Bremerton Olympian Nathan Adrian enjoying newfound attention

After winning two gold medals in London, Olympic swimmer Nathan Adrian is finding life a lot different back home in Bremerton.

“There’s a good bit more recognition on the streets and I’m not quite used to that. But nothing unbearable. It’s all fun,” Adrian said in an interview with MyNorthwest.com.

Adrian took gold in both the 100-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter medley relay, and earned a silver medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

Now, he’s taking some time away from the pool and trying to capitalize on his newfound fame.

The 23-year-old will be appearing at the Verizon Wireless Silverdale store Tuesday to sign autographs and promote the company’s new 4G service on the Kitsap Peninsula.

He’s hoping his performance in the games will lead to other endorsement deals. Currently, Adrian has agreements to promote Speedo and Got Chocolate Milk?

“It’s important to try to make ends meet,” Adrian joked. “Other stuff hopefully will make its way around. These things don’t happen literally overnight. So hopefully in the weeks coming I can find some good partnerships that fit.”

Adrian said he’ll spend the next few weeks hanging out in Bremerton before returning to the San Francisco area where he trained and attended The University of California Berkeley. He plans to scale back his swimming for the next few years before gearing up for another Olympic bid.

After taking some time to reflect on the countless hours spent training, Adrian said all the hard work was worth it.

“Whether I had that gold medal, I think the memories and the relationships I created with all my teammates and the fun times we’ve gone through all make it worth it in the end,” he said.

Adrian is coy about answering a hot question other Olympic swimmers were faced with: do you urinate in the pool?

“I’m not opposed to it and it doesn’t bother me. But I’m not going to tell you one way or another,” he said.