Reinaldo Llerena // Staff Writer
With her country’s flag in one hand and her coach walking alongside, FIU swimmer Naomi Ruele made her Olympic debut as she waved to a Brazilian crowd during the Opening Ceremonies in Rio de Janeiro.
The Redshirt sophomore qualified for the Olympics in Rio when she completed a time trial inside of the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center on March 20, qualifying with a time of 26.07 seconds. Ruele’s coach, FIU’s swimming and diving head coach Randy Horner, joined her when he accepted an offer from Botswana’s Olympic Committee to be the coach for the country’s two swimmers.
“I was very overwhelmed heading into the competition,” Ruele said. “In the opening ceremonies, you would walk out and there would be 500 cameras and a packed stadium waiting to greet you. Because the ceremonies were so extravagant, I couldn’t register in my head that I was at the Olympic Opening Ceremonies.”
In Rio, Ruele competed in one event: the 50-meter freestyle. In the event, Ruele placed second in her heat with a time of 26.23 seconds. While her time was not fast enough to earn a place in the semi-finals, Ruele was able to break the top 50 times at the Rio Olympics, posting the 47th-overall fastest time.
“After my events, I went and watched several other sports I would normally not be able to watch,” Ruele said. “I watched the USA men’s basketball team play against Serbia and women’s gymnastics. I believe gymnastics to be one of the toughest sports to master and seeing those athletes master it with such precision amazed me.”
Horner left his family at home to coach Ruele for the 50-meter freestyle and Nova Southeastern University swimmer David Van Der Colff for the 100-meter backstroke.
“My wife was jealous of me going to Rio,” Horner said. “So much so, that she booked a trip to California to visit friends and run a half-marathon. She enjoyed herself over there.”
Horner took full advantage of the perks of being an Olympic coach. He walked alongside all of Botswana’s athletes during the opening ceremonies and watched other Olympians compete during his downtime. Horner said he watched all of the swimming events he could and several other sports.
“I watched the USA men’s basketball team play against China,” Horner said. “I also saw Usain Bolt win the 100-meter for the third time and watched women’s gymnastics. It was amazing to see athletes nail their respective moves with such precision and skill. It was fun to watch.”
Ruele was satisfied with her stay in the Olympic Village; her room, which she shared with two Botswana runners, was free of any electricity or leakage issues.
“It was a smooth stay,” Ruele said. “It wasn’t the most extravagant of places, perhaps because they were fitting 14,000 athletes, but it was a nice place to stay and relax in between training and events.”
The Swimming and Diving team begins its season Sept. 30 against the University of Miami in Coral Gables. The first event is scheduled for 6 p.m.
“Our goal for this season is to repeat as Conference USA champions and make the NCAA tournament,” Horner said. “Our swimmers have grown a lot during the offseason, and we have all of our sprint swimmers returning, which was our greatest strength last season.”