Olympian swimmer Jason Lezak gives clinic and motivational talk to kids at Johnson Ranch

It's not every day that an Olympic gold medalist visits town but on Sunday, that's what dozens of kids saw as Jason Lezak gave a swimming clinic and motivational talk at Johnson Ranch Sports Club in Roseville. Lezak won four gold, two silver and two bronze medals in his Olympic career and holds the fastest 100-meter freestyle split of all time at 46.06 seconds in the 2008 Beijing games. His split time led the United States to a world record in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay with a time of 3:08. On Sunday, Lezak taught techniques on several strokes such as freestyle and backstroke in two separate clinics, one for ages 10 and under and one for those 11 and older. Lezak visited Johnson Ranch Sports Club for the third time and has given clinics throughout Northern California in Vacaville, Antioch, Napa and other cities. "I really enjoy coming back to the same club because you get to see some of the same kids and hear some of their stories and what I did to inspire them," Lezak said. "I like giving back in general because to me, I've learned so much from so many people along the way that I feel like if I wasn't sharing it, I'd be doing a disservice to the community." After his first clinic and prior to his second, Lezak gave about a 25-minute motivational talk regarding his career and his journey competing at four different Olympics. Lezak began his Olympic career in 2000 at Athens where he won gold in the 4x100-meter medley relay and silver in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. In 2004 in Sydney, Australia, he was on the 4x100-meter medley relay team that set a world record and won gold. He also finished fifth in the 50-yard freestyle. In Beijing in 2008, Lezak won his first individual medal, a bronze in the 100-yard freestyle. His final Olympic games was in London in 2012 when he became the first male swimmer in Olympic history to win four medals in the same event, the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. "The most rewarding part is being able to share my story and experience with a lot of younger swimmers out there and give them guidance," Lezak said. "It's not always a clear path and you don't always win every time. It's about how you come back from that and not letting that setback or failure affect you in a negative way." Lezak also serves as the general manager of the Cali Condors professional swimming club in San Francisco, which is part of the International Swimming League that began in 2019. The Condors won the Championship in 2020, but due to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the league is currently on pause. A majority of the league's funding comes from Ukrainian billionaire and businessman Konstantin Grigorishin. "It's something that the sport needs," Lezak said. "A lot of times, these swimmers are retiring too young. Something professional in swimming is a necessity and hopefully it's able to come back and give people a chance. I just had a few swimmers that are really high level that had to retire because there's no money out there." Five of his Olympic medals were relays where Michael Phelps was also on the team. When asked what it was like getting to swim with a talent such as Phelps, Lezak said "That's a great question. Michael should be asked what it was like to compete with Jason."