The USA Men’s Olympic Swimming team now has a suburban Chicago native added to its roster.
Conor Dwyer, who hails from Winnetka, finished second in the 400-meter freestyle final Sunday in Omaha to qualify for the Games. This marks his second consecutive Olympics representing the U.S. team in the event.
In the 2012 Olympic trials, Dwyer finished second in the 400-meter freestyle, also earning him a spot on the Olympic team in London. Dwyer finished fifth in the event overall in the Olympics that year.
According to USA Swimming, Dwyer was the national champion in the 400-meter freestyle in 2015 at the AT&T Winter Nationals.
As a 6-year-old who began swimming just for fun, the now 27-year-old has made it further than he could have dreamed.
In an interview earlier this year with NBC, Dwyer reflected on his potential bid for the Rio Olympics.
“I always had that dream watching it [Olympics] as a kid at like age six,” Dwyer said. “I didn’t really realize I had an actual shot until I grew like six inches in college. Then I became a NCAA swimmer my junior year in college, so it kind of hit me later on. But I always was working toward that dream even when I was 5-foot-6, 125 pounds. I was getting the hardest work in on my team, but maybe I was the smallest guy.”
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Dwyer said he put in some of the best training of his career for the Rio Olympics and was excited to see these past three years of hard work pay off.
“Pretty much my goal right now is the Olympic trials and being the best I can be there,” Dwyer said. “That event, Olympic trials, I thought sometimes even more challenging than the Olympics itself. Right now I’m trying to be the best American swimmer I can be and then once I get on that team, it’ll be fun and getting to represent your country is easier than the part of trying to make it.”
Following this past weekend, Dwyer will have accomplished his goal and be representing the United States yet again, this time in Rio.
