University of Michigan head swim coach sees Olympic dream come true

DETROIT – For Mike Bottom, the appointment to assistant coach for the U.S. men's Olympic swim team is a childhood dream come true.

Bottom, the University of Michigan head swim coach, was named to the team during the final day of the U.S. Olympic swim trials in Omaha, Nebraska.

"I've been dreaming about this since I was 10 years old," said Bottom in an article posted on MGoBlue.com. "This is my Olympic dream. I'm ready to do whatever it takes to help the U.S. be successful in Rio. I can't wait to get started."

According to the university, Bottom was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team, but did not get the opportunity to compete because of a boycott of the games in Moscow.

Bottom had planned to head to Rio as coach for current UM student Mokhtar Al-Yamani of Yemen. Bottom has coached for the last five Olympic games, but this is his first time coaching Team USA.

Bob Bowman, a former head coach at UM  and coach to Michael Phelps, is head coach for Team USA.

Connor Jaeger will compete in the men's 400 meter freestyle and 1500 meter freestyle races during the Summer Games in Rio.  Jaeger won both races during the Olympic trials in Omaha.

Jaeger trains at the University of Michigan where he completed his Masters in Management this past spring.   This will be a second Olympics for Jaeger who competed in the men's 1500 meter freestyle in 2012.

Another UM athlete is Sean Ryan who will be swimming the 10K open water event. He completed his Masters of Mechanical Engineering this spring.

Allison Schmitt of Canton qualified for the women's 800 meter relay. Schmitt won three gold medals, a silver and a bronze during the 2012 games in London and a bronze in the 2008 games in Beijing.

Michael Phelps, who swam at the University of Michigan, qualified for his fifth Olympics in the 200 meter butterfly, 200 meter IM and 100 meter butterfly.

Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, has won 18 gold medals, 22 Olympic medals overall.