By Julie Simon // Swimnetwork.com Contributor

I have to admit, I was a little envious of Michael Phelps’ historic achievements this summer. It’s not everyone who can surpass the one million mark in Facebook friends—and become the longest trending topic on Twitter. Oh, and his eight gold medals? Not so bad either.

In these times of blogging, Facebooking and Twittering, it’s easy to feel what social scientists call an “ambient awareness” of some of our biggest sports heroes. Swimmers, it seems, have been out front testing the digital waters as online leaders. Ian Crocker, Ryan Lochte and Garrett Weber-Gale, to name a few, all maintain active blogs that give hungry fans generous glimpses into their inner lives.

As Phelps’ Facebook friend, I can review his five favorite songs (Lil Wayne just isn’t my style) or assess his Fantasy Football picks. Videos of his appearances on Entourage and SNL are available as is the requisite video of his dog Herman. Then there are the “wall” postings (of which there are more than 120,000) that surely no one—certainly not Phelps—actually takes the time to read. Most of them follow the same narrative as this one by Lydia of Detroit “omg ur awesome!! me and my friend think ur the best ever!”

Once they have calmed down, fans like Lydia use the wall as more of a discussion board to chat with other fans, all the while waiting for the magical moment when Phelps himself might step out from behind the curtain. Ultimately, all of this digital intimacy does seem to have a higher purpose for a sport like swimming. It goes towards a goal that most competitive swimmers, including Phelps as he has publicly stated, share—to popularize the sport for both spectators and participants.  
 
“Any time a fan feels like they know something about an athlete on a personal level, they’re more likely to cheer for that athlete,” says Sarah Galbavy, a 22-year-old nursing student from Long Island who runs IanCrockerOnline.com, a blog dedicated to all things Crocker. Galvaby started the blog after the Athens Games, where she felt Crocker was mistreated by the media for potentially ruining Phelps’ chances at more medals.

Galbavy’s foray into swimming cyberspace started out by checking a few swim-related Websites, then dabbling into discussion boards, and ultimately making plans with other swimming fans to attend meets together. “Swimming isn’t like football or baseball, where you might hear about people getting tickets for a game. [The Internet] has helped me connect with people in my area who are interested in swimming and now they’re some of my best friends!” said Galbavy who tries to attend most meets where Crocker is a competitor.

As for her personal connection to Crocker, Galbavy said “People assume I know him really well,” but that’s not the case. “He knows I’m that girl who runs his fan Web site,” although she tries to maintain her distance so Crocker doesn’t think, as she said, “Oh God! She’s stalking me and that’s creepy!”

For his own part, Crocker goes some distance in maintaining his personal blog, which was voted top five athlete blogs by Sports Illustrated. Crocker is known for sharing his artistic side and that is evident in his soul-searching posts. Crocker’s latest entry finds him ready to launch a post-Beijing road trip, with the only sure stop being his Mom and Dad’s house in Portland, ME where he plans to “look through…boxes of swim meet t-shirts and ribbons and try to make sense of it all.” He graciously invites readers to “come along and I’ll tell you stories of what’s gone on along the way.”

Crocker’s fellow Longhorn swimmer, Garrett Weber-Gale, invites fans to get to know him online as more than a swimmer. A self-proclaimed “athletic foodie,” Weber-Gale lives by the motto “Train hard. Eat right. Swim fast.” His freshly redesigned site, GWGSwims.com, features his fastest times, personal information, and a recipe contest for both kids and adults to help promote healthy living.

Weber-Gale’s love for healthy cooking was born in part because he lives with high blood pressure. “I’d like to be an example for kids with high blood pressure on how to manage their health,” said Weber-Gale, who often fields emails from young swimmers about what to eat before a meet. “GWGSwims is a way for me to connect with kids or even Masters swimmers about nutrition and swimming, and for people to see what my life is like as an Olympic athlete,” he said. “They can see that I’m just a regular guy. I hurt in practice. I have a tough time. There’s really no difference between me and them. If I can do it, so can they.” 

GWGSwims strikes a fine balance between the personal minutiae of Garrett’s life and his passion for swimming. Unlike some blogging swimmers, he pays heed to proper stroke technique, without which, he says, a swimmer just can’t progress. For example, he writes:

"I constantly think about my stroke. I try different head positions, different angles of my elbows through my pull, change the pitch of my hands as they enter the water. I am constantly looking for something to make myself better. One of the keys to continually getting faster in the sport of swimming is to become more fine-tuned in the small, technical things every season. We must always continue to evolve our strokes, and discipline ourselves to fix our imperfections."

Alas, swimmers seem to sense their public’s need for details on their dinner plans rather than their drill set. Natalie Coughlin even lets those non-swimmers off the hook in her blog with this:   “Disclaimer: for all of you who get bored with swimming details feel free to skip this next paragraph.”  Maybe she thinks that people are more interested in her posts from pre-Olympic training camp in Singapore where she describes the five-star hotel, “unbelievable buffet” and the Spirulina Anti-Oxidant facial and reflexology massage she gets at the spa? Natalie, tell me more!

Whatever your interests, personal blogs give swimming fans the chance to know their favorite swimmer beyond just their laps in the pool. And maybe every little bit helps people inch toward the realization that swimmers are out there doing their thing every single day, and not just every four years when they’re showcased at the Olympics. All you have to do is log on. They’re inviting you in. The water’s warm.  

Julie Simon is a freelance writer and Masters Swimmer in Chicago, IL.