Q&A for Grace Best Elementary

Yesterday, I gave a presentation to Grace Best Elementary School in my home town of Monument Colorado. The kids were great and had a lot of great questions for me. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to ask their questions in the time we had, so one of the teachers gave me index cards with questions the kids had hoped to ask me. Here are the questions and the answers.


Who is your coach?
My head coach is Janusz Peciak, but I have a coordinator, running coach, swimming coach, and riding coach as well.

Where do you train?
At the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for most of my sports. It is open to the public and tours are free. I would encourage everyone who can to come visit the Center. I also go to California several times a year to train with my riding coach out there.

How big are the stadiums you compete in?
At the Olympics, there will be about 10,000 people in the shooting, fencing, and swimming events. I believe there will be close to 40,000 in the riding and running facilities. Pentathlon has sold out in the last two Olympics.

How many countries are going to be in the Olympics?
Around 200. Only about 25 will qualify to compete in pentathlon.

How old do you have to be to train and be in the Olympics?
You can start training very young. Many swimmers and gymnasts start when they are 4 years old. Other sports start much later.

How fast do you swim?
Last year, my best 200 meter long course swim was 2:04. However, that was at World Championships and we were not able to train for 3 of the 7 weeks before Worlds because of travel. My goal is to swim below 2:00 at the Olympics and my coaches and I believe that is realistic.

Why did you choose the Air Force Academy?
I grew up next to the Academy and I had a lot of role models in my life who were cadets. When I was about 8 or 9, I decided I wanted to go to the Academy and I worked all though high school to get there.

What is your best sport?
Running and swimming are both very good for me.

What is your favorite sport and why?
Running and swimming. I like them best because I like training those events. They are also my best events.

What color is the horse you jump?
It depends. We don’t take our own horse to the competition. At the competition, we draw for a horse and have only 20 minutes to ride it before jumping 15 four foot jumps.

How does fencing feel when you win and how does it feel when you lose?
Winning in fencing is very exhilarating and exciting. You get a huge rush when you hit your opponent. When you lose in fencing, it is easy to get angry or upset, but the best athletes control their emotions and immediately start thinking about the next match rather than dwell on the one you just lost.

When you get to China, will you train before you compete?
Yes. We will go three about three weeks ahead of time to acclimate to the time zone, temperature, pollution, and altitude. The closer we get to the competition, the less we will train. This is called tapering.

Which of the sports is the hardest?
I think shooting is the hardest sport for me. Coming from a swimming and running background, it is hard for me to change my mindset and stay focused in shooting.

Does it take a long time to train?
On a typical day, I start at about 7am and have 3-4 practices over about 10 hours. I get two sports massages a week and usually see a sports medicine chiropractor twice a week as well. On top of that, I have a lot of meetings as well.

Are you excited for the Olympic Games?
I am extremely excited, but I also am thinking a lot about this season. I will compete in four World Cups and the World Championships between now and June. After that, I will start my final Olympic preparation.

How long have you been training?
I started riding horses when I was very young (I don’t remember exactly when). Then a few years later I joined the swim team when I was 8 years old. When I was 14, I was introduced to pentathlon; but I decided to mostly train swimming through college. After graduating from the Academy in 2000, I started training more or less full time.