Swimmer Tyler Clary aounced his retirement at U.S. Olympic Trials

OMAHA, Neb. >> Tyler Clary pounded his chest with both arms before the men’s 200-meter backstroke final Friday night at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials.

With potentially his last race moments away, he then remembered the coach and father-figure with a special place below those blows, in his heart. He remembered his late age-group coach Kevin Perry of the Fullerton-based FAST club, who died in 2008.

“Honestly, the last thought I had before jumping into the water was of Kevin,” Clary would later say, fighting back tears.

“I said … ‘Kevin, let’s do this one more time.’ I think I made him proud.”

The ever-intense but loyal Clary chaeled his competitive spirit one more time at CenturyLink Center but fell just short of qualifying for the Rio Games.

Before a crowd of 13,654, Clary finished third in his gold-medal event of 2012, missing a trip to Rio by about half-a-second.

Clary, a Redlands native and Riverside Poly grad, touched in 1 minute, 55.33 seconds, about half-a-second behind Cal’s Jacob Pebley (1:54.77) and almost 1 ½ seconds behind Cal’s Ryan Murphy (1:53.95).

Murphy, 20, and Pebley, 22, emerged as two of the meet’s many young guns and Clary hugged both in the pool after he gave the scoreboard a long stare.

Clary, who rose to prominence under Perry and then starred at Michigan, soon aounced his retirement at age 27.

“That’s it,” he said with a chuckle. “This last four years has been pretty tough for a number of reasons and I’m really happy to have come into this meet and had what I would say is my best performance in the last quad.

“Sadly, that wasn’t enough but that being said, I couldn’t be happier to be sending Team USA off with two backstrokers that I have a lot of respect for.”

Racing for SwimMac Carolina, Clary contended here in other events, notably the 200 freestyle, where he missed making the 800 relay by one spot. But he is ready to move on, with motor sports near the top of his list.

“It’s been a great time as a professional swimmer,” he said. “I’m looking forward to tuing a page in the book of my life and starting a new chapter. I’m going to get to do a lot of things that I’ve been wanting to do. … My first priority is to go see the rest of my family, thank them all … and we’re going to go go-kart racing (Saturday) and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

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