Current Cal Bears, Marcin Tarcyznski, will represent his native Poland in 100 Backstroke after breaking the National Record in Polish National Championship.
A rising junior, Marcin played an important part in this years' successful defense of the NCAA National Championship (he also contributed a 14th place finish in 200 IM in 2011). He was the NCAA champion in 200 IM as well as finishing 5th in 100 Back and 9th in 200 Back.
Here is an interview of Marcin with collegeswimming.com:
You can also relive Marcin's NCAA winning swim (most definitely from the Cal perspective, which makes it that much more spectacular) after the jump.
Marcin's NCAA winning 200 IM swim (apparently his nickname is the very unimaginative "T"):
This swimswam article points out the uniqueness of Marcin's achievement in making the Olympics team.
On the more-powerful men’s side of the pool, the biggest performance was from Cal swimmer Marcin Tarczynski in the 100 backstroke. There, he broke a National Record with a 54.12 for the win and an Olympic spot. This is a notable development for more reasons than just the record.
Up until 2011, Tarczynski was a straight butterflier. He had a good enough backstroke to put onto a 2:00 200 IM, but that was about it. He showed his hand a bit at NCAA’s in 2011 where he swam the 100 fly and 200 back individually as a freshman, and made the B-Final in the latter. With such a crowded Polish field in the butterflies (and at Cal for that matter), however, in 2011 he made a full-force shift to the backstrokes, and this has paid off for him.
With two more years of eligibility, Marcin will be back to help the Bears go for the three-peat. Even if he is not expected to medal in London (the jump in time that he was able to achieve in the Polish national made him 23rd fastest), he has shown tremendous growth in his swimming career and is on the trajectory to achieve great things. The Olympics is going to be a great experience that may boost his swimming career even more.
Go Marcin and GO BEARS!