Celebrity Spotlight By Brendan Hansen, Olympic Medalist

Celebrity Spotlight By Brendan Hansen, Olympic Medalist

Brendan Hansen is a four-time Olympic medalist swimmer and world record setter in the breaststroke.

I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, the middle child, with aspirations of being an Olympic swimming champion. Like many of the families in our area my father worked his blue collar job. I went to school and trained at night. With very little time in the week to hang out with my dad, weekend hunting trips were the only time my brother and I got quality time with our father. We would travel to the rural areas of PA to chase whatever season was open.

In our house there was two pieces of paper on the refrigerator, one with my swimming goals on it and the other was the countdown to our next hunting trip. Iloved every minute I got to spend in the outdoors with my family. The best part was it never mattered if we got anything, in fact some of the best hunting stories we have are ones where we went home empty handed. There was just something about a sunrise waiting on ducks to curl in on your decoys or a buck to walk by your stand just before dark that grabbed me as a young kid. Yet it all meant nothing if I couldn’t share it with friends and family.

I went on to become that Olympic swimming champion, winning gold in 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. During my extreme workout regiment the outdoors was my vent away from the sport. To prepare for the greatest sporting event in the world and probably most pressure packed. A dove flyway or tucked away fishing hole full of rainbow trout was my escape from it all. There were many times prior to the Olympics where the media couldn’t find me. That’s because I was in the outdoors where you probably get one of the greatest gifts, no cell phone service.

To this day, people ask me how I keep such a close relationship with my dad and brother. I tell them one of the many stories of those hunting weekends growing up. I truly believe the relationships you make in the outdoors are some of the strongest ones. This is why you can always hear a few hunters at a local diner tell old hunting stories they probably told a hundred times to each other. A story that usually ends with the phrase, “Good Times” and a smile. I know this because it’s usually my brother, dad and I.

Brendan Hansen, Four-Time Olympic Medalist Swimmer