Olympians inspire local swimmers

OSHKOSH - Twelve-year-old Olivia Lange says she fought off butterflies as she steadied herself on the blocks of the UW-Oshkosh swimming pool.

“I had lots of different thoughts, like 'Oh my gosh, this is crazy’," she said, giggling.

Her competition just a few lanes over was Olympic gold medalist Alyssa Anderson. A guest at the meet, even Anderson faced her own jitters outside of the pool.

"It's nerve wracking because it's uncharted waters, speaking in front of people. I could be swimming in front of a lot of people, but being up and speaking is different,” said Anderson.

Besides racing, Anderson and her teammate Clark Burckle gave inspirational speeches and signed autographs.

Both swam in London this summer. Anderson won gold in the 800 free relay preliminary race, and Burckle took sixth in the 200 breaststroke. The champs say it's a long road for any swimmer to the Olympics.

"I was in their place at one point in time and it's just nice to give back to share with them,” said Clark Burckle.

Though the chances of one of these kids swimming in this meet making it to the podium at the Olympics is nearly one in a million, the champions who spoke here say no dream is too big.

“The thing that I keep coming back to is being resilient. Swimming, like in all sports, you have ups and downs, and to be able to get back after a bad day or a bad race,” said Anderson.

"They're inspiring me to work really hard always and to always try to do my best, and to always believe in myself and know I can do it,” said Lange.

More than 800 young swimmers participated in the annual meet at the Y. Organizers say they try to bring in a champion swimmer to the meet every year to inspire the youngsters.