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Greg Meehan and Dave Durden Have Their Plan for Leading Team USA Through Pandemic-Era Olympics
Prior to every Olympics, the Team USA coaches are tasked with taking really good individual swimmers from around the country and molding them into a true team over the course of training camp. Many of the swimmers on the team already know each other, but not all of them, and certainly few have the tight-knit relationship of a college team that goes through an entire season together. The coaches try to replicate that passion and bond in a short stretch, and the Tokyo head coaches, Greg Meehan and Dave Durden, began formulating a plan when they were named to their roles in the fall of 2018.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened, the Olympics were delayed a year, and even now that the team is assembled, virus-related protocols continue to impact the team’s day-to-day operations. For instance, during the current training camp in Hawaii, the team is practicing out of three separate facilities, as opposed to everyone being able to swim together in one large pool at the same time. That may be slightly inconvenient, but the American coaches have adapted smoothly. Having more facilities out of which to work has actually allowed swimmers to stay more in line with their previous day-to-day training routines than in past camps.
“It’s been a slightly different plan than we had initially,” Meehan said. “But every step along the way, the USA Swimming staff and Dave and I have put together a plan that works whatever is in place. This particular part of camp has been amazing. There’s a challenge that we’re not in the same facility at the same time, but we’re getting done what we need to get done from a training perspective. We’re getting done what we need to get done from a team-building and bonding perspective.”
Durden and Meehan see eye to eye a lot in their coaching. Even though Durden coaches at Cal-Berkeley and Meehan is now at Stanford, they are good friends after spending five years together with Meehan as Durden’s assistant with the Bears. They both stress process and coach-athlete feedback and communication extensively. One key point for the Olympic team has been taking the camp and the prep for Tokyo one day at a time and not dwelling on factors outside the athletes’ control.
“I think our group has done a good job of not getting too far ahead,” Durden said. “We’ve been talking about what our training sessions look like today, what it’s going to look like tomorrow.”
The COVID procedures will not be abating anytime soon, particularly with the team scheduled to depart for Japan Monday. Durden and Meehan conducted their virtual media availability on the same day that Japanese officials announced that no fans will be allowed inside venues at the Olympics, and unsurprisingly, media members wanted to know how the team will handle the situation. The answer was the same: by staying focused on the present moment, being flexible and adaptable and keeping all situations in perspective.
“They’ve had challenges every step along the way through the last 15, 16, 17 months,” Meehan said. “I think everyone faced unique challenges in their home training environment, in their communities, through pool shutdowns and limited interactions socially. All of those are challenges they have faced, and to work through that and make the Olympic team and be here now, they can handle the little challenges at the Games. We’re here to swim fast. We’re here to race at the Olympic Games.”
Regarding the lack of fans specifically, most members of the Olympic team are used to such a situation, with most meets in the last year aside from Olympic Trials held in mostly empty facilities, and Durden said that he expects the team to create its own energy. “Judging by the noise in our meal rooms, we’re going to make that venue loud if it’s just us in there,” he said.
Dave Durden — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
If the team is forming bonds and gelling into a collective unit, that means Meehan and Durden are successfully performing one of their main duties as Olympic team coaches. The American team will enter the Tokyo Olympics in not as strong a position on paper as in previous Games, certainly not to the level of the 33-medal, 16-gold-medal effort five years ago in Rio. Previous incarnations of this team have successfully overcome perceived holes and deficits through intangibles, and this team’s success in Tokyo will depend on that happening.
Meehan fielded several questions about how certain first-time members of the team have been fitting in and managing training camp, including teenager Torri Huske and older rookies like Rhyan White, Annie Lazor and Natalie Hinds. Meehan raved about all of them and what they brought to the table for the group. On Hinds, for instance, Meehan said: “She has a way about her that just makes people comfortable. Whether it’s in the meal room or at the pool, she has this energy, and it makes people better. When you take that to the pool and add that competitive piece once we get to competition, we are really blessed that she’s here with us.”
Obviously, the swimmers are the heart and soul of the Olympic team, and Meehan clearly has enjoyed watching each one find their place among the group.
On specifics about the competition at the actual Olympics, Meehan and Durden were mum. Asked about the strategy for the mixed 400 medley relay, Meehan gave what he described as “the best non-answer possible.” On the renewal of the U.S.-Australia rivalry in the pool, Meehan said, “We can’t get too distracted on what the rest of the world is doing. We’re really staying focused on ourselves, on Team USA, with a little time at home and at this camp, it’s about the things that we need to do to be successful in Tokyo and not being distracted by our competitors. They’ll be there when we get there.”
From COVID procedures to the competition itself and everything in between, the message from Meehan and Durden was clear: take care of business, follow the plan, and everything should fall into place just fine. For right now, the business is practice preparation, physically traveling to Tokyo and building the bonds that will sustain and support this Olympic team.
