Perkins grad Charlie Clark swimming for spot on U.S. Olympic team

Charlie Clark is one strong swim away from the Olympics. The Perkins graduate and Ohio State All-American is in Indianapolis this week for the United States Olympic Trials. A top-two finish in either the mile (1500) or 800 meters would send Clark to next month's Paris Olympics. "There's definitely no way to avoid feeling the pressure," Clark said. "But the way I look at it is, I earned that pressure. Not everybody gets to be in a position where they're favored to make an Olympic team." Clark has represented the United States at various world competitions, but this would be his first Olympic spot. It's the level all swimmers aim to reach. When Clark was young, he listened to the Olympic theme music before going into swim practice. "This is what I've dreamed of my whole life is being at this level of the sport," Clark said. "... I'm just trying to soak it in and enjoy it as much as I can." Clark's best chance will come in the 1500 meters, which is 30 lengths of the pool. He's seeded second at the Trials in that discipline, behind only defending gold medalist Bobby Finke. If Clark swims to his seeding, he'll head to Paris. He feels well-prepared to excel at that distance. He took what's called an "Olympic redshirt," sitting out the fall for OSU to compete in international meets before returning to the Buckeyes for the spring semester. After years of building an aerobic base, that schedule allowed Clark to fine-tune the little things that could make all the difference. "It definitely was nice being able to focus on long course in those competitions (in the fall)," Clark said. "I went to a meet in Berlin (Germany) and long-course world championships in Doha (Qatar) in February. Those meets were opportunities I wouldn't have had if I didn't take that redshirt, just to get some last-minute international experience and more reps under my belt." Clark's Olympic Trials will end with the mile. The preliminary round takes place Saturday, June 22 before the final is swum Sunday night, June 23. He starts with the 800, in which he's seeded fifth. Prelims for that are Monday, with the final scheduled for Tuesday night. "I definitely think having the 800 first is a benefit for me," Clark said. "It helps you get some swims in and shake off the cobwebs and just get into that racing mindset. I like that my better of the two races is second, so the 800 can be slightly less pressure. And whatever happens in the 800, I know that I have my strongest event later in the meet." Clark plans to prevent the moment from becoming too big. Easier said than done, but Clark's deliberate, intelligent approach to his races should keep him in a sturdy frame of mind. "I'm feeling really good," he said. "I've put in a really good last few months of training, so I'm definitely really confident going into my races. But I'm gonna put the main priority on staying loose and having fun. It's the biggest meet every four years, so I definitely have a job to do, but having fun is always important, too." The stage itself? It'll be plenty big. Olympic Trials are being held at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts. Clark and the rest of the competitors will be swimming in the middle of the football field. "It's gonna be pretty cool, I can't wait," Clark said. Any Olympic Trials final Clark competes in will be televised live on NBC, with broadcasts of the championship races beginning at 8 p.m. each day this week. Clark has prepared diligently for this opportunity, through his days growing into a state champion at Perkins to his consistent excellence at Ohio State. Nothing is a given at this stage, but Clark's work has given him as good a chance to advance to the Olympics as he could hope for. All that's left is to leap in the pool and seize the moment. "I've been in a position the past two years where I thought I had a shot to make the team," Clark said. "This past year has just been fine-tuning a lot of the little details... It's focusing on tempo, stroke rate, that kind of stuff that can seem insignificant in a race as long as the mile, but those are the things that at this point are gonna make the difference." --- Charlie Clark Olympic Trials schedule Monday, June 17 800-meter preliminary Tuesday, June 18 800-meter final (8 p.m., NBC) Saturday, June 22 1500-meter preliminary Sunday, June 23 1500-meter final (8 p.m., NBC)