SIU Coach Pushes for Olympics to Open Up

Rick Walker has his hands full.

Not only is he the SIU swimming and diving head coach, he also assumes many top national positions, including chair of the International Open Water Committee and USA Open Water National team head coach.

With these high positions comes a need to pave a new path for aquatic sports, and that's just what Walker has tried to do.

Debated for about 15 years, open water swimming was slated as the No. 1 priority to become an event in the 2004 Olympics in Greece. However, politics within the International Olympic Committee and the Federation Internationale De Natation, the governing body of international aquatics sports, prevented the event from being allowed into the games.

Open water swimming is an event swam in large bodies of fresh water, usually in the form of a 5K, 10K or 25K race. Swimmers must deal with currents, water temperatures, weather and many other variables.

"The person that is in charge of FINA pretty much has always gotten whatever he wants to get in to the Olympics whenever he wanted it to get in," Walker said. "The other sports are a little envious of that. Therefore, politics would be to shoot down anything that might come along from aquatics and try to get some of their stuff in."

Since the games are getting so big, cities that host the Olympics are having a hard time keeping all of the events within city limits.

As a result, the Olympic Committee is looking at cutting back the number of events that take place, which means the likelihood of open water swimming getting its place in the games is slim.

"When we hosted in Atlanta, it wasn't just in Atlanta," Walker said. "It was all over Georgia, and it's getting to be more and more like that."

But there is hope. China has already told the Olympic Committee they would like to see open water swimming added to their list of events at the 2008 Olympics.

"Now all they need is approval and that's a huge step for us," Walker said. Walker has made numerous presentations showing why open water swimming should be included as an event at the Olympics.

"We go back and formulate within our own committee how we are going to sell it," Walker said. "And then when you're on the international level, we'll make presentations to FINA why it ought to go in."

Walker said many open water swimmers have recently crossed over to compete in pool events to gain national exposure with relative success.

"What's interesting is it's now getting to the point where we're getting a mix of top pool swimmers and top open water swimmers and it's now starting to look the same," Walker said.

Coaching some of the top-notch open water swimmers in the world, including Briley Bergen, a junior-to-be on the SIU swimming team and six-time U.S. Open Water National 25K champion, Walker sees potential of open water swimmers adapting to pool swimmers.

"It's just a matter of time where an athlete like Briley Bergen, who equally ought to be going [to the Olympics], will get that chance," Walker said.