The Daily Gamecock

Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: Sports

Kyle Cormier lacks competition to drive him but keeps visions of medals in front of him.

When the swim team travels to Alabama next week to compete in the SEC Championships, they will be leaving behind Kyle Cormier. The senior swimmer will be hard at work in the pool in the midst of yet another brutal training session.

Cormier has become a key factor on the South Carolina swim team the past three years, serving as co-captain last year and earning All-American status at the NCAA Championships.

About a month before the season started this year, the standout swimmer decided to redshirt during his senior swim season for a variety of reasons, one of which being his decision to have surgery on both knees.

Cormier dealt with knee problems and pain for the majority of his college swimming career, but refused to let it affect his performance. Towards the end of his junior year; however, the pain was only getting stronger.

"It was just a constant pain, and started to affect the way I train," Cormier said.

After seeing several doctors and trainers after his junior year season, it was determined that he had torn his meniscus in his right knee. Although surgery was not mandatory, the trainers told him that if he opted out of surgery, his swimming ability would be limited to about 90 percent of his full potential.

With all of the information from the trainers, Cormier had a tough decision to make. To get the surgery would all but ruin his chances to be competitive in his senior year, but he wanted to swim at his full potential.

Then the option of redshirting entered the question. This choice was even more appealing because 2008 is an Olympic year with the trials coming at the end of June. Elite college swimmers sometimes take off a year in Olympic years to focus on training for the games.

"Every swimmer dreams of going to the Olympics," Cormier said. "It's the only time that swimming is recognized on the national scene."

Last September, he made the decision the day of his surgery to redshirt his senior season and focus on training for the Olympics. Cormier showed incredible resilience, training at full speed just two and a half months after the surgery.

With the season starting in October, it was tough for Cormier not being able to swim with his teammates at the meets.

Continued...

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