USA Swimming men’s coach thrives under pressure

Like pretty much every other big-time coach or athlete who visits Indy, Anthony Nesty, the USA Swimming men’s head coach for the 2024 Paris Olympics, knows exactly where he wants to eat when he’s in town.

“At least once, you have to go to Shapiro’s for lunch and St. Elmo for dinner,” Nesty said. “That’s pretty standard for any visit to the city.”

He’ll likely nab his corned beef sandwich and shrimp cocktail sometime between June 15 and 23, when he oversees the 2024 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium. But it’s far from his first visit. His multi-decade career in collegiate and Olympic swimming, first as an athlete and now as a coach, has given him plenty of chances to become familiar with the city’s culinary hot spots.

His first trip to Indianapolis was for the 1987 Pan American Games, where, representing his home country of Suriname (South America’s smallest nation), he burst onto the international stage by winning a gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly and a bronze in the 200-meter butterfly.

But that was just a preamble to his greatest in-pool achievement. In 1988, again competing for Suriname, he became the first Black male swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal when he upset Matt Biondi in the 100-meter butterfly during the Seoul, South Korea, Summer Olympics. It made him a national hero in Suriname, which (among a great many other honors) issued a postage stamp bearing his visage and named one of the planes in the country’s flag carrier airline after him.

“It was a long time ago, but I still get recognized when I go home by people who are, say, 50 and older,” Nesty said.

After winning gold, he remained unbeaten in the 100-meter event for three years. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1994 (during which he won three consecutive NCAA individual championships in the 100-yard butterfly, among numerous other honors), then became the school’s assistant men’s coach in 1998, its men’s head coach in 2018 and head coach of the university’s men’s and women’s swim teams in 2021.

Elite swimmers currently under his tutelage include Olympic champions Bobby Finke and Katie Ledecky.

“He kind of knows the mental aspect of swimmers and what they go through,” Ledecky told NBC Sports. “He’s also a really great coach and has proven himself to be a really great coach. So he kind of has this quiet confidence about the program, but he also brings so much energy to the pool deck.”

‘Exciting and nerve-wracking’

He’ll need all the energy he can muster for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials, which marks the beginning of the exhausting run-up to the Olympics themselves. He’ll have to serve as coach, motivational expert and an administrator who must attend to a long list of logistical issues.

“You have to manage the athletes and also the coaches, the support staff, medical staff and all the other things that go into this,” Nesty said. “It’s going to be exciting and nerve-wracking. But I think being head coach for both the men’s and women’s programs at UF has been good preparation.”

Nesty said he feels good about the Lucas Oil Stadium pool setup and is familiar with the logistics of the Indiana Convention Center, thanks to previous visits for NCAA swimming events.

“Swim coaches are kind of high-maintenance when they don’t have enough deck space,” he said of the space around the pool where pre-event athletes and staffers congregate. “But Indianapolis has so much room to host a lot of athletes on deck. And the distance from the pool to the hotels is maybe five, 10 minutes.”

One of his biggest tasks during the trials and then the buildup to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris will be managing the tremendous stress faced by athletes preparing for their shot at winning gold.

“Back when I swam, I didn’t have to deal with all the things they have to deal with now, like sponsorships, social media, Instagram, you name it,” Nesty said. “But when it comes to the actual swimming, I can share the experience I’ve had with preparing both physically and mentally for race day and how to manage your energy.

“I think that’s probably the biggest thing, as a former athlete, I could give them in the way of advice.”

One reason elite swimmers accept that advice is because Nesty knows firsthand the importance of coping with the mental, emotional and physical pressures of preparing for an Olympic final.

And he’s never been one to let the pressure get to him, either as a swimmer or a coach. After he won his Olympic gold in South Korea, for instance, he didn’t cry or get emotional. He just desperately wanted to see and hold his medal. The actual, physical medal.

He seems fairly immune to the pressure as a coach, too. And to the workload. After the Olympic trials, he’ll immediately dive wholeheartedly into staffing up the national team for Paris.

“The preparation and stress take a toll on the athlete, but it also takes a toll on the coaches,” Nesty said. “Coaches get nervous, too, because at the Olympics, all eyes are on us.”

The trick to managing such emotions, he said, is to train and prepare as thoroughly as possible.

“The way you train is the way you’re going to race,” Nesty said. “If you train consistently, you’ll get consistent performances. During events like the Olympic trials, you’ll see the fruits of that labor. That’s the fun part of it. I tell our kids at swim meets that I’m relaxed because I know they’ve done their work, and I’m here to enjoy watching them compete on a really high level.”

Other interests

Interestingly, while Nesty spends a great deal of time walking around pools, these days he doesn’t jump into them all that often. Or at all. He keeps trim by walking, lifting weights, biking and skiing, but he rarely does anything that leaves him smelling of chlorine.

“I haven’t swam in some time,” he said. “It’s a great sport, and a great way to stay in shape, but I’m at a stage in my life where I want to do something else.”

Nesty is also a big Formula One fan because the sport’s winning teams rely on a couple of lifelong fascinations of his—speed and team effort.

“It’s a unique sport,” he said. “Those guys are so good at what they do, and when you watch it on TV, you might be tempted to think that it’s easy. But the work that goes into every lap is just mind-boggling.”

Though Nesty has put in a lot of time in Indianapolis and is indeed a racing fan, he’s never visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It’s an oversight he’d like to correct someday.

“I’ve heard the Indianapolis 500 is a great time,” he said. “I haven’t been yet, but that’s something for my bucket list.”

Nesty still has a few swim-related items on that list also, triumphs to go with the numerous accomplishments he’s already notched. Most prominently, winning an NCAA championship for the men’s or women’s University of Florida swim teams—or both. But that’s something to think about after the Olympics.

“My challenge for the team is to go to Paris and win as many medals as possible,” Nesty said. “And perhaps make history by winning the most medals ever. So that’s kind of my motivational speech.”•