When Jeff Rouse retired from competitive swimming in 1996, there wasn’t much left for him in the pool. The world’s top-ranked 100-meter backstroker had won three Olympic gold medals and set world records in two events. What else could he accomplish?
Rouse isn’t sure yet—but he aims to find out. Seven years after his last race, he’s back in the water at Stanford in an effort to make the U.S. Olympic team for the 2004 Athens Games.
At Stanford, Rouse starred alongside Janet Evans, ’93, and Summer Sanders, ’94. During his senior year, he captained the Cardinal squad to the 1992 NCAA championship. “I never saw Jeff Rouse take a bad stroke in practice,” says men’s head coach Skip Kenney. “On top of that, he makes everyone else perfect.”
After capturing the 100-meter gold in the 1996 Olympics, Rouse decided to hang up his towel. He stayed out of the water for all but the most casual dips, working as an economic developer for his home county in Virginia. Two years ago, “just to lose a few pounds,” he says, he decided to take a swim.
“I guess I started getting curious,” Rouse says. “I kept asking myself, ‘What would it be like to train at this age? Could I swim as fast as I used to?’ ”
He broached the idea of a comeback with his wife, Gwen, and parents, and found them supportive. “I decided to give myself five or six months, to see if it was a passing phase,” says Rouse. “And I never got tired of it.”
So he called Kenney, who extended an invitation to train with Stanford’s team. Last winter, Rouse moved back to California with his sights set on the Olympic trials next July.
The Cardinal swimmers have responded well to their newest, 33-year-old “teammate.” “[He’s] been a presence since the day he got here,” says backstroker Markus Rogan, ’04. “Jeff is living proof of how far dedication, talent and a good attitude can get you.”
The hardest part? “Relearning some of the things I’ve used in the past,” says Rouse. “Just a few weeks ago, I hit a part of my stroke and thought, ‘Oh man, that felt great. I can’t believe I haven’t remembered that before now.’ ”
Indeed, Rouse has started to regain his form, placing fifth in the 100-meter backstroke at the ultra-competitive Santa Clara International Invitational in June. But making the Olympic team is no sure thing, says Kenney. “In my mind, [the 100-meter backstroke] is the toughest event in the meet,” Kenney says. “He’ll have to be ‘on’ that day.”
— JEFF COOPER, ’01, MS ’02
