While chatting with 2012 U.S. Olympian Clark Burckle this afternoon via email, I noticed that he was sporting a new @stanford.edu email address.
Curious about what this meant, Burckle shared that he has been accepted into Stanford’s business school, where he will begin in a month.
“I am really looking forward to going back to school, as strange as that sounds!” Burckle shared.
What does this mean for the swimming career of the 25-year old Burckle, who was the 2010 NCAA Champion in the 200 breaststroke and placed 6th at last year’s Olympic Games in the same race?
“I would love to continue training but for a while it will be school first. I will always be working out and swimming when I can, but competitions and elite level training are going to need to be on the back burner for a bit.”
Burckle also discussed his admiration for the many training groups that use the Palo Alto area as their home base, including Palo Alto – Stanford Aquatics coach Tony Batis.
Burckle’s last meet in this phase of his career, the pre-Stanford phase, was the U.S. Masters Championship last week, where he won the 100 breaststroke (1:01.18), 50 breaststroke (28.29), and 200 breaststroke (2:11.78) for the 25-29 age class in addition to three relay titles. At the World Championship Trials in June, he took 4th in the 200 breaststroke and 5th in the 100 breaststroke.
For now, this is not quite a concrete retirement, but expect the ever-changing and ever-evolving world of American men’s breaststroking to stay wide open headed toward the 2014 Pan Pac Championships (remember that none of the U.S. Olympic breaststrokers were on the World Championship team in 2014).
also work with many post grads and yet none of them work or go to school. Even fewer will reach or have reached a level Clark has. To me, just bc they enjoy it is not an viable excuse to avoid work and pursue other endeavors. At some point you have to call it good and pursue a career. Way too many post grads swimming right now for reasons I don’t understand. I personally love it when the youth of the US (ie Missy/Simone/Caleb/Ledecky) knock out the older veterans for spots on big teams.
Well, in the girls this happens that teenagers out swim people in their early 20’s most of the time but some of us love to… Read more »
“Yeah, you know what the problem is with swimming? Too many professional swimmers.” [said no one ever]
Great young man! He is living the dream! One of THE best!!
Big time fan
Clark, you’re an inspiration to many and all your fans wish you the best of luck! AZ will miss you!
I know plenty of post grads that do a lot less then daily rigorous swim training. If a 25 year old still wants to chase the dream, go for it. Certainly if you are a top 8 in the nation type swimmer, you are always in the mix for a medal.
If they can coach part time or help out with the swim club, its at least a small income coming in.
Swimmers are a pretty smart bunch of people. Most don’t do the sport assuming they will make Michael Phelps money.
That being said…I recall some interviews and other articles saying Phelps could be worth up to 100 million over his career with total sponsorship. I wonder what the… Read more »
Best of luck to you, Clark. Tucson will miss you !!!
I am a huge fan of Clark!!!! I was so excited when he made the Olympic team; with such a deep field everyone thought I was crazy when I had him in the top 2. I am happy he hasn’t officially retired, but I do hope we see him at some of the big meets.. What a huge accomplishment for him! Stanford is fantastic! The Burckle’s are one talented, smart and super nice family!! Caroline and Clark have always been great to fans!
Wilt, most of these guys are swimming post grad because they love it, not to prove anytiing. they know there is not much money in it, but its a passion. This is doable while in grad school or while in a full time job. Most post grads swim only once a day anyways. The same amount of workout time as many others who just workout in the gym or run or bike. I work with a lot of post grads who swim only 5x a week and are still able to perform on the national level and they come to workout ready to make it count because they have limited time. If swimming in college taught us one thing it’s… Read more »
I also work with many post grads and yet none of them work or go to school. Even fewer will reach or have reached a level Clark has. To me, just bc they enjoy it is not an viable excuse to avoid work and pursue other endeavors. At some point you have to call it good and pursue a career. Way too many post grads swimming right now for reasons I don’t understand. I personally love it when the youth of the US (ie Missy/Simone/Caleb/Ledecky) knock out the older veterans for spots on big teams.
“To me, just bc they enjoy it is not an viable excuse to avoid work and pursue other endeavors.”
I think the key phrase in the above sentence is the, “to me”. Fine. To them, it is a reason to swim. Run your dictatorship in another pool.
I don’t understand your comment. If the post grads you work with don’t work or go to school then how do they live? Especially if they are not as good as Clark. I assume you are not talking about the post grads that get APA, but I don’t know many post grads that can swim and do nothing else.
WILT, the mature thing to do in your case is to go coach your post grads instead of whining on swimswam about how capable athletes want to continue challenging themselves in and out of the pool. Your attitude seriously sucks.