Former AU swimmer Bousquet on top of his game

Fred Bousquet doesn’t like to be alone.

Funny, because that’s exactly when he does his best work — all by himself in a pool lane, swimming faster than anyone in the world.

But it’s that want to be around people coupled with the lone-ranger, work-harder-than-anyone-else mentality that has gotten the former Auburn University sprinter to where he is today.

And where is that exactly?

Well, let’s see. Bousquet is the world record holder for the 50-meter freestyle. He’s won three silver medals in the last three Olympics as part of the French national team. He was four-time NCAA Champion (three times in the 50-yard freestyle) while at Auburn.

He’s the first person to ever swim faster than 19 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, as well as the first to go less than 21 seconds in the 50-meter free.

Oh, and he beat the biggest and best athlete on the planet last weekend at the Charlotte UltraSwim. No, not Tiger Woods. Michael
Phelps. Yeah, that Michael Phelps.

And to think, he wouldn’t have gotten the chance to even race against the all-time Olympic gold medal winner if it wasn’t for his loneliness.

“I was going to be pretty much by myself here in Auburn for the rest of the week if I wasn’t going out there,” said Bousquet, who beat Phelps in the 100 free last Sunday night, clocking a 48.22, while Phelps hit the wall in 49.04 — almost a full second behind. “I just came back from France a few days before that and I wasn’t ready to be by myself again.”

So Bousquet asked his trainer and Auburn co-head men’s swimming coach Brett Hawke if he could tag along for the trip, not expecting to swim. He just didn’t want to be alone.

But Hawke and Bousquet just happened to have a pretty close relationship with the man running the meet in Charlotte, N.C. — former
AU swimming coach David Marsh, who recruited and coached both Hawke and Bousquet on the Plains.

“So we call David Marsh, and David was nice enough to just put me in,” Bousquet said.

Nothing left to do but show up and race Phelps.

No pressure
“What helped me a lot was to decide the last minute to go down there,” Bousquet said of entering last week’s event. “I almost had no time to think about ‘Hey, I’m going to be racing the biggest athlete on the planet.’

“It definitely helped me not getting into a lot of pressure or a lot of tension racing him.”

Bousquet also knew something else.

“He’s not a sprint-event guy,” the Frenchman said of Phelps, who won golds in the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 400 IM, 200 free, 200 fly, 200 IM, 100 fly, 4x100 free relay, 4x200 free relay and 4x100 medley relay, giving him 14 Olympic golds overall. “He’s more of a distance, mid-distance guy. I was like ‘OK, he’s coming into the water sprinting, and that’s going to be a lot harder for him to win this event.’”

Bousquet has had no trouble in his career winning sprinting events.

“It’s what I do best,” he said.

Indeed.

On April 26, Bousquet set the world record in the 50-meter free, touching the wall in 20.94 seconds. The first time anyone on the planet broke the 21-second barrier.

There he is, alone, all by himself at the top of the world in the most rock star swimming event.

Bliss. No?

Remember, Bousquet doesn’t like to be alone.

“That was fun,” he said. “A lot of people ask me to compare it to breaking 19 (seconds) when I was back on the (Auburn) team. It’s almost impossible to compare, just because breaking 19 (seconds) brought me so much more happiness. It was all about being a good teammate, bringing as many points as I could to the team. Breaking 19, I could share it with all my teammates, all the guys from
Auburn on deck.

“When I broke 21, I was like ‘OK, that was my time — my achievement.’ But I had almost nobody to share it with. So I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s a good feeling but I almost wish I was back on the team doing that.’”

Light bulb
And maybe it’s that thought process that put Bousquet in what he and Hawke called a slump prior to this year.

“I guess when I came here and started training with Brett last year, I think he’s the one that made me realize I had a lot more potential than I saw,” Bousquet said. “I had a lot more ability than I saw. David did the world for me, but because the world was in the team atmosphere, it was easier for me to say, I’m swimming better because I know my teammates are behind me.

“Once I got on my own, it was a lot harder. I couldn’t get it by myself. That’s what Brett figured out.”

And Hawke wasn’t afraid to tell him.

“He was kind of in a slump and then when he realized I was back here and getting some results, he was like ‘Man, I just got to come back and work under you,’” said Hawke, who has been training Bousquet for the past two years. “So, myself and (Auburn swim coach Richard) Quick talked to him about some expectations we had. He was willing to meet all those. Once he did that, it was ’Welcome back, Fred.’”

Bousquet has been in Auburn for a majority of the past two years, going back to France a handful of times.

“I try to stay here as long as I can every time,” Bousquet said.

Which is good for his training and his career, says Hawke.

“Yeah, this is his home away from home — away from France,” Hawke said. “He loves to come here and just work hard. He doesn’t get that back home in France, because there’s a lot of distractions. Here, it’s just shut the doors and do his work and no one asks any questions. So he’s pretty focused like that.”

Hard work goes a long way
And focus, hard work and dedication is what Hawke and Marsh say Bousquet does better than anyone.

Of course, there’s some talent in there, too.

“He’s got a gift. He’s very powerful in the water. He’s very strong. He seems to do things with the water that other people can’t do — he holds on to it real well. He’s extremely strong and powerful,” Hawke said. “And at the same time he’s very talented as well, and that helps.

“The biggest thing about Fred is he works really hard — really, really hard. People don’t give him enough credit for how hard he works.
He’s one of those guys who’ll come in, keep his mouth shut and do everything you tell him to do.”

Marsh agrees.

“I tried to, after the meet, after he broke the world record, to explain it ...” Marsh said. “Basically, the deal with him is, he’s an athlete that turned into a swimmer. A lot of times, we have swimmers who try to become athletes.

“He’s not the most talented swimmer, but he is one of the most hard-working, most-committed swimmers to come through the Auburn
program.

“He’s got incredible trust in his coaches. When he’s working with you, he has incredible confidence in you and that’s a huge key.
People don’t understand how big that is.”

But Bousquet does. Especially since he’s been training with Hawke, who is regarded as one of the top sprint coaches in the world.
Hawke coached former Auburn swimmer Cesar Cielo on the Brazilian team in the Beijing Olympics. Cielo won the gold medal in the 50 free.

“Whenever you’re coached by Brett it’s very easy to just say, ‘OK, I’m going to turn my brain off when I come to the pool and let myself be guided by that guy,’” Bousquet said. “Whenever I’m here ... he’ll say today you’re going to go with the flyers and I’ll just go with it. It’s more easy doing that. I just know that he is doing it for my best. It’s how he works. It’s very easy.”

And it’s that personality that Marsh says defines Bousquet. And it’s also what had propelled him to this newfound height in his career.

“He’s a better person than he is a swimmer,” Marsh said. “And if he’s a better person, which he is, as a world record holder, is saying a whole lot about what kind of swimmer he is.”

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