PENDLETON — Rob Collins, a 1999 Pendleton High School graduate, will be in Paris for the Summer Olympic Games.
Collins is an assistant coach for the University of Tennessee swimming and diving program. He said a pair of Peru Swimming Federation athletes — Joaquin Vargas, who swims for UT, and McKenna DeBever, a professional swimmer who trains at the Tennessee facilities — asked him to help them train for the Summer Games. This is his first time attending the Olympics in any capacity and he has high hopes for the two swimmers.
"It would be a huge win if we could make a semifinal," he said.
According to WATE-TV, a media production company in Knoxville, Tennessee, a record 17 current and former University of Tennessee swimmers and divers qualified for the 2024 Olympics, representing a dozen different countries. That is nearly double the prior record of nine for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In 2021-22, Collins’ first season as an assistant at Tennessee, he helped lead the program to postseason success. The Lady Volunteers won their second Southeastern Conference Championship in three years and the men tied for second, earning their best finish at the SEC Championships since 2001.
Collins grew up swimming for the Pendleton Swim Association and Pendleton High School, where his mother, Donna Collins, was a longtime swim coach.
"My mom never pushed me that hard," he said about swimming as a child. "I had a natural inclination to water. I liked it."
Also, Collins was a lifeguard and helped coach at the Pendleton Aquatic Center. He swam collegiately at Central Washington University and San Francisco State University.
While he refers to his mother as "a legend," Collins continues to build his own resume. He was one of three coaches to earn an honorable mention as U.S. Club Coach of the Year in 2020 by SwimSwam and was named the 2019 Sierra Nevada Swimming Senior Coach of the Year.
According to Olympics.com, for the first time in the history of the Summer Games, the opening ceremonies will not be held inside a stadium. The Parade of Nations will feature each country’s delegation in boats in a procession on the Seine River.
The opening ceremony is Friday, July 26, 10:30 a.m. (7:30 p.m. in Paris) and will be televised on NBC and streamed on Peacock. Also, NBC will rebroadcast the ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Swimming events are July 27 through Aug. 4.
