Irvine swimmer Amanda Beard has been busy leading up to her fourth appearance in the Olympic Games this week.
Monday, the Irvine High alum and former Novaquatic swimmer responded to questions submitted by the Irvine World News before she headed to Beijing.
What is your reaction to qualifying for the Olympics?
Beard:I honestly didn’t think I was going to make my fourth Olympic games. I only put in a solid two months of training, but I felt very confident going into trials and I love to race so I focused on those points.
How have the previous three Olympic Games helped you prepare for this one?
Beard:The fact that I have done three Olympics before this one allows me to approach it with ease, I am very relaxed and calm and just simply excited to be in China and a part of the whole experience again.
Can you talk about your comeback this year. What is your motivation for competing again?
Beard:I never lost my motivation to compete, I took so much time off because I focused on my life outside the pool and getting involved in more modeling and TV work. I feel like in a way that helped me. Swimming was fresh and new and exciting for me again, it’s a very easy sport to get bored with.
Talk about your experience at the U.S. Swim trials this month.
Beard:Trials were hectic. It’s a difficult experience to describe to people to whom have not gone through it first hand, but it is the most emotional meet I have ever participated in. Also for me trials were extremely fun! I had a lot of people hating me or saying I was never going to make the team. To me it’s fun to make people eat their words by simply performing better than they could imagine.
What are your memories of Irvine High and the experience here as a youth?
Beard:Irvine High School was awesome, I have a lot of great memories from high school and the swim team was so fast. I remember my principal sending a Bentley to my house to pick me up for school one morning, hahaha, that was a little embarrassing.
Do you still have family and friends living in Irvine?
Beard:My dad still lives in the house that I was born and raised in and my sister still live in Orange County, as for me I split my time between my house in Venice Beach and my house in Tucson.
Talk about the experiences with the Irvine Novaquatics?
Beard:I swam for the NOVAs for most of my childhood career, along with the Colony Red Hots. I was fortunate enough to live down the street from one of the best swim programs in the nation and one of the best pools.
Talk about your modeling career and some of the highlights.
Beard:Modeling has been so much fun. I love being able to get dressed up and pretend I’m someone else for the day. Along my career I have worked with some of the best in the business including Bruce Webber and Michael Thompson. Being able to gather photos from men like that has made my portfolio pretty cool.
What are your goals for this year’s Olympic Games?
Beard:My goals for this Olympics are simple, bring home a gold medal. I have always thought that you need to set goals and expectations of yourself extremely high. Why not try to be the best at something, what’s the worst that could happen?
With seven Olympic medals, do any in particular stand out?
Beard: With seven medals under my belt they all bring back special memories for me, but I have to say that my gold medal in the 200 breast in 2004 is my favorite. It took 18 years of training for me to bring home an individual gold medal and it represents all the blood, sweat, and tears I have put into my sport.
Do you still carry the teddy bear to meets and what is the reaction of other swimmers?
Beard:Harold my teddy bear is retired.
What advice do you have for other swimmers who would like to be in the Olympic Games one day?
Beard:I hope that every young swimmer out there has dreams of competing in the Olympics. That’s how it all started for me, a dream and a drive to be the best. Even at age 10 I knew that I wanted to be on the elite level of swimmers. I hope that parents encourage the children to enjoy their sport and to dream big and support those dreams.
Have you thought about what is in store for you after the Olympics, will you try for 2012 or concentrate on modeling?
Beard:After the Olympics I plan on having tons of time to work! I want to really consume myself with photo shoots and TV work for my sponsors and for any opportunities I’m handed. I have had a very fun career and I plan on doing a lot more. As for 2012, I would love to go to London, as soon as people count me out, that’s probably when I will burst back on the scene.
What is it like appearing on television shows like the Tonight Show?
Beard:The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was cool, I was only 14 so didn’t really know what I was doing, but since then I have been able to do so much TV I can’t even name it all.
Besides swimming and modeling, what are your other interests?
Beard:My interests outside the pool include: riding my ducati monster motorcycle, riding dirt bikes, snowboarding, paintballing, surfing, wakeboarding, traveling, shopping, reading, watching movies, playing with my four dogs, working with sharks, scuba diving, photography.
Talk about your experience in college.
Beard:I went to the university of Arizona and loved college and Tucson. My coaches at the school were the best in the nation and trained me for the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. Now I am being coached by Frank Busch of the U of A while I’m on training trip in Singapore. The past two months I trained with Cyndi Gallagher at UCLA.
