Former Olympian an Observer in 2008

August 15, 2008

by Cindy Klose (WICHITA, Kan)

Four years ago, Kansans had a little more interest than usual in the Olympic games as they followed a local athlete's bid for Gold in Athens, Greece.

Swimmer, Caroline Bruce competed in the 200 Meter Breaststroke, missing the finals by just 65 one-hundredths of a second.

This year, Bruce is sidelined by surgery, and watching the Olympics like the rest of us, on television.

Bruce got two airport welcomes in 2004, when she came home from the Olympic trials as a member of the team and then welcomed back from her races in Athens.

"I'm still in the state where I can't believe I went. You kinda get used to it because people talk about it, but at the same time I can't believe I did what these kids are doing," Bruce told Eyewitness News.

This year, her second shoulder surgery leaves her watching as teammates, friends and friendly rivals compete in Beijing.

"One of the girls who swims my event, she's a year younger, she just broke the world record last night and won the Gold which is amazing. I was so excited for her Bruce said about the win by Rebecca Soni.

Already five months after her second surgery, Bruce is still doing rehabilitation and won't work out in the water until she goes back to Stanford for graduate school.

"I went up to trials, basically to support my team, and it was hard to watch, especially my event. But it just reminded me of how amazing it was that I even went and made the team in the first place."

More than forty swimmers make up the 2008 team, but most people are most familiar with just one. Bruce says what Michael Phelps is doing, is unbelievable.

"it's almost like it's routine for him. He gets in and he wins the Gold Medal, breaks the World Record, he gets out, most people to do that once is such an amazing feat

Because of her injury, Bruce will get another year of college swimming.

She says her injury wasn't from over-training, just the way her body is built.

She's the third child in her family to swim at the college level and this fall a fourth, her younger sister Jamie, will join her at Stanford.

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