As a member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, Scott Weltz finished fifth in the 200-meter breaststroke at the London Olympic Games. In order to qualify for the Games in the first place, Weltz defeated Olympians Brendan Hansen and Eric Shanteau. Weltz’s victory was called an “upset” or a “surprise” by many.
But for those who know Weltz, the victory at Olympic trials wasn’t so much of a surprise. In fact, before the Games began, Weltz told The Wall Street Journal that he believes himself to be mentally tougher than some of his competitors, simply because he trained for the Games by himself instead of with a large practice group.
Weltz found himself on his own after the college program at UC-Davis was cut in 2010, after his senior season. Instead of heading to another campus and joining up with a training group, Weltz decided to stay at UC-Davis with his college coach, Pete Motekaitis.
“I always kind of wanted to go to Texas, things like that, Cal, Stanford, because you go to the big schools and train with these guys,” Weltz told The Wall Street Journal in 2012. “But, you know, when I came back (to Davis) and knew I would be training by myself, Pete said, ‘You’re going to be mentally tougher than anyone else there because you do this by yourself.’”
In December, Weltz finished 10th in the 200 breaststroke at the 2012 Short Course World Championships.
Here’s a little bit more about Weltz.
Name: Scott Weltz
Age: 25
Hometown: San Jose, Calif.
College: UC-Davis, 2010
Major: Economics
High School: Bellarmine College Prep, 2005
Family: Weltz’s father, Donald, is an accountant, while his mother, Rhonda is an English and history teacher. His older brother, Andrew, is a marine biologist.
Pets: A dog named Calvin
Role Models: Herb Brooks and his grandfather
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