A former Minnesota Golden Gopher swimmer has qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio.
David Plummer, a 2008 graduate of the University of Minnesota, has become the first Gopher swimmer in 52 years to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team.
Plummer finished second in the 100-meter backstroke to earn the trip to Rio. He touched the wall just 0.02 behind winner Ryan Murphy at Tuesday evening’s Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska.
Here was the finish.
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“I’m really, really tired, but it feels good,” Plummer told the Star Tribune afterwards. “I think I’ve still got more in that race. I’ve still got more I can squeeze out of the last 25 (meters), for sure. So it will be a matter of just tightening things up in the next few weeks.”
According to the University of Minnesota, the last Gopher men’s swimmer to compete for the U.S. in the Olympics was Virgil Luken in the 1964 Games.
Plummer could be a contender in Rio as well.
The 11-time All-American at Minnesota finished Monday’s semifinal in 52.12 seconds – the fastest time in the world this year and the fifth fastest time ever.
