World record holder Rebecca Soni has been very impressive since her Olympic successes in 2008. The 3-time Olympic medalist from Beijing qualified again for the 2012 USA Olympic Team in Omaha and is looking very good for continued Olympic success in London.While her fellow pool elite athletes were conserving energy and tapering for the high-pressure Olympic Trials, Soni was reportedly mellowing out near her home in Manhattan Beach, California, and casually swimming in the Pacific Ocean.One of her fellow American gold medalists, Gary Hall Jr., also understood and appreciates the soothing feeling and renewed energy that can come with an immersion in the Big Blue.
Getting inspired by the shoreline and ocean ambiance is nothing new to open water swimmers or Dr.
Wallace J. Nichols, a sea turtle biologist who connects neuroscience with the ocean and researches how the brain's emotional center is lit up by open water.
His
BLUEMiND research takes him to meet fishermen and to coastal villages where he encounters people with a common appreciation for the ocean’s beauty, abundance and mysteries.
"
We have the power of happiness on our side," is a comment that is easily understood by the open water swimming community and the clearly happy and optimistic Soni.