Training Partners

I've read here and there that at various times in his post-collegiate career, Ryan and his coach, Gregg Troy, have brought in foreign swimmers to train with Ryan for weeks or months at a time. (Or at least it appears that's how it works.) I presume this is done to give Ryan competition in practice and to keep him challenged and motivated. I would guess other swimmers would be very interested in training with Ryan given his speed, work ethic and excellence in all four strokes.

Ryan's training partners in the past have been Thiago Pereira of Brazil and Mike Alexandrov, who swam for Bulgaria in 2004 and 2008 and is now hoping to make it on the U.S. national team. It was announced at the SC nationals that Ryan is currently training with Leith Brodie of Australia. Pereira and Brodie are IM'ers and Alexandrov is an IM'er and a breastroker. All 3 competed in the Beijing Olympics. The next several posts will talk about each of these guys one at a time and explore what they offered to Ryan as training partners.