Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on June 30, 2012

The major U.S. Olympic trials are under way through July 2 in preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Live coverage of many events can be found on the NBC Sports Network, and selected videos will appear on NBCOlympics.com. Here's what you should watch Saturday, June 30:

The event: Swimming: women's 200m back (semifinal); women's 200m breast, 200m IM (final); men's 100m fly, 50m free (semifinals) and men's 200m back, 200m IM (finals).

When: 6.30 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network and 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET, June 30, NBC.

Where: CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Neb.

One to watch: Anthony Ervin will not be hard to miss when he competes in today's 50m freestyle: the 31-year-old has sleeve-tattoos covering both arms. Ervin was the first swimmer of African-American heritage to make the U.S. Olympic team and at the 2000 Sydney Games he won gold in the 50m free and silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Three years later he shocked the swimming world by retiring before he could get a chance to defend his medal at the 2004 Games.

Raised in Valencia, Calif., Ervin's father is of African-American and Native American descent and his mother is Jewish. At the time of his retirement - at the ripe old age of 22 - Ervin told the Daily Californian that he felt "like that part of my life - as a competitor - is over. I'm moving on to new things, new goals, new ambitions."

Those new ambitions included a move to New York where he played with a rock band and taught swimming to children. He moved to the Bay Area in 2010 and cites those children he taught in New York, and those he met later at a club in Oakland, as the inspiration he needed to get back into the pool competitively. "Seeing them committed, gradually making changes and improving, and then having fun with it, I don't know," Ervin told The New York Times. "I guess it kind of blew on some embers that had grown really, really cold, and eventually grew into a fire."

This month Ervin won the 50m free at the Santa Clara Grand Prix and is seeded seventh going into today's race. "I didn't think I'd be here as far back as eight months ago,"he said in the Times article. "Back to 2004, I didn't think

What happens: The fastest two swimmers in each individual event earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team bound for London.

Read more about the Olympic swimming trials and events

Follow this link:
Olympic Viewing Guide: Ervin Eyes Comeback

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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