Representing an entire country, in front of thousands of people, with millions more watching via television while you give your very best performance in a swimsuit are all in the life of future Olympic swimmers Anton Ipsen, Ryan Held, Simonas Bilis and Soren Dahl.
With the 2016 Summer Olympics approaching, the NC State swimming and diving team will send four of its swimmers who will represent their respective home countries. Ipsen and Dahl will represent Denmark, Bilis qualified for Lithuania and Held will compete for Team USA.
Back in May, the Danish roster for swimming was set with rising sophomore Ipsen, who qualified for the 400-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle, as one of its 15 members.
“During my Olympic Trials, I was so, so nervous, like I can’t even describe it,” Ipsen said. “But I was very lucky to have Soren there with me to help calm me down, keep me on track and reassure me.”
Ipsen said that he is very nervous about swimming in front of thousands of people and millions more at home, all watching and judging him. In these final days, he is focused on just doing the little things right.
“It’s all about how you can optimize what you eat, how you sleep and just being the best you can,” Ipsen said. “You shouldn’t put extra focus in because that focus should already be there. If you start doing something different, it could hurt you more that help you.”
Rising junior Dahl qualified for the 4×200 freestyle relay.
“There is a lot of pressure being on a relay team because I am not only racing for myself, I am racing for the three other guys on my team,” Dahl said.
Dahl is most looking forward to participating in the opening ceremony of the Olympics; however, he said he feels bad for his teammate, Ipsen, who cannot participate in the ceremony.
“Since his event is the next day, he does not get to walk,” Dahl said. “I would hate not being able to walk in the ceremonies.”
Ipsen brought up this point as well, but he said that he isn’t too upset because he knows he needs a good night’s rest before his event.
Rising senior Bilis qualified for the Lithuanian Olympic team in May. He will be competing in the 50-meter, 100-meter freestyle and 4×100 meter medley relay. Bilis, Dahl and Ipson all opted to stay at NC State over the summer to continue their training for the Olympics instead of going home to their respective countries.
“After four years of being here at NC State, it is like a second home to me,” Bilis said. “Training here is more like home than back in Lithuania.”
Finally, rising junior Held will be competing in the 4×100 meter relay for the United States. He qualified for the team in June, making this the most athletes NC State has ever sent to the Olympic Games.
“I think all four of us going is huge for our program,” Held said. “We always talk about getting better and getting higher recruits and I think this is a great start. Those top-end recruits will see that we are producing talent and we are getting better short course and long course in the season.”
On top of individual effort, the coaching staff contributed to the athletes’ success.
“When we came in, none of us were even close to an Olympic level,” Dahl said. “Seeing just how much we have improved over the years is really proof off how good the coaching staff is here.”
The athletes leave for Rio de Janeiro July 24 and start their journeys as Olympians.
