Athlete profile: Britt Swartley

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

It is widely perceived that Eric Bergoust will be America's medal hopeful in Nagano, but don't count out this Britt -- who will make his Olympic debut after years of frustration...at the second World Cup of this season (in August Down Under in Australia) Swartley finished second to Bergoust...his rise from mediocrity to sixth in the 1997 World Cup standings has been a revelation..."I was jumping really bad those years," Swartley recalls. "I would jump well in practice but I couldn't convert it to the competition. My jumping was better than 22nd (his world ranking in 1995) but my mental approach was worse"...Swartley then compared aerials to another mental game - "It is very similar to golf, except one is obviously more life threatening than the other"...Swartley has never qualified for a world championships but followers of the sport believe that his free-spirit nature will not allow him to succumb to the pressure of his first Olympics..."I'm sure the guys that have been there feel just as much pressure as I do," he says. "It might be the Olympics to you guys, but to me it is the same jump we see every week. There is just a few more cameras. I am only trying to make the team"...in Nagano, Swartley is expected to unleash his full-double full-full (quadruple twisting somersault)...Swartley is somewhat concerned over reports that weather will be unstable in the Nagano region..."Imagine gymnastics outside in the winter, that is what we try to do. Good weather makes it more consistent," Swartley says "Good weather and good crowds really make jumping more fun."...fun seems to be a constant in Swartley's life, even in an Olympic year - "When the Olympics come you always hear that athletes made all the sacrifice. We have no money and no security. We're like the Army, we do more before 6 am than most people do all day, but it's a great time"...last July, however, Swartley suffered a strained back while helping a friend lift a jet-ski off a trailer, "It was a freak accident...the injury was a case of bad timing; and following the injury, Swartley took a more cautious approach to his adventures..."Jerry Grossi (current developmental team member) and I were at a skateboarding function last week and that is the first time I can remember saying ‘no way,'" said Swartley in October, fresh from a morning on the road luge...the jet-ski injury was not Swartley's first physical setback...he suffered the same type of fall while training on the water ramp at the US training facility in Lake Placid as did 1994 gold medalist Lina Tcheryazova,although their injuries were quite different..."I was there when she was injured," Swartley explains "When I hit my head I was out, but I came to (regained consciousness) before they even got to me," he continues "She was out for hours (days actually)"...Swartley also blamed Tcheryazova's equipment and training for the severity of her injuries... "She had a bad helmet. I picked up her equipment after they took her away and her helmet was like an M&M shell. If she had a better helmet she would be in better shape"...as far as the problems with her training he said, "She was taking twice as many jumps as me and I was over-training"...although these types of accidents are not common on the water ramp, Swartley does believe it is a more difficult type of training..."It's like driving down a dirt road versus driving on a paved one."...still, it seems Swartley sees training as a necessary evil, "Let's put it this way, there would be no training if there wasn't competition"...Swartley's girlfriend is Canadian Veronica Brenner, the top woman's aerialist in the world last year...Swartley just started another hobby... "I've started surfing. It's taking a lot longer to learn than anything else, probably because I'm older."...Still, Swartley will confess to a little true relaxation, "I like to lie down at the end of the day and watch TV"...