CLAIRE C. LAURENCEArizona Daily Wildcat The UA swim and dive team looks to be well represented at this year's Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in August. Twelve Wildcats in all will try to secure bids to the Summer Games when they head to Long Beach, Calif., during the week of July 7-14 for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials.

The picture of Olympic glory is arguably the most beautiful in all of sport. Fists rise to the heavens in triumph, anthems fill the arenas, and tears of joy stain victors' cheeks.

But ask some of the 12 UA swim and dive team members with a chance to participate in the Olympic Summer Games in Athens, Greece, this August, and they have a hard time imagining the scene.

Take freshman swimmer Whitney Myers, for example.

"Uh," she says, aiming at least her glare to the heavens, "I don't know. Sorry."

How about you, Jessica Hayes?

A long pause. "Pass," says the junior.

Don't blame either woman for trying. Come the week of July 7-July 14, Arizona's hopefuls for the American national team will hardly be focused on themselves at the 2004 Olympic trials in Long Beach, Calif.

"It's going to take a lot of team support, a lot of backing from everybody," says junior Tyler DeBerry, who could line up for the United States against Australian superman Ian Thorpe in the 400-meter freestyle at the games. "While swimming is such an individual sport, you depend so much on your teammates to lift you up during practice and push you to the next level."

Sophomore Dave Rollins and senior diver Josh Anderson will join DeBerry at the trials. In addition to Hayes and Myers, junior Emily Mason and sophomores Lisa Pursley, Erin Sieper and Marshi Smith will represent the women.

The men hope to join teammates Lyndon Ferns and Simon Burnett, who have already qualified for the South African and British teams, respectively. The women chase redshirt senior diver Claire Febvay, who qualified for the French national team earlier this year.

In the meantime, Febvay, who will participate in three platform events in Athens, doesn't anticipate any animosity among her teammates.

"It is competitive, but everyone's still friends in the end," she says. "You're not going to go kill your teammate or anything."

Arizona swim and dive head coach Frank Busch hopes his pupils will take to the trials as they did the NCAA Championships in March. There, the Wildcats registered a third-place finish overall and came home hoisting 11 All-America awards.

"It's just like getting ready for the NCAAs," Busch says. "It's not something you do in a month, elevate your training and elevate your confidence and elevate your focus. You can't expect a quantum leap - it just isn't realistic. Those who do that tend to put way too much pressure on themselves.

"It's more of a matter of, 'All right, I did this, and I was successful,'" he adds. "Now what happens if I do it just a little bit better?'"

Hayes admits having problems with Olympic-sized expectations, but doesn't expect them to overwhelm the experience of competing at the trials.

"I'm in a spot where I don't really have anything to lose," she says. "So I'm going into it with (the idea to) have fun and not put any pressure on myself, not let it be too stressful."

After their continued success throughout the swim and dive season, most of the trialists agree that the chance to represent their country in the games is a big goal.

"It's definitely been motivating," said DeBerry. "I know that it's a goal that's attainable and it's certainly within reach. It's definitely something that I think I can do."

Still, having past experience can't hurt. Febvay participated in the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia, an experience that, coupled with assistance from the coaching staff at Arizona, has revamped her style completely.

"I've changed all my dives since Sydney," she says. "I have a way better chance than I did four years ago."

Myers concurs.

"I went to the trials in 2000, (when) I was a freshman in high school. That experience really helped me to prepare mentally, mostly. Actually having to get to tour with the team here at Arizona has really helped me and taught me how to be a better competitor."

Nevertheless, Busch would prefer outsiders to take any of Arizona's future success at face value.

"People measure success in the Olympics by, 'Well, did you win a medal?' They don't realize what it takes to just a) get to the Olympics, and b) be someone that's even in the position (to) possibly swim for a medal," Busch says.

"This is a good group, and there's some talent in this group," he adds. "I'm not telling you that these kids don't have a chance to medal; certainly, a lot of them do. But let's be realistic - we're talking about the top one-hundredth of one percent in the world."

All the same, Busch says he appreciates the effort his swimmers have given thus far.

"Most of them are here training nine months out of the year," he says. "They identify with being a Wildcat, and being a University of Arizona athlete. There's a lot of pride in what they've accomplished."

For the swimmers involved, training for the trials has long since began. Even with more than two months to go before show time, Anderson and his colleagues expect to make the most of their opportunities, whatever the outcome in July.

"It's really big to be able to represent your country," he says. "It's a feeling like no other."

On that note, DeBerry offers his surest account of Olympic glory.

"It just makes me think of all the people that have come before me," he says, "just how much work it takes to get to that spot, and the sacrifices that have to be made to have that kind of success."