Wolverine Athlete Spotlight: Anders Nielsen
10/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
Oct. 22, 2014
In the second Wolverine Athlete Spotlight of the season, junior Anders Nielsen looks ahead to this weekend's big quad meet with Indiana, Louisville and Texas and talks about the origin of his Olympic rings tattoo.
Q: How excited is the team to get in the water and swim against three great programs this weekend?
A: I think everyone is really excited. It's always fun racing at home. In Texas, Indiana and Louisville, all of them are great teams. It's going to be an exciting meet for our fans. It's going to be loud in here, which should make for a pretty awesome atmosphere.
Q: How has training been these last few weeks since the Iowa meet (Oct. 3-4)?
A: Well, we've all been training really hard. It's been a good couple of weeks. Everyone out here is working very hard and you can see good progress is being made every day. It's awesome to see.
Q: Speaking of Iowa, how did you guys think that meet went?
A: It was a good meet, especially for our freshmen. I thought they did very well in their debuts. As a team, I think we all did decently, but we can do better. We were really heavy in training. We might be more rested now going into this meet, so hopefully we can get some faster swims in.
Q: Talk about the distance group. Connor Jaeger and Sean Ryan are gone, which leaves some big shoes to fill. As the upperclassmen, the younger guys are looking towards you to lead.
A: Absolutely. Both me and Cameron [Stitt] were here last year and were able to train with those guys every day. We've got two great freshmen in PJ [Ransford] and Ian [Rainey], so I think we'll be in good shape. There's definitely some pressure, especially at a meet like Big Tens, where Connor and Sean did so well the last couple of years.
Q: About Ian and PJ, how do you think they've adjusted to the college level?
A: They've been doing really well. PJ had an awesome summer and was at the Youth Olympics. He has experience that'll serve him well. Ian may not have the same experience, but he's doing real well in practice and has been a great fit with our team. I think both are going to be great swimmers.
Q: Lastly, when people see you swim, they can't help but notice a giant tattoo of the Olympic rings on your rib cage. Any good stories behind that?
A: I swam for Denmark at the 2012 Olympics in London on the 800-meter freestyle relay. I always wanted them. I finally got to go, so I thought, 'Why not get them?' People can see them when I swim, which is sort of cool. I actually got the tattoo with one of my friends who I swam the relay with. We've known each other for 10 years. It's sort of our thing.
Contact: Brad Rudner
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