Try swimming in a pool for eight hours straight outside in rainy, cold conditions with only a large piece of metal overhead, keeping you safe from the elements. Then going straight to a night class at 7 p.m.

In class you’re constantly shaking your head trying to free the water still residing in your ears just to be able to hear the professor, as your shriveled fingers jot down every word he says.

For SF State alumnae and 2008 U.S. Olympic Synchronized Swim Team members, coach Tammy McGregor and captain Kim Probst, this was just another day in the life of scholarly Olympic synchronized swimmers. The dedication they exhibited showed the lengths they went to earn a degree while training to represent the United States at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

“It’s a huge relief,” said Probst, who graduated in the Spring 2006 semester with a degree in psychology. “I could only take nine units a semester because I was training about 60 hours a week, so I was pretty determined to get my degree.”

McGregor took a slightly different route, but ended up with the same results. After winning gold in synchronized swimming at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, McGregor decided that taking a couple of years off to “live a normal life” was best.

“I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue swimming, so I took two years off,” said McGregor, who graduated cum laude with a degree in fashion merchandising in 1998. “During that time I went to school and got my degree. I was also coaching at the time, so I was still very involved in the sport.”

The idea of earning a degree was very important to the both of them. The only problem was finding time to go to school while keeping up with their careers as a coach and a swimmer on an Olympic-level team. Their training regimen was very intense with about six to eight hours, six days a week of practice in the pool followed by two more hours of land training, which included everything from strength and flexibility training to a little bit of acrobatic work.

“Yes, it was pretty difficult. I was training full time and trying to go to school, so I’m sure both aspects hurt a little,” Probst said. “Now that I have graduated I can train full-time, rest full-time and recover better. Doing both really makes you appreciate them for what they are.”

With school completed, Probst is now able to focus solely on swimming as McGregor prepares the team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Recently the team has been training at the Martin Luther King Jr. pool in the Bayview-Hunters Point District.

Currently ranked fourth in the world, the team hopes to follow up last year’s huge upset of No. 1 ranked Russia, in Russia. They are the first team to beat Russia in 10 years.

“That was one of my proudest moments. This year it’s going to be really hard to take down Russia, but if anybody has a chance to do it, it’ll be us,” Probst said. “We are going to go out there with a routine that nobody’s has seen before, nobody’s swam before. I like our chances.”

McGregor agrees with Probst that the key to victory this year is going to be their “creative and innovative routine” with some “very original choreography.”

In March the team will be traveling to China for training camp to prepare for their last meet before the Summer Olympics.
All the travel can eventually wear on a person doing this for the last 20 years. For Probst and about half of her teammates, the 2008 Olympics will be their last hurrah as swimmers.

“Yes, I believe this will be my last go around. After the Olympics I plan to retire from swimming and take over my club team, the Aquanuts,” Probst said.

Even after all the competing, traveling and training that it takes to be Olympic-level athletes, both McGregor and Probst decided that a college degree is a very important thing to have after they hang up their nose plugs and look to the future.

At the moment, however, McGregor describes Probst as “the engine of the team” and teammate Annabelle Orme, who was Probst’s duet partner and is one of her best friends on the team, believes Probst is a great leader.

“As a captain Kim is a natural leader. Everyone looks to Kim to see what she is going to do,” Orme said. “She’s very dependable and a great friend to everyone.”