Las Vegas|October 28 - 30, 2008

 

About Our Special Guests
Meet gold medalists and US Olympic swim team members Brendan Hansen and Jason Lezak (center of photo) at the Welcome Reception and Dinner at the Temple Pool.

Brendan Hansen is a three-time world record holder and Olympic gold medalist. In 1999, Brendan won his first national championship. A year later he finished third in both the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke at the US Olympic Swimming Trials, narrowly missing the Olympic team twice; but that didn't stop Brendan – it lit a fire in him that still pushes him today.

Since then, he has become the only person in history to win all the breaststroke events all four years at the NCAA Championships and, after qualifying for his first Olympic team in 2004, he finally brought home a gold, silver and bronze Medal. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Hansen helped teammate Michael Phelps get his record eighth gold medal in a single Olympic Games, swimming the breaststroke leg in the 4x100 medley relay.

Jason Lezak saved the dream not once, but twice for Team USA and teammate Michael Phelps. On August 11, Lezak anchored the historic 4x100 men’s freestyle medley relay team in a come-from-behind victory over the French, with the fastest 100 relay split ever (46.06). His swim kept Phelps' quest for eight gold medals alive and helped the relay team shatter the world record. Six days later, Lezak dominated the last leg of the 4x100 men's medley relay, winning the gold for his USA team and securing Phelps’ record-setting eighth gold medal. These Olympic Games proved that he is definitely a team player.

Lezak grew up in Irvine, CA, and enjoyed all sports as a kid. He excelled in basketball, baseball, soccer and swimming. He began swimming at age five with the Irvine Novaquatics, where he still trains today.