Mike Bottom
Current Individual Sponsor: Speedo
Bottom, founder of Bottomline Aquatics, former co-head coach at Cal Berkeley and a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic swim team that stayed home from Moscow, has established himself as the world's best sprint coach.
Top athletes from around the world come to train with Bottom with partial funding and support provided by The Race Club.
At the Athens Olympics, he coached Gary Hall, Jr., and Cal's Duje Draganja to a 1-2 finish in the 50-meter freestyle; he also had many other swimmers compete for various countries at the 2004 Games.
In 2000 for the first time in Olympic history, two men tied for the gold medal, and both were coached by Bottom as part of the World Sprint Team which was funded by The Phoenix Swim and Sport Foundation, the organization that helped found The Race Club. Gold medalists Anthony Ervin andGary Hall, Jr., swimming for the United States, were joined byPoland's Bart Kizierowski who is also coached by Bottom in the finals of the 50-meter freestyle at the Sydney Olympics.
Ten-time Olympic medalist Gary Hall says, "I would not have qualified for one Olympics without Mike. I was at the brink of quitting when I first met him. He's the most underrated coach in the world -- he's the greatest coach in the world."
Cals sprinters, coached by Bottom, have now won the 100 free at the NCAAs an unprecedented five years in a row. The Golden Bears 400 free relay team also claimed a championship title with the fastest time in NCAA history (3:48.99).
At the 2003 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Bottom coached athletes from seven countries.
During the summer of 2002, Bottom traveled to Europe with 14 athletes to establish a training base in Split, Croatia. He also served as the official coach of both the Croatian and Polish teams at the European Championships, whereBart Kizierowskiwon the 50 free.
During the summer of 2001, Bottom was selected to be an assistant coach for the United States at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. At the World Championships, several of the sprinters Bottom has coached excelled. Cal's Ervin won both the 50 and 100-meter freestyle; South Africa'sRoland Schoeman was third in the 50 free (first medal ever for South Africa at a world championship) and fourth in the 50 fly.Therese Alshammar from Sweden won the silver medal in the women's 50 free and 50 fly.
Bottom was the assistant coach for the Elite Team that finished second at the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia. Kizierowski won both the 50 free and 50 back, breaking a Goodwill Games' record and two Polish national records in the process. Kizierowski also won the 50 freestyle and was second in the 100 freestyle at the University Games in Beijing, China. In the 50 free at the 2001 summer US Nationals, Gary Hall, Jr. won the gold medal and three of Bottom's other swimmers finished in the top nine. Bottom was also the head coach for team Stars and Stripes at the first-ever Novo Nordisc Sprint Cup, meet with the highest purse money in the history of swimming and produced by Gary Hall, Jr.. His team, made up of American swimmers, won the competition against strong European and World teams.
During the 1999-2000 NCAA season, Bottom coached Ervin to wins in both the 50 and 100-meter freestyle at the NCAA Championships. In 2000-2001, Ervin repeated as the NCAA champion in the 100 free, tying the legendary Matt Biondi with a time of 41.80. In all, Bottom's sprinters won five Olympic medals in Sydney and he has coached four different NCAA champions and 10 different Pac-10 champions at Cal.
While at Auburn from 1991-94, Bottom created the ultra sprint program, taking two then unheard-of athletes, Bill Pilczuk and Dean Hutchinson, to the NCAA finals. He assisted in the rise of the Auburn men's team that won the 1997 and 1999 NCAA titles. In 1995, Bottom moved to USC to become the Trojans' sprint coach, and in 1997, the USC women's team won their first ever NCAA title. He joined Cal head coach Nort Thornton in July of 1997.
From 1995-98, Bottom summered in Phoenix, AZ where he coached outstanding sprinters such as Hall, Jr., a four-time medalist at the Atlanta Olympic Games, and Jon Olsen, a four-time Olympic gold medalist. In the summer of 1999, Bottom worked with Hall at Cal. This team effort resulted in a U.S. National Championship and Hall's then best time in the 50-meter freestyle, 22.13. In addition, former Bear Matt Macedo, trained under Bottom that summer and lowered his 50-meter free by over 1.5 seconds to 22.67 to place third. Macedo's third and sixth place finishes at his first ever Phillips 66 National Swimming Championship earned him the Rookie of the Meet Award.
Bottom graduated Summa Cum Laude from USC with a bachelor's degree in psychology and received the Scholar-Athlete Award for the graduating athlete with the highest GPA. He received a master's degree in counseling at Auburn In his swimming days, Bottom was an Olympic team member and was on a world record 400 free relay. While at USC he was a member of three NCAA Championship teams.
