Font ResizeOMAHA, Neb. — Dana Vollmer isn't sure how eager she'll be to flip through NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics when things get under way next month.
Having to watch the Games unfold on television was the last thing the Cal star had in mind when she traveled to Omaha, Neb., for the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials. Yet after a weeklong experience that went against any scenario she could've imagined, that's the disappointing reality she's been left with.
"This is pretty much the worst it could've gone," Vollmer said Saturday. "I swam faster all summer, so it's really hard to come to trials and not even go near what you're doing when you were doing tons of yardage and lifting heavy weights. I don't really know what happened. "... It just wasn't there."
A gold medalist from the 2004 Athens Olympics, Vollmer was snakebit in nearly every way in Omaha. While others were posting lifetime bests, Vollmer slowed down, her Olympic dreams eventually grinding to a halt.
The unraveling began early with the 100 butterfly. Vollmer, 20, entered the trials seeded second in the event, and the door seemed to be propped wide open for her to snag an Olympic berth after Natalie Coughlin dropped it from her program. Instead, she finished fifth in 58.64 seconds, three-tenths slower than her qualifying time.
The swim puzzled Vollmer, but she was hopeful she'd find solace in the 200 freestyle, an event that put her on the international map.
Relief never came. She finished seventh in 1:58.67, one spot shy of landing on the relay team in Beijing. The perplexing hits kept coming, as Vollmer posted a swim in the 100 freestyle semifinals that was .03 shy of getting into the final.
"I'm taking time off now. I'm just going to stay out of the water," she said.
"(I need to) just kind of reflect on what happened and transfer it from right now I'm upset and sad and don't know really how to go about handling it and just transfer it over to motivation for training."
She assured this isn't the end of her international career.
"Either way, however this went, I had planned on training until 2012," Vollmer said. "(Cal coach Teri McKeever) knows that even in 2012 I wanted to sit down and debate going to 2016 depending on where my career was, so this definitely is not the end."
On the road again
Kasey Carlson of the Concord Terrapins and Madison White of the Crow Canyon Sharks earned spots on the FINA Youth World Championships team, thanks to some strong swims at the trials.
Carlson qualified in the 100 breaststroke, while White will swim the 200 backstroke. The two leave Monday for Monterrey, Mexico.
"It's exciting," Carlson said. "This is another opportunity to swim for the United States, so it's cool."
— Jennifer Starks
