<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Your teams. Your favorite writers. Wherever you want them. Personalize SI with our new App. Install on iOS or Android.&lt;/em&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Last Thursday, 23-year-old Alex Ngan arrived at the airport in Oakland more than an hour early, just like you\u2019re supposed to. He cruised through security, with only his backpack and his Columbia University duffel bag, which held his swimsuit, goggles and a change of clothes. Early to the gate, he settled in to wait for Delta flight 1374 to Salt Lake City, boarding at 4:15 p.m. From there Ngan would connect to Omaha, crash for the night and, in the morning, fulfill a life\u2019s dream by competing in the U.S. Olympic trials. His heat in the 50-meter freestyle began at 10 a.m.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Only, as Ngan waited, 4:15 became 4:30, and then 4:40, with no plane in sight. He began to worry. Once aboard, the captain announced another delay. Something about the baggage ratio. Sitting in his window seat in row 26 a little after 5 p.m, the gray asphalt of the tarmac still outside his window, Ngan checked his itinerary. He had 37 minutes to connect in SLC. The plane was now 40 minutes late. It was going to be tight. Very tight.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;*****&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At 5:33 p.m., when the flight finally lifted off, Ngan looked down at his backpack, which held his Gray\u2019s Anatomy textbook, but he was too nervous to study. He put his head back and visualized his strokes for the next morning.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u200BNgan had always loved the water. Growing up, all four Ngan kids swam for the local club in Santa Clarita, Calif., north of Los Angeles. But it was Alex, the youngest, who kept at it the longest, setting records at William Hart High School, first as a backstroker and then a sprinter. A valedictorian, he then swam at Columbia, where he focused on freestyle. His parents, Lim and Brenda, were proud, but prouder still that he was headed to med school. Lim was a dentist, Brenda his office manager, and all three of Alex\u2019s sisters were in medicine: one an endodontist, another an emergency medicine resident, and the third finishing her orthodontics residency. After graduating from Columbia in 2015, Alex took a gap year and applied to med schools. He was accepted into the prestigious UC Berkeley\u2013UC San Francisco Joint Medical Program, on track to receive an MS in 2019 and his MD two years later. Which meant life was about to get very hectic. If he was going to take a shot at the Olympics, this was it.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He spent the last year training, first on his own, then with the Columbia team, and finally with the Golden Road Rebels club team in Burbank alongside elite swimmers like Ed Moses, many of whom dwarfed Ngan. Though 6' 2\", he was only 165 pounds. Unlike many hulking sprinters, who power through the water, Ngan was a finesse swimmer. His old high school coach, Steve Neale, always compared him to another Hart alumnus, Olympic medalist Anthony Ervin; both employ a \u201Cbarreling\u201D stroke, using their core and body rotation to propel through the water.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;NEWCOMB: Inside look at Olympic Village, athletes\u2019 home for Rio Games&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As he trained, Ngan whittled his 50 free times lower and lower until this past May, at the Speedo Grand Challenge in Irvine, he touched the wall, looked up and saw 23:20 on the scoreboard. The cutoff for qualification was 23:29. He\u2019d done it. He\u2019d made the Olympic trials. It was, Ngan recalls, a feeling of \u201Cpure bliss,\u201D a goal he\u2019d harbored since he was little. To swim against Olympians. To have a shot at Rio.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A week later, he got a text from Stanley Wong, one of his best friends and a teammate at Columbia. People always joked that they were twins, because both were swimmers, had three older sisters and were Chinese-American. Wong had qualified too, with the exact same time: 23:20. \u201CI guess we really are twins,\u201D Wong wrote. Even better, that meant the two would likely be swimming in adjacent lanes. They hatched a plan to coordinate their pre-swim outfits\u2014gray Columbia t-shirts, blue shorts, blue Nike shoes\u2014so they could take a picture to send to their old coach back in New York, Jim Bolster. He\u2019d be pumped.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After all, the two boys were swimming the same meet as Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, in an event drawing 38,000 fans every day rather than a couple hundred. This was the big time.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;*****&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, at 7:54, the plane landed in Salt Lake. Ngan had 11 minutes before his connecting flight left. His seatmates, knowing his story, helped him hurry off. He hit the tunnel in a dead sprint.