley Relay.

Missy Franklin leads the nominations on the women’s side with a nomination for Best Female Athlete of the Year, Female Race of the Year and two nominations for Best Relay Performance of the Year. She shares one of her relay nominations with the 4x100 Medley Relay team, which includes: Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni and Dana Vollmer. She shares the other with Dagny Knutson, Katie Hoff and Allison Schmitt for their performance in the 4x200 Freestyle Relay.

This year, USA Swimming will be adding a silent auction to the event. The proceeds of the auction will be benefiting their foundation. “We were looking for ways to maximize the potential of the event without risking the integrity of the event,” Cunnick said.

The auction will feature 35 items which include living the life of a national teamer for three days at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, being a “basket kid” at the U.S. Olympic Trials next summer, being an honorary team captain at the 2011 Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool, a swim lesson and lunch with Olympian Natalie Coughlin, along with many other items.

The silent auction will take place during the reception hour, but there is a way that those who will not be attending that night can get into the action. USA Swimming will be opening an online auction on Nov. 7 that will run through Nov. 19 at 11:59 p.m. The online auction will feature 12 of the premier items being offered at the Golden Google Awards.

Actor and comedian Kevin Nealon will be hosting the event. Cunnick says the swimming community is extremely excited about the host for this year. The theme of the night will be Rock & Roll and Beatles tribute band “The Return” will be contributing to that atmosphere.

 The Golden Goggle Awards began in 2004, “They’re a great way for the swimming community to connect with one another and get together to celebrate our athletes, “ Cunnick said. The Golden Goggles alternate coasts each year and will be held in New York next year. 

UPDATE: Online auction is now open. Here
            UPDATE: The Golden Goggle Awards will be live streamed on Nov. 20                 at 6pm PT Here