MorganHillTimes.com | Olympic gold medalists to appear at Aquatics Center

Olympic gold medalists to appear at Aquatics Center

Sep 28, 2004
By

A fortuitous, last-minute scheduling change is bringing three Olympic swimming gold medalists - including superstar Michael Phelps - to town Thursday night.

Phelps and fellow medalists Ian Crocker and Lenny Krayzelburg will make an appearance at the Morgan Hill Aquatics Center for Disney's "Swim With The Stars" event.

As of Monday afternoon, 200 tickets at $30 each had been sold, according to Julie Spier, the city's recreation manager. While the Aquatics Center has a capacity of 3,000, Spier and organizers are hoping for 1,500.

"We're trying to bring bleachers in so everybody can see," Spier said Monday. She said there will be no assigned seating.

The event begins at 7pm, and will include the Olympic swimmers demonstrating their medal-winning strokes - Crocker's butterfly, Krayzelburg's backstroke and Phelps showing off all his strokes - competing in relays with local swimmers from the audience and a match race. The young swimmers will have been pre-selected.

At 8:20pm the audience will be able to question the Olympians.

During intermission just before 9pm, Disney characters will make special appearances and hand out goodies.

After intermission, at 9:10pm Phelps and Crocker will compete in a match race.

The star-studded trio is in the midst of a 12-city cross-country tour with the Disney-sponsored event, which began on Aug. 31 at Walt Disney World in Florida. The tour ends at Disneyland on Oct. 2-5.

Phelps, who earned international acclaim after becoming the first Olympic swimmer in history to win eight medals (including six gold) in Athens this summer, and his teammates have been greeted like rock stars at their various appearances across the nation, most of which have been held in large cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver and Dallas.

Fans have been standing in line for hours to buy tickets to the event, catch a glimpse of their heroes and even get an autograph on a box of Wheaties or a Speedo swim suit.

"Even non-swimmers know who these athletes are, and to have them in our town this week is something to be very proud of," said John Rick, MH Aquatics Foundation organizer.

"The primary beneficiaries are the community and the perception of the Aquatics Center as the great venue that it is. This event, coupled with the Far West Championships here next March, will really help raise awareness of how special the Morgan Hill Aquatics Center and its staff really are."

The threesome was originally scheduled to make their Bay Area appearance at the Santa Clara Swim Center.

According to Rick, arrangements had to be finalized within an hour and a half. Fortunately, Rick said, City Manager Ed Tewes, Spier and city staff "moved fast and decisively" on the details.

Rick said local residents will have the first shot at buying tickets for the event because they are on sale now at the Aquatics Center. He said he's expecting a big crowd to show up for tickets to the well-publicized event on Thursday.

Tickets are $30 per person, all general admission, with kids under 3 free when sitting with parents; there are no other price breaks. There is a limit of four tickets per person. For more information, visit the event's Web site at www.swimwiththestars.com