[ot-caption title=”PC’s Marta Ciesla is just months away from the biggest stage in sports (via Sabine Katsulous, junior) “]

Last Thursday in Greece, at the site of Ancient Olympia, the Olympic torch was lit and will make a quick tour around Greece before being delivered to Olympic organizers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the host of the 28th Modern Day Summer Olympics in 2016. These Games mark the first to be hosted by a South American city, and by next month, the Torch Relay will begin in Brazil’s capital city of Brasilia: starting a 95 day tour around the country, which will culminate with an arrival in Rio for opening ceremonies scheduled for August 5, 2016.

While the Summer Olympics bring excitement and drama to the world every four years, this particular event has a greater significance to the struggling country hosting it.  The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said that this year’s Games “will be a message of hope in troubled times.” The IOC campaign is: “Together we can change the world” and it has “the aim of inspiring the spirit of unity, hope and peace for a better tomorrow.”

With so many spectacular athletes at these games, the story lines are numerous.  Can Jamaica’s Usain Bolt recapture glory on the track?  Can tennis star Serena Williams and basketball player Tamika Catchings bring gold medals back to the US?  But there’s one story that is very near and dear to our hearts at the Pine, and this one will take place in the swimming pool.  Sixteen years after men’s swimming was an Olympic sport, women’s swimming debuted at the Stockholm Games in 1912 and has been part of every edition of the Olympic Games since then. The 2016 U.S. Olympic Swim Team Trials will be hosted by Omaha, Nebraska, June 26th through July 3rd.

This year, one amazing Pine Crest Panther qualified for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials with a time of 25.83 in the 50 Free – – Marta Ciesla. Marta is currently ranked sixth (6th) in the world for the 18 & under 50 meter freestyle and thirteenth (13th) in the nation for that 50 free regardless of age. The latter ranking, that of 13th nationally, means that Marta is being compared with past and future Olympians’ times. Marta has raced Missy Franklin (four-time Olympic gold medalist) and will certainly do so again along with other Olympic hopefuls when she enters the Olympic trials this June. As you come to the end of the first month of your summer, make sure to send some good luck wishes to a PC favorite Marta Ciesla.  And be sure to turn on a television when August hits, as this Olympic season promises to be a great one.