Olympians head to Atlanta for the 2008 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming Short Course National Championships

Top American swimmers, including seven members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Swim Team, will compete in Atlanta at the 2008 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming Short Course National Championships. The competition will be held at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, December 4-6. Among the swimmers expected to compete are U.S. Olympic gold medalists Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.), Cullen Jones (New Brunswick, N.J.) and Garrett Weber-Gale (Milwaukee, Wis.), as well as Olympian and Georgia-native Eric Shanteau (Lilburn, Ga.).

The meet will serve as the first post-Olympic competition for many of the 2008 Olympians, including world-record holders Weber-Gale and Jones. Olympian Shanteau, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer prior to the 2008 Olympic Swim Trials, will also be competing in his first meet since having surgery after returning home from Beijing. He is currently cancer-free.

Additional Olympians competing at Short Course Nationals include Olympic silver medalist Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill.), Olympic gold medalist Mark Gangloff (Stow, Ohio), Olympic bronze medalist Allison Schmitt (Canton, Mich.), and 2004 Olympians Amanda Weir (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and Rachel Komisarz (Louisville, Ky.).

The meet will follow the traditional schedule of morning prelims and evening finals with the morning sessions starting each day at 9:30 a.m. Evening finals begin at 6 p.m. Four to six events will be contested daily. For tickets, click here.

All three nights of finals at Short Course Nationals will be available for viewing on-demand at http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/www.swimnetwork.com. Footage will be posted beginning Friday morning. In addition, the website will provide preview and wrap-up stories each evening.

During the meet on Friday, December 5, USA Swimming will host "Make a Splash Day," an event promoting the importance of water safety. The event will feature a series of activities including a free swim clinic and meet-and-greet session with the 2008 Olympians Jones and Shanteau, as well as two-time Olympian and three-time Olympic gold medalist Brooke Bennett (Tampa, Fla.). Make a Splash is the national child-focused water safety initiative of the USA Swimming Foundation.