Nathan Adrian is the 27-year-old captain of the US Olympic Swim Team. The three-time Olympic gold medalist who holds the American record in the 50-meter freestyle event is the favorite to win the men’s 100m free final at the 2016 Rio Olympics, his third Olympics. While the University of California, Berkeley graduate trains hard, he also likes to have fun.
In between the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics, Adrian appeared on an episode of MythBusters. The hosts, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, wanted to see if it’s possible to swim as fast in syrup as in water. (Syrup that is 500x times thicker than water.) While Adrian gave it a shot, Savage and Hyneman declared the test results invalid “because they determined that Adrian was so used to swimming in water, that his technique was completely disrupted when swimming in the syrup.” Adrian said, “It’s such a huge disadvantage being in such a foreign environment.” To see Adrian swim in water using his advantageous gold medal Olympic technique, tune in for the 2016 Summer Olympics Primetime coverage on NBC on Wednesday, August 10 at 8pm.
