In his striped shirt, khaki shorts and Nike tennis shoes, Nathan O'Brien looks like any other university student. But the 6-foot-2-inch government senior has become much more.

Since his arrival on campus in 2001, O'Brien has earned NCAA All-American honors, swam in the 2004 Olympic Games for Canada, and he holds some of Texas' top times in several events.

The swimmer has come a long way since he started swimming at age 8.

"I swam when I was really young," O'Brien said. "Then I quit because I hated swimming."

After giving up on swimming, O'Brien turned to soccer. He played for his high school in Bellevue, Wash., until he was 16 years old, when he had to stop playing because of injuries.

Once O'Brien had to quit soccer, his parents made him take up swimming once again.

"They probably didn't want me to get fat," O'Brien said with a laugh.

The competition swimming offered began to appeal to O'Brien, who decided to continue his training year-round by joining the Bellevue Club, a local club swimming team.

O'Brien became a successful swimmer during his tenure in high school. He was a four-time All-American, 2001 Washington State Champion in the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard freestyle, and he qualified for the 2000 U.S. Olympic trials.

The award-winning swimmer then turned his eyes toward Texas.

"If you want to be a swimmer, Eddie is the coach you want," O'Brien explained. "If he picks you, it means you have potential, and he's going to bring that out in you."

Since joining the Texas team, O'Brien has become popular among the swimmers through a mixture of personality and talent.

"Nate is an extremely funny, outgoing guy," teammate Garrett Weber-Gale said. "He never gets down, and he's totally fun to swim with. If Eddie gives us a hard time, Nathan will keep everyone on the team on a happy note."

"A lot of guys will follow him even more since he was at the Olympics. People will look to him because he's so experienced. If they're worried about something, they can look to him because he's been in those situations. He's not so much an outspoken leader as people know how good he is and how good of a guy he is, and a lot of guys respect that."

Now that O'Brien is a senior, he'll also take on some of the team's leadership duties, something he admits will take some adapting to.

"Usually, I'm very reserved," O'Brien said. "I'm not very outspoken, but I lead by example. If we're going to go to NCAAs, we're going to need a lot of freshmen on the team, so I'd have to be more outspoken. Then again, the freshmen might swim out of their minds and not need me at all."

Traditionally, the senior swimmers will push the freshmen to work their hardest, and O'Brien, so far, is no exception. During practice, head coach Eddie Reese had the team doing 4x100-butterfly sets. One freshman intended to swim the set by alternating between the butterfly stroke and freestyle.

"I kind of gave him a hard time," O'Brien said. "But he's one of our best flyers, and I wasn't going to let him get away with it."

Despite his aim to lead the freshmen and other members of his team, O'Brien also has set some lofty goals for himself. He hopes to compete in back-to-back events at this year's NCAA competition and put two Texas swimmers at the top of the 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke.

"I'm trying to perform my best for this team," O'Brien said. "When you're on the blocks, you're not just doing something for yourself. You're doing something for your team. It's easy to swim fast when you've got your whole team behind you."

As a Freshman (2001-02) Touched first in the 200-yard backstroke with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:44:20 to earn first-ever league title at the Big 12 Championships.

As a Sophomore (2002-03) Finished the season ranked second in the 200-yard backstroke and third in the 100-yard backstroke on the UT top times list.

As a Junior (2003-04) Finished first at the Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships in the 200-yard backstroke.

As an Olympian (2004) Competed in the 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter backstroke for Canada in the Athens Olympic Games.