Olympic hopefuls Jessica Hardy and Dominik Meichtry train six days a week to prepare to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympic games in London. Hardy is from Long Beach, California and is the current world champion in the women’s 50 meter breaststroke. She and her fiancee Dominik Meichtry train at USC together with twenty-three other top ranked swimmers. Hardy has her sights set on the USA Swimming trails that will select the 2012 team for the 2012 London Olympics, scheduled for June 25 to July 2 in Omaha, Nebraska. Meichtry is slated to represent his home country of Switzerland at the 2012 London Olympics.
Both Hardy and Meichtry are very much at home in Santa Monica. They power their training regimens at the Sant
a Monica City College pool, open to all residents for a small fee. The couple enjoy the area’s choices of many excellent restaurants. Ivy by the Shore is their personal favorite. They sample the area’s many sporting events on their rest days and just viewed the finals of the 2012 Toyota Grand Prix of Racing this Sunday in Long Beach. They also like being near the beach and body surfing and keep their pet on an exercise regimen of his own at the dog park adjacent to Santa Monica Airport.
Hardy has been taking an innovative approach to her training regimen by participating in special programs offered by DISC Sports and Spine Center, the medical services sponsor of the US Olympi
c Committee, headquartered in Marina del Rey. The program incorporates strength and conditioning training, acupuncture and sports psychology to optimize fitness. In addition to this helpful support from the USOC medical services sponsor, Hardy has a special sponsorship award from Speedo which helps to finance her training at USC. She is optimistic that additional sponsors will learn more about here races and awards on her website www.jessicahardy.net and find ways to incorporate her athletic program with her marketing program. Her own career ambitions are firmly grounded in marketing and public relations. She used to write a column for the Long Beach Press Telegram and now writes a column for espnW.
Rigorous athletic training is preparing Hardy and Meichtry for a new challenge — wedding planning. The Santa Monica couple is planning to get married next year after the excitement and special events of the Olympic year. There is consolation for professional wedding planners. As daunting as the rigors of training for the Olympics are, Hardy finds swimming twenty hours a week easier than planning an international wedding.
