Aug 5, 2016
At the age of thirty, it is rare for any athlete to be competing on an international level in the sport of swimming. University of Minnesota alumni and new Olympian David Plummer is an exception to the rule!
Four years ago, David finished third at the U.S. Olympic Trials. By just 0.12 seconds, he missed making the London Olympic team in his specialty, the 100m backstroke. The narrow miss fueled David’s motivation to dedicate the next four years of his life to try again to garner a spot on the 2016 U.S. Rio Olympic team.
The four years of hard work, dedication with the support of his family (wife, Erin, two-year old son, William, and brand new baby boy, Richard) culminated in David placing second in the 100m backstroke at the recently held Olympic Trials in Omaha to earn a spot on the U.S. Men’s Olympic team. His second place finish was a mere 0.02 seconds behind the first place qualifier and both swimmers finished just over world record time.
Palisade has a special connection to David. One of Palisade’s own Peter Rocca, a 1976 Olympian and Silver Medalist in the 100m (the same race as David) and the 200m backstroke, has volunteer coached with David for the last three years with the Wayzata High School boys swim team. “It’s been such a pleasure coaching with David. He has brought so much positive energy to the Wayzata boys swim program and the boys have improved on so many levels – technique, conditioning, and competing. I couldn’t be happier for David and his family. He’s dedicated so much over these last four years for the chance to go to the Olympics. To reach that goal at thirty years old, married and with two children, is an amazing accomplishment!”
Palisade wishes David and all of our 2016 Olympians the best of success in Rio!