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;By 8:07 he could see the connecting gate. Maybe this flight was delayed too. Maybe they\u2019d held it for him. Then he saw the closed doors, and the empty spot on the tarmac. The gate agent apologized. He\u2019d tried to hold the flight but it had just taken off. He told Alex to get on the phone with Delta agents to find another way. But the agents said there was no other way. His was the last flight to Omaha. &lt;em&gt;What about other cities close by, &lt;/em&gt;asked Alex\u2014&lt;em&gt;Detroit, Minneapolis&lt;/em&gt;? Sorry, the agent replied. No luck this late.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;So Ngan did the only thing he could think of: He ran toward the car rental booths. He\u2019d already looked it up on Google Maps. It was 13 hours from Salt Lake City to Omaha, and it was nearly 9 p.m. If he drove all night he might make it just in time for his race. Many of us might be pissed off, blaming Delta, feeling sorry for ourselves. Not Alex. He was flush with adrenaline. Focused. After all, when you spend much of your life preparing for one opportunity, you don\u2019t just give up on it, right?\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;*****&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Two weeks earlier, when Ngan first booked his flight, he knew he might be cutting it close. But med school began in mid-June and the trials were at the end of the month, just before a midterm. Flying out on Thursday afternoon was the only way to get to Omaha without missing two days of class.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022&amp;nbsp;\u200B&lt;strong&gt;Meet Team USA: Bios for all the athletes on Olympic Track and Field team&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At first, he\u2019d worried about going at all. Bailing on school wasn\u2019t a good first impression, and his life was going to be in medicine\u2014primary care, hopefully\u2014not sports. But his anatomy professor encouraged him to go, even covering more material on Thursday so he wouldn\u2019t miss much on Friday. Then, just that morning at Human Anatomy and Development class, Ngan\u2019s 16 classmates had surprised him with a poster of a Michael Phelps Wheaties box, only they\u2019d photoshopped in Ngan for Phelps, along with his signature.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A few hours later, a classmate sent an email to faculty and students. It began:\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hello all,\r\nAs you may know, one of our new friends and colleagues, Alex Ngan (JMP 1st year student), has achieved a major life goal by qualifying into the Olympic trials in swimming the 50m Freestyle race.\r\nHis classmates and I have all decided to come into school early tomorrow&amp;nbsp;so that we can live stream his qualifying heat and cheer him on together (and eat bagels).\r\n\r\nYou are welcome to join us (especially if you can cheer LOUDLY \u2014 he needs to hear us in Omaha!)&lt;/em&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The person who\u2019d set up the live stream? His professor.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CThat\u2019s when I really got excited,\u201D recalls Ngan. \u201CI realized I wasn\u2019t just swimming for myself or my family but for my classmates and school.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After class, his master\u2019s seminar and lunch, he\u2019d hopped a BART train to the airport in time to catch his flight, the one that cost him $895 on Hotwire and which soon became, for all intents and purposes, worthless.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;By 9 p.m. on Thursday, Ngan was on the road, hurried along by a sympathetic Enterprise agent, who put him in a Hyundai Veloster, promising that \u201CYou\u2019re going to love it, it\u2019s fast!\u201D He bought two large Red Bulls and a Monster drink at a convenience store, then pulled up Google Maps: 941 miles. Twelve hours and 45 minutes. Estimated time of arrival: 10 a.m. exactly, without stops. Still, Ngan felt strangely optimistic. He could beat Google Maps; he knew it. Plus, he\u2019d pulled all-nighters before, if never before a swim meet. He tore off into the night on I-80.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As he drove, his first call was to his Golden Rebels coach, Mike Lucero, who was already in Omaha waiting for him, then to two of his sisters. Both thought he was crazy, though his second sister\u2019s husband was supportive. &lt;em&gt;You don\u2019t get many chances in life like this,&lt;/em&gt; he said. &lt;em&gt;Go for it&lt;/em&gt;. Then he called a friend who\u2019d recently driven from Southern California to Minnesota, asking for advice on where to stop for gas and how to stay awake.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The highway streamed by. Ngan downed a Red Bull, queued up his workout playlist on Spotify. Drake and the shifting pulse of Louis the Child filled the Hyundai. He pushed the car past 85 mph, up to 90, then 95. The Enterprise dude was right: The Hyundai could &lt;em&gt;move&lt;/em&gt;. On his phone, he watched the ETA inch down. Now he was 10 minutes ahead of schedule, now 13, now 15, looking at a 9:45 a.m. arrival time.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Utah became Wyoming. Then, at 10:14 p.m., as he zoomed through Uinta County, he heard a noise that made his stomach sink. Sirens. He looked up and saw the lights. 