8/31/2020 9:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving, Paul Coro
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Muteti, Te Flan were bound to represent GCU, nations in Tokyo this summer
By: By Paul Coro
In recent weeks, Grand Canyon swimmers Emily Muteti and Talita Te Flan have been reuniting at the Lopes' home pool for voluntary workouts.
Some of those swims were supposed to be in front of Tokyo crowds as Olympians.
The jarring juxtaposition was a blow to Muteti and Te Flan, who were on track to represent Kenya and Ivory Coast, respectively, for the pinnacle of amateur athletics until COVID-19 pandemic postponed the 32nd Summer Olympics.
It hit each Lopes swimmer differently. For Muteti, it was a missed opportunity for an Olympic debut that she has been striving to obtain since growing up in Kenya and leaving to improve with training in Thailand and collegiate life at GCU. Te Flan competed in the Olympics in 2016 but losing this chance to honor her father's Ivory Coast family again could mark the end of her swimming career because she graduated from GCU this summer.
"It was very weird to swim again because we hadn't been in the water for four months when we got back," Te Flan said. "We were actually thinking about how we were supposed to be in Tokyo. Instead, we were trying to get back in shape."
Lopes head coach Steve Schaffer's program sent its first representative to the Olympics in 2016, when Jade Howard set a national 100-meter freestyle record for Zambia in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
It opened doors for Schaffer in two ways. Recruits previously asked him if he had coached an Olympic swimmer and this gave him that credential. Attending the games as Howard's coach also led to an introduction to Muteti's Kenyan coach.
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   Emily Muteti
Muteti arrived at GCU in 2017, redshirted a season and now holds Kenyan national records in the 50- and 100-meter butterfly, as well as the 800-meter freestyle. Te Flan transferred to GCU from Wyoming last year and became a WAC champion in the 1,650-yard freestyle under the Lopes coaches.
"Getting swimmers to the Olympics is something that all of the swimming programs around the country pride themselves on," Schaffer said. "It means different things to different programs but it's a big accomplishment at every program for the athletes and the coaches who helped get them there."
For this Olympics, Schaffer would have returned on behalf of Kenya to coach Muteti while GCU associate head coach Chris O'Linger would have joined Te Flan on behalf of Ivory Coast as her coach.
"Culturally, they are all different and I was looking forward to going to Tokyo," Schaffer said. "On the one hand, it's disappointing. On the other, you coach long enough and you learn that you're not in control of a lot of events. It's an opportunity that will either come around again next year or we'll try again for Paris in 2024."
Muteti, with two competition years remaining for GCU, could be an Olympian next year if the games are held in Tokyo. That also could help Lopes junior Florent Janin, who could swim for France as a native of New Caledonia. His chances of making the French freestyle relay could improve in the next year.
"He's got more time to get even faster," Schaffer said. "It might be better for him but I never rule out anything Flo does. He's one of those guys who steps up in the moment and swims surprising swims. He might have done it."
The program's most decorated swimmer ever, All-America first-team backstroker Mark Nikolaev, ranks fourth in Russia but would have challenged for one of two backstroke spots. Anywhere else in the world but Russia or the U.S., Nikolaev would more assuredly be an Olympian.
There was only one spot available for Muteti in 2016 when she narrowly missed out. She edged her Kenyan competition by one-hundredth of a second at the World Championships last year with Schaffer there coaching her.
"Finding out about the Olympics was very sad and hurtful because I'd trained all this time to got faster and I was prepared for it," Muteti said. "It was pretty rough but I could understand why. The good thing is it gives me another year of practicing and trying to get better."
Schaffer feels the frustration for Muteti, who took the setback in stride and returned to seeking what would make her better for GCU and the Olympics next year.
"Emily is a really tough competitor," Schaffer said. "She has a real even personality. She doesn't let things rattle her too much. She knows how to step up and race."
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   Talita Te Flan
That is also what made an Olympian of Te Flan, who grew up in Italy but swam for her father's home country, Ivory Coast. She holds national records there for the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle races and finished 27th in the 800 at the 2016 Olympics.
Relatives created a fan page that grew a following for Te Flan, who was looking forward to sharing a return trip with a GCU teammate.
"I wasn't going to compete to win a medal or make the finals but it still would've been a great experience," Te Flan said. "I was trying to end my swimming career by going to the Olympics for the second time. I would think that'd be cool. At this point, it's probably not going to happen but at least I can say that I've been once."
Te Flan is graduating form GCU in marketing and her positive GCU experience has her wishing to find a job in Phoenix to stay. Muteti is majoring in criminal justice and relishing her GCU time with educational and athletic resources that are far beyond what were available in Kenya, where was one of five children raised by a single mother, Emma.
"I want to stay here," Muteti said. "It's been a great atmosphere and I do enjoy it here."
