From rec pool to Olympics, Woodward made his marks in swimming
| Saturday, Jan 21 2012 09:28 PM
Last Updated Sunday, Jan 22 2012 04:44 PM
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Gabe Woodward will be inducted into the Bob Elias Hall of Fame.
There are plenty of reasons for Gabe Woodward to abandon another Olympic swimming dream.
Woodward won a bronze medal in the 2004 Athens Games. But now there are other priorities: He's got a wife and four children, plus a fulltime job as a financial advisor with Wells Fargo.
But in the back of his mind, the Olympics dream remains.
"It's way down the priority list," Woodward said. "But the door's open a crack."
In mid-January he said, "I've been working out more in the last two weeks than I have the last 18 months. With the blessing of my wife, I'm going to work out a little bit harder week by week and see what happens. ... I'm not sure if I'm going to do it (compete at the Olympic Trials). It would be a longshot to make it."
Woodward, who won the bronze in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay in Athens, will be inducted into the Bob Elias Kern County Sports Hall of Fame on Feb. 1 at the Marriott Hotel.
A limited number of tickets costing $40 apiece are available at Raymond's Trophies, 300 Chester Ave., and at the Rabobank Arena box office.
Woodward will be joined by three other inductees: NASCAR standout Kevin Harvick, former Bakersfield High athlete Pat Skrable and the late Arnold Kirschenmann, one of the greatest golfers from Kern County.
Woodward, 32, was born and raised in Bakersfield. He started swimming at age 4 in the Park Stockdale pool, then delved into more intense competition for the Golden Empire Swim Club.
He swam four years at Stockdale High School, where he won the Central Section championship meet in the 200-yard freestyle as a sophomore, junior and senior and added a win in the 50 free his senior year.
"I was a late bloomer in high school," he said. "My parents were very supportive, never demanding. I was self-driven, self-motivated."
He was the first Bakersfield swimmer to qualify for Junior Nationals in 10 years his senior year at Stockdale.
Then came four years at USC, where he was a four-time All-American and graduated in 2001 with a degree in social sciences.
Woodward stopped swimming competitively for two years after graduating, then got back into it. A year later he was in the Olympics.
"I went down to Orange County and within two months I had broken my fastest time ever," Woodward said of his return to swimming in 2003.
At USC, 51.2 seconds was his fastest 100 time but he clocked 49.45 by early 2004. He earned a spot on the team at the Olympic Trials.
Woodward had represented the U.S. before. In the 1999 World University Games he swam the leadoff leg for the bronze medal winning 4x100-meter relay team.
"Obviously making the Olympic team was a much bigger excitement," he said.
Once the Olympics began, Woodward and the other sprinters had to focus on their events and couldn't even participate in the opening ceremonies.
"Swimming starts the first or second day, so they (U.S. officials) won't let you go to the opening ceremonies because you're standing for 7-8 hours outside the stadium."
But it was still exciting, he said.
"You get to meet the NBA players," he said. "It was exciting being in the Olympic village. Here you are, mingling with these 7-foot-6 guys and these gymnasts that are 3-feet-6 inches tall."
Woodward swam the leadoff leg of the 4x100 relay in the prelims and clocked 49.9. "Decent, not awesome. he said. "It was my fastest prelim time ever and faster than the U.S. Trials."
The team qualified with the second-fastest time for the medal race. But before the finals, the coaches decided to replace Woodward and Gary Hall Jr. Ian Crocker, the world record holder in the 100 butterfly, took Woodward's spot at leadoff and the up-and-coming Michael Phelps replaced Hall.
"Crocker led off and went slower, over two-tenths (of a second) slower than I went," Woodward said. "We were in eighth, last, after his leg."
Many teams that lack the overall talent of the Americans and other top squads typically put their fastest sprinters in the leadoff leg, Woodward said, which can have them finishing ahead of teams like the U.S. in the early stages of races. The world's top teams make up ground over the second and third legs.
"I was probably in fourth or fifth (place)," Woodward said of where he was after his prelim leg.
The U.S. rallied to place third to earn the bronze in 3:14.62. Gold went to South Africa (3:13.17), which also had the quickest prelim time. The Netherlands earned silver (3:14.36).
"It was all political," Woodward said of the lineup switch. "Our head coach was the Texas coach, and Crocker was a Texas swimmer. Phelps' coach was also there (on the U.S. coaching staff). ...
"We had a good enough team to win a gold medal but we took bronze."
Woodward said he refused to let the change drag him down.
"This is life. Life is not perfect," he said. "It was a huge honor to represent the U.S. If we didn't win a medal at all it would still be awesome."
Woodward added: "My swimming career has been very special to me. To medal was a blessing. I remember being very humbled. I wasn't excited or bouncing off the walls. It was something I wanted since I was very young. The Olympics: We did it, we totally did it."