96 mph, the officer told him. &lt;em&gt;Help a guy out here,&lt;/em&gt; Ngan countered, relating his plight. The cop said he\u2019d been tailing Ngan for a while and could have given him three tickets by now. Worse than the $230 fine was the delay: 15 minutes lost. By the time he got on the road again, his ETA was back past 10 a.m. Making matters tougher, he\u2019d now need to keep it under 85 mph or so, within 10 miles of the speed limit. Still, it was possible.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Midnight arrived, then 1 a.m. Ngan sucked down his second Red Bull, then tore into a box of Clif Bars, a gift from his classmates.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022&amp;nbsp;\u200B\u200B&lt;strong&gt;LAYDEN: Montano-Martinez collision unfortunate, but final result was fair&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At 2 a.m. and then again at 4 a.m., his second sister called to check on him. She\u2019d set her iPhone alarm to wake her up. At 3 a.m. his brother-in-law, an anesthesiologist working overnight at the hospital, did the same. &lt;em&gt;You O.K.? Staying awake?&lt;/em&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He was, barely. He\u2019d run out of adrenaline. The caffeine slid off him. Still, he was somehow gaining time: The Google ETA was now at 9:40 a.m.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ngan pushed on into the predawn, imagining the race. He felt strong, confident, sure he would set a PR. And who knew? Sure, his chances of actually qualifying for the Olympic team were remote\u2014\u201CI\u2019d need to have miracle swims, basically,\u201D he says\u2014but stranger things have happened.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;*****&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Just after 5 a.m. That\u2019s when the dream died. Somewhere in the grassy fields of western Nebraska, as dawn warmed the bottom of his windshield, Ngan decided to switch to Apple Maps, to see if it provided a different route. Upon doing so, he nearly yelped. Apple Maps\u2019s arrival time was nearly an hour later. And that\u2019s when it hit him: The Google ETA hadn\u2019t accounted for the one-hour time change. Even if he drove 100 mph the rest of the way, he wouldn\u2019t make it in time for his race.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Still, Ngan sped on a while longer, thinking of his classmates waking up early to watch him. At 6:30 a.m., he alerted his professor, then sent a message to the class, which he\u2019d named Fun Room Squad: \u201CHey guys, been having a pretty crazy night. Flight got delayed, missed connection, driving to Omaha right now, but probably wont [sic] make it in time for my event.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not long after, he finally called his mom and dad. He hadn\u2019t wanted to worry them the night before\u2014\u201CI knew they\u2019d freak out\u201D\u2014but now they needed to know.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Somewhere past Lincoln, the clock hit 10 a.m. Ngan pulled over. Reality set in: He\u2019d missed his Olympic trials heat, the one he\u2019d spent the last year training for, and far longer dreaming about, by less than an hour.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Later that morning, he\u2019d arrive and walk into the CenturyLink Center in Omaha in a sleep-deprived daze, awed by its size and the flames that shot out when swimmers were introduced, like it was a circus or something, and all the Olympians walking around. He\u2019d hug Stanley, and see another Columbia teammate, and congratulate them on their races. He\u2019d congratulate Ervin, his fellow Hart alumnus, on finishing second in the 50 free and making the Olympic team, walking over with his phone aloft, FaceTiming their old high school coach (\u201CMy highlight of the weekend, seeing how happy Ervin was,\u201D Ngan says). And later he\u2019d go out in downtown Omaha, rubbing elbows with the best in the world.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the end, Ngan never would crack that Gray\u2019s Anatomy textbook, but he would make it back to Berkeley, welcomed with a round of applause from his classmates, and grind through his midterm, confident he\u2019d passed (\u201CDid pretty well, actually\u201D). He\u2019d add up the costs of the weekend\u2014$895 flight, $500 car rental, $230 speeding ticket\u2014and take a deep breath, then look into whether he could recoup some of the money from Delta (under a clause called \u201Ctrip in vain\u201D, usually employed by business flyers).\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But for now, on Friday morning, Ngan was still in the moment. Still disappointed. Still wondering what might have been. He\u2019d stopped for gas three times. Listened to hundreds of songs. Crashed through a box of Clif bars. In the end, he &lt;em&gt;had&lt;/em&gt; beaten Google Maps, only Google Maps then beat him, stealing an hour when he needed it most. But something about the experience also energized him. Four years isn\u2019t that far away. \u201CMaybe I could give it another shot,\u201D he says. \u201CWho knows?\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then Ngan pauses. \u201CThough I think I\u2019d book an earlier flight next time.\u201D\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/olympics/2016/07/07/rio-2016-olympics-alex-ngan-flight-delay-swim-trials>