Morning Man Encore: Nathan Adrian!

Am having a late start today so am doing this rerun in honor of Nathan’s 26th birthday today – originally posted Apr 4, 2012

Oh, I just love this guy!

Had never heard of swimmer Nathan Adrian until last weekend when he became a Twitter sensation after his bodysuit RIPPED while he was bending over on the starting blocks in a big race at the Indianapolis Grand Prix swimming meet.

Part of his rear end was exposed but he was undaunted. He not only went on to complete the race, he won over a field that included Olympic legend Michael Phelps!

“I was on the block, bending over,” said Adrian, whose winning time was 48.62 seconds, 12/100ths faster than second-place Phelps. “What could I do? … It was near. ‘Take your mark.’ I’m not going to stop.”

He told the press after the race that it had never happened to him before, “not even in practice. It’s happened when I’ve been walking up to the blocks, my suit has ripped on me. But never on the block. I certainly never had to swim with one like that.”

The 23-year-old won the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in the 4×100 m freestyle relay. Adrian is currently a pre-med student at the University of California, Berkely. At Cal, He is a five-time individual NCAA champion: Winning the 50-yard freestyle in 2009 and 2011 and the 100-yard freestyle in 2009, 2010, and 2011.