For Nic Fink, this was a long time coming. Which only made it sweeter. The 31-year-old swimmer, who now calls Dallas home, claimed the first Olympic medal of his late-blooming career on Sunday in Paris.
A VERY CLOSE RACE IN THE 100M BREASTSTROKE
Fink tied for the silver medal in the 100-meter breaststroke with British great Adam Peaty, just two-hundredths of a second behind winner Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy.
For some, coming that close to the top step on the podium would be gut-wrenching. Not so for Fink. Not after all he's been through.
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In his first two trips to the U.S. trials, he failed to make the Olympic team. In 2021, he finally broke through only to finish fifth in the 200 breaststroke at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games.
Now, finally, he has a long-sought piece of hardware.
“Yeah, age is just a number in some sense,” Fink said. “But in another sense, it means more at this time, especially because there was definitely windows to close my career earlier and I kind of kept going for the love of the sport. To have this much success this late has been icing on the cake and a lot of fun.”
A FULL-TIME ENGINEER, FINK WILL BE A FATHER SOON
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Fink, who beat Peaty and Martinenghi at the World Aquatics Championship, works for Quanta Utility Engineering Services, clocking in remotely from his home in Dallas when he's not at the pool.
Some major multitasking skills are required, but Fink and those around him — from his coaches at Southern Methodist University to his engineering colleagues — make it work.
“It’s kind of a group effort in the pool,” said Fink. “And then obviously in work, they know that I’ll get my stuff done, and my hours may be a little different than other people’s. I’ve definitely answered texts like, ‘Hey, can I get this back to you in like an hour or so?’ And they are like, ‘No rush, you do you.’ They let me know when things need to get done by and I work around that schedule.”
Fink and his wife, Melanie Margalis-Fink, who is an assistant swim coach at SMU, are expecting their first child.
Fink celebrated his pending fatherhood from the pool at the Olympic Trials by acting like he was rocking a baby.
Fink told reporters that the baby boy is expected to arrive in September.
With the due date less than two months away, she wasn't able to travel to Paris.
“The doctor was like, ‘Yeah, we’re actually really kind of close for any travel, let alone international travel,’” Fink said. “I know she’s here with me in spirit. Yeah, I'm bummed she can't be here, but it’s for the best of reasons.”
He sounded like a nervous father-to-be as he talked about his wife watching his thriller of a race back home.
“I think she probably got her heart rate up as much as I did,” Fink said. “I'm hoping she’s able to relax a little bit and stay hydrated and lay down because she was probably jumping up and down.”
The growing family now has two Olympic medals. Margalis-Fink won the gold medal with the the 4x200m freestyle relay team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
With all that's going on his life, this will surely be the final Olympics for Fink.
But if it seems a bit overwhelming, think again. This is a guy who knows about balancing acts.
And patience.
“It’s just getting better and better,” Fink said. “To have this kind of success at this meet, swimming for something that I’ve dedicated so long of my career to, it’s really cool. And for that to kind of lead into something else, that’s also really cool.”
UPDATE: Fink went on to win two more medals since this article was published, he won gold in the 4x100m medley relay and silver in the men's 4x100m medley relay.
