Natalie Morales gets schooled in the pool by Olympic swimmers
Posted: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 12:16 PM by Jen Brown
Several Olympians and Olympic hopefuls joined us on the show this morning to celebrate the countdown to the Beijing Games – just 365 days to go!
Swimmer Natalie Coughlin, who won five medals at the Athens Games (two gold), and Olympic hopeful Kate Zeigler jumped in the first-ever pool on the plaza to give a few swimming tips to our own Natalie Morales, while swimming legend Janet Evans shared some summer swimming safety tips.
Photo: Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin (left) and Olympic hopeful Kate Zeigler (right) give a few swimming tips to TODAY's Natalie Morales.
I caught up with Natalie Morales after she dried off to get the scoop on the first pool interview of her career.
allDAY: How does one prepare for an interview in a pool?
Natalie: To start with, by not eating dinner the night before, especially when you’re squeezing yourself into one of those Speedo unitards! Natalie (Coughlin) was telling me the one I had on was a little too big for me and she usually wears one a full size smaller. I was like, ‘You’re kidding me! You don’t’ know what it took to get into this!’
allDAY: What’s you swimming background?
Natalie: It’s funny because people keep telling me I should do a triathlon. I love biking. I love running. The problem is I’m a horrible swimmer. I took swim lessons when I was a kid and my mom actually had to tell the swim coach to take it easy on me.
It’s a very difficult sport. The most difficult part is the total level of concentration. When you’re running you can enjoy the scenery and kind of tune out. But with swimming you have to be tuned in to everything you’re body is doing and that kind of scares me.
allDAY: You’ve had a bit of experience covering Olympic swimming….
Natalie: I went to the Ian Thorp-Michael Phelps showdown in Athens. How do you top that? Ever since then I have all that much more respect for the pressure Olympians are under. I know it’s a year out, but there’s already a big build up starting.
allDAY: Kate Ziegler will likely be a big star in the Beijing Games. What was your impression of her?
Natalie: What’s strange is that she’s 19, but I would never have guessed that talking to her. She has a maturity beyond her years. She has a really good head on her shoulders
allDAY: At one point you had Kate, who recently broke the longest standing world swimming record (1500 m freestyle) and on the other side of you was Janet Evans, who set that record in 1988. Did you feel like you were standing between history?
Natalie: It’s wild when you think of the history – and Janet Evans still looks so young! They’re breaking world records at such young ages!
Seeing them together on the plaza, I think you get a real sense of how far the sport has come. That was the longest held record and for Kate to break it give us a big indication of what she’s capable if she makes it to Beijing. I think all eyes are going to be watching her.
allDAY: So did you pick up any tips from all these world-class swimmers?
Natalie: Were I really trying to get a backstroke lesson I thin I’d be in a real pool. Here I have the record hodler in the 100 m backstroke givng me pointers. For her to be telling me how to do it was like ‘Okay, this isn’t very helpful now, but hopefully it will help me one day.’
