Naperville's Olympic swimmer receives 'humbling' hometown welcome
Swimmer Kevin Cordes used to call his favorite meet the “Naperville Olympics.”
Now he's competed in the real Olympics.
Cordes returned Tuesday to the city council chambers in his hometown after an appearance last month at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
When he stepped to the front of the room at the municipal center, he was wearing the gold medal he earned for swimming the breaststroke in the preliminaries for the victorious U.S. 4X100-meter medley relay team.
Mayor Steve Chirico presented Cordes with a commemorative statue to add to his growing trophy and medal collection.
“We just want to make sure he knows we're thinking about him,” Chirico said. “We appreciate the hard work and good ethics and sportsmanship that he displayed when representing the U.S. and also when representing Naperville.”
Cordes said he started swimming at 6 years old and always enjoyed what he and his buddies called the “Naperville Olympics,” pitting teams from pools within subdivisions against each other.
“The biggest meet always was the city meet that happened each summer,” Cordes said. “Naperville has a great swim community.”
As soon as age 7 or 8, Cordes said, he knew breaststroke would be his specialty. He started “neglecting” the other strokes, he said, sometimes to the chagrin of his coaches.
Cordes, 23, continued his swimming at Neuqua Valley High School and at the University of Arizona.
In 2012, he narrowly missed making the team for the Olympics in London. But by Rio this summer, he was ready and qualified for three events.
The breaststroker helped the men's team make it to the finals in the 4X100 medley relay. Although Cordes didn't compete in the finals, he was awarded the gold medal that he showed off Tuesday before a hometown crowd.
Cordes didn't medal in his other two events but made it to the finals in both, placing fourth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 59.22 and eighth in the 200 breaststroke in 2:08.34.
The support he's received since returning home Aug. 18 to relax with family has been “humbling,” the swimmer said, and he appreciates the warm homecoming as he considers his next steps.
Cordes said he plans to return to training soon to reach for new feats in the pool.