Five days. That’s how long the agonizing wait is for Nick Schafer to find out if he makes the Australian Olympic swim team. At least he’s got some make-up work and studying for finals to pass the time. Schafer is one of the few Badgers who, in addition to working toward a degree, is continuing in his sport after exhausting his NCAA eligibility.
Schafer has a very impressive resume, no matter which way it’s looked at. On paper, Schafer is an undergraduate assistant coach with the UW men’s swim program and a finance major who graduates in May.
In the pool, Schafer’s success speaks for itself. The 2015 Australian national champion in the 200-meter breaststroke and member of Australian club team Acqua Rosa, Schafer decided to stick around Madison and continue training after he exhausted his NCAA eligibility at the end of the 2014-’15 season.
Schafer currently trains with a postgraduate group that also includes former Badger swimmers and U.S. National teamers Ivy Martin and Michael Weiss, both of whom are recent graduates—Martin in 2015 and Weiss 2013. The three swim in open competitions across the United States and all serve as volunteer assistant coaches for the Badgers.
UW assistant swim coach Dan Schemmel, who traveled to Australia with Schafer and the two other Australian Badger swimmers on the team, Jess Unicomb and Sean Maloney, is glad Schafer decided to continue training in Madison.
“Nick’s a phenomenal teammate and a great leader, and he finished out his career as a captain. To still have him around, his presence, training and in the locker room, it’s been great. His official title is an undergraduate assistant, so he’s someone who everyone on the team kinda looks to as a coaching figure as well,” Schemmel said.
The 24-year-old Schafer is grateful for the experience his extra year of training in Madison has given him.
“It’s definitely been challenging,” Schafer said of balancing high-stakes swimming competition with a competitive major. “There have been a lot of ups and downs through school and swimming, but I think it’s those challenges that have enabled me to become a lot more resilient and confident in my ability to handle anything that comes my way.”
This past week at the 2016 Australian Championships, which double as Olympic Trials for Australia, Schafer’s resilience and confidence were on full display. The native of Carina, Queensland, had a dominant performance in both breaststroke events.
In the 100-meter breaststroke last Friday, Schafer placed fourth overall with 1:00.86. His finals time was just four-tenths of a second slower than his semifinal time of 1:00.49.
In the 200-meter breaststroke Sunday and Monday, the former Badger swimmer’s specialty, Schafer had a performance for the ages. In the preliminaries, he posted a time of 2:13.31. In the semifinals, Schafer dipped under the FINA standard of 2:11.66, which gives him a chance to qualify for the Olympics, with a time of 2:11.62. And in the finals, he blasted a 2:10.75, a lifetime best, to take home the silver medal.
For those unfamiliar with swimming, it’s extremely rare to drop more than a second between heats of an event, and to do it twice with that much of an interval is pretty much unheard of.
“I’m pretty proud of myself,” Schafer said after his stellar swim. “It’s always good to go faster, but that’s my best time I’ve ever done. I am happy with the result at the end of the day.”
In many countries, that swim would have qualified Schafer for the Olympics already. In Australia, though, swimming is hyper-competitive and the standards are a lot more challenging. Although he is under the FINA cut, which, if he was competing in nearby New Zealand, would have likely punched his ticket to Rio, he is still above Australia’s self-enforced Olympic qualifying time standard of 2:09.64.
“Australia has set their own standards, which are a lot harder,” Schafer explained. “In the past they have taken people that have been under the FINA cut but haven’t made the Australian cut, but they don’t find out ‘til the last day, so I’m just playing the waiting game now.”
Even though he’s playing the waiting game to see whether he goes to Brazil, Schafer is already a household name in his native country.
“Swimming is a very prevalent and well known sport [in Australia],” Schemmel said. “I’ve been watching the morning news every morning I’ve been here, and they recap swimming—they don’t just recap it, they address it and go over it in a way where everyone knows who their top swimmers are. [Schafer] came into the meet as the defending national champion, so every time he swam that’s what they referred to him as. He was getting a lot of attention.”
Schafer plans to return to Australia after graduation, no matter whether he qualifies for Rio or not and will continue to compete with Acqua Rosa, beyond this meet. No matter where he goes or what he tries to balance, success will surely follow Schafer in and out of the pool.
Update 4/14: The Australian Olympic team was announced Thursday, and 37 swimmers made the team. Nick Schafer was not one of them—Swimming Australia chose to not send anyone to the Olympics in the 200-meter breaststroke.
