I had the pleasure of meeting former gold medalist, and the only woman to compete in 4 Olympics (in 3 sports!), Sheila Taormina on Saturday. http://sheilat.com
Me & 5'2 Sheila
My friends Greg & Melissa were doing a video shoot for a swimming product they are developing, and Sheila is their first swimming model. The day was a great time and it looks like I’m going to be working with Sheila on some ventures in the swimming/triathlon world, seeing as we can help each other out quite a bit. The next day I saw her talk at the Austin Triathlon, and this morning we had a nice strategy chat over coffee.
Sheila won the gold medal on the 4×200 meter free relay in the 1996 Olymics, then competed again for the USA in triathlon in 2000 and 2004. In 2008, she took up Modern Pentathlon (pistol shooting, fencing, 200 m freestyle swimming, show jumping, and a 3 km cross-country run), and once again, made the Olympic team!
She recently wrote a book called “Call the Suit”, with the goal of taking triathlon and open water swimming to the next level- showing athletes how to not just survive the swim, but to actually get faster. Hint: It all comes down to the pull. These techniques are a perfect addition for Tri Swim Coach, and should help our athletes move up further in the pack! I highly recommend checking out her book, available on her website: http://sheilat.com Besides Sheila’s obvious success in swimming, the proof that what she is saying actually works is that at 5’2, she had no business beating 6’0 women in freestyle- so she had to perfect her technique to get to that level.
We are planning a couple of swim clinics, possibly as early as December this year. Sheila also has a camp going on in Cabo San Lucas in November, details out soon! Sign up for our newsletter below to be kept up date on all the latest in swim clinics and triathlon swimming.