Olympic responsibilities

Very early in her life, Laura Bowen hated the water.

It wasn’t until she gave the Jay County Summer Swim team a try one year that she realized it wasn’t all that bad.

From there her passion for the water and the sport of swimming blossomed.

Now she’s filling a role at an Olympic level.

After falling in love with swimming, the Jay County native secured a job in December of 2021 with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) as the Coordinator of Aquatic Operations at Colorado Springs Olympic & Paralympic Training Center.

“It is truly a dream job,” Bowen said. “I’ve always wanted to work for the Olympics in some capacity and with it being in aquatics is just that much more awesome. … I love the water. I love being in it. I love being around it. I legit couldn't have asked for a better, better job, better life.”

Bowen first fell in love with swimming back in elementary school. Between swimming for Bev Arnold on the summer and winter swim teams and for Matt Slavik as part of the Jay County High School team, she learned to love swimming as a sport.

“Just being in the water, there is something so freeing about it,” Bowen said. “You’re kind of in your own world. Yes, it's a team sport, but it’s also individual at the same time. You’re racing against yourself in addition to other people. I think my coaches had a lot to do with it because they pushed me to be better as a person and as a swimmer, and it showed me the good that can come out of sport.”

After graduating from JCHS in 2012, Bowen attended Ball State University to major in aquatics. She earned her undergraduate degree in 2016 and stayed at BSU for two more years to earn a Masters degree in Sport and Fitness Administration/Management.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, she started to look for opportunities outside of eastern Indiana and came across the job listing at the training center. When growing up, Bowen regularly watched the Olympics as it was the highest level of professional swimming, so the position immediately caught her attention. Bowen figured she should at least apply and she secured the position and started working in late 2021.

On a day-to-day basis, Bowen checks in with the rest of the aquatics staff and the half a dozen lifeguards to make sure operations are running smoothly. She also will do pool checks for the various recovery and practice pools that includes a 50-meter indoor pool, an outdoor pool, hot and cold plunges and more various types of recovery pools.

Along with those tasks, she will often check in with coaches and athletes that are around to solve any potential problems that could arise and other duties as assigned.

With the 2024 Paris Olympics beginning on July 26 (and will run through Aug. 11), this is the first time the Olympics are being held since Bowen began working for the USOPC.

“Watching the games at any point is exciting, but working for the committee, I feel there is a different level of excitement,” Bowen said. “I might not be their coach or work in the recovery center, but I still see them … and what they go through on a regular basis. It is another element of seeing them on the TV and achieving their dreams and what they’ve towards for years.

“Just knowing that you had the even the smallest little help in that – like you were there to make sure the facility was operational – it’s just so cool.”

While Bowen mentioned that a few Olympians that are currently competing have come through the training center since she started, she thinks it will be a little bit more surreal to watch the Paralympics this year (Aug. 28-Sept. 8) due to there being an in-residence paralympic swim team at the training facility.

“The Paralympics, I think is what will hit with me more, because we talk to those athletes every single day,” Bowen said. “We learn about them as people and they learn about us and our lifeguards.

“It’s a different kind of bond than anything that I’ve experienced. The Paralympic trials, for instance, I was watching on Peacock and it was just so cool to sit there and be like ‘I know Elizabeth Marks. I talk to her regularly. I know Jessica Long and talk to her sometimes and see her every single day.’

“It is a very odd feeling and I’m very much looking forward to seeing those Paralympic athletes reaching their dreams and hopefully getting gold.”