Pat Calhoun

Calhoun was born June 16, 1981, in the small town of Seymour, Indiana, the second of five children, to parents Shara, a Nurse, and Dr. Charles Calhoun. The couple met at the Indiana University Medical Center during Charles's residency, and later moved to Seymour in 1979.^[3][2]

Active in many sports in his youth, Calhoun tried baseball, flag football and basketball, but eventually began swimming with the Seymour Swimming Club. Pat attended his first meet in Elementary School around the age of eight, and soon began training year round, attending summer swim camps at Indiana University and Fort Lauderdale's Pine Crest School, an outstanding swim program. He left swimming for his High School basketball in eighth grade, but soon returned to the sport where he had shown early promise.^[3][1]

Pat attended Seymour High School, where he trained and competed under Coach Dave Boggs, his former coach at the Seymour Swimming Club. He wasn't considered a top athletic prospect, standing barely five feet as a High School Freshman, but he improved consistently as a swimmer. As a Sophomore, he won 10 consecutive 100 breaststroke races in 10 meets, and won the event in the sectional title. Recognized for his efforts by his teammates, he was voted Most Valuable Player in three years as an upperclassman. In his Junior year, he swam a 58.48 for the 100-yard breaststroke, setting a new School and conference record. He made the State Championships in his Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years, where he competed at the Indiana University Natatorium, becoming very familiar with the pool where he would later compete in the 2000 Olympic trials. By his Senior year, he reached six feet with a growth spurt, won all of his High School breaststroke competitions, and for the first time claimed the Indiana 100-yard breaststroke State title with a 56.67, just short of the state record.^[3][4][1]

In competition highlights, Calhoun was the US Junior Champion at Buffalo, New York in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1999 with a noteworthy time of 55:69, helping him improve his prospect for College recruiters. In 2000, he served as a National Team member for the U.S. Junior team.^[2][3][1]

Calhoun qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials at Long Island, New York's Senior Nationals with a time of 1:04.67 in the 100-meter breaststroke, just barely making the trials by an .02 second margin. Later, at the early August 2000 U.S. Olympic trials at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis, Calhoun made the team unexpectedly with an exceptional time of 1:01.19 in the 100-meter breaststroke, placing second to 2000 Olympic silver medalist Ed Moses. Calhoun's time was notably the third fastest in the world that year and a full three seconds under his Olympic trials qualifying time. His hometown of Seymour, Indiana organized a parade in his honor when he returned from the trials, and collected funds to help send him to Sydney. Calhoun's 200-meter breaststroke swim at the Indianapolis trials went less well, clocking a 2:29.33, and placing him 70th among the other trial competitors. In late August, he flew to Pasadena, California, to work out for a few weeks with the U.S. Olympic team at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. Mark Schubert was the Head Men's Olympic swim team coach for 2000, but Calhoun's former Coach Dave Boggs would make the trip to Sydney as well.^[3][1]

At the mid-September 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Calhoun competed in the preliminary heats of the men's 100-meter breaststroke event and posted a time of 1:03.03, placing 25th overall. Though considerably slower than expected, his time was only half a second over the time required to make the semi-final round of 16 swimmers. Calhoun was disappointed in his performance but honored to represent the U.S. team. He believed his stroke technique was slightly impaired during his preliminary heat, and that his long taper after the trials may have affected his performance. The favorites for the event were Roman Sludnov of Russia and Ed Moses of the U.S. team. Domenico Fioravanti of Italy set the best times in the Olympic qualifying rounds, however, and had a great race breaking the Olympic record with a time of 1:00.46 and taking the gold medal. American Ed Moses took the silver medal with a 1:00.73, and Roman Sludnov of Russia took the bronze with a time of 1:00.91. Calhoun's time was just over 2 seconds away from contending for the bronze medal.^[5] With his outstanding time in the Olympic trials in the 100-meter breaststroke, Calhoun was originally scheduled to swim the breaststroke leg in the Men's 4x100 Medley Relay, but Ed Moses swam in his place. The 4x100 Medley relay team later won the gold medal on one of the last days of the swimming competition.^[3][2]