Every four years, those same feelings come back to Eric Namesnik.

Not so much the disappointment of nearly winning a gold medal in the Olympic Games, but the appreciation that came with the event.

"My experiences were special," said Namesnik, who resides in Saline, Mich. "I don't think of it as much until Olympics time comes around.

"Over time, you gain an appreciation for things. I'm always interested in watching the Olympics, to see the interviews. The memories come back so fast."

Namesnik, a Butler native who graduated from Spanish River High School in Boca Raton, Fla., captured silver medals in the 400 individual medley at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

Though eight years removed, all Namesnik thinks about these days from those days is the friendship and the camaraderie.

"I was watching the morning news show "Today" and I was seeing the people in the Olympic village in Athens.

"I've already felt it. I was there and was a part of it," Namesnik added.

Namesnik had spent the past seven years as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan, the final three as an associate head coach.

It was at Michigan that he was a Big 10 Conference champion in the 400 I.M. in 1991 and swam on the Big 10 Championship teams of 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993. He red-shirted in 1992 to train for the Barcelona Games.

Namesnik set five Butler school records in his three seasons, highlighted by four WPIAL and two PIAA championships. In all, he totaled six WPIAL and five PIAA medals.

At Butler, he was joined by diver David Pichler, who went on to compete in the 1996 and 2000 Games.

Both would be inducted into the Butler County Hall of Fame in 1998.

Namesnik left Butler to begin training with the Mission Bay Aquatic Club in Boca Raton and enrolled at Spanish River for his senior year, where he won the state title in the 200 IM in 1988.He then received a full scholarship to the University of Michigan.In 1991, as a junior at Michigan, Namesnik was ranked No. 1 in the world in the 400 IM and would lower the world record four times in his career.At the 1992 Olympics, Namesnik placed second to Hungary's Tamas Darnyi in the 400 IM finals. Darnyi was clocked at 4:14.23; Namesnik at 4:15.57.Namesnik was a United States Olympic Committee SportsMan of the Year finalist in 1993, the year he graduated from MichiganNamesnik stayed sharp to position himself for a second shot in the 400 IM at the 1996 Games.Unfortunately, he lost to Michigan junior Tom Dolan, who trained with Namesnik.Dolan won with a time of 4:14.90. Namesnik was runner-up at 4:15.25."I think the whole experience of having the opportunity to represent your country - not just the opportunity to do it once but to do it twice - is amazing," said Namesnik."It was just more than those accomplishments, but to be a part of that, to see the different cultures, the different atmosphere. It was a special time," he added.Having earned a degree in kinesiology with a teaching certificate from Michigan, he received his masters' degree in 1997 at Eastern Michigan in educational leadership with emphasis on higher education administration.Namesnik spent the next seven years at Michigan, helping coach swimmers like Tim Siciliano, who won three national titles in the 400-yard IM as well as four Big Ten titles in his career.During that stint, he was also an assistant coach for the swim team Club Wolverine.After coach Jon Urbanchek called it a 22-year career as head coach this past season, the school decided to bring in Bob Bowman as its new coach.Bowman, who comes from the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, is the coach of current Olympic swimming star Michael Phelps."Upon his retirement, they didn't go with me," said Namesnik.Namesnik, however, wasn't away from swimming for long. He coached the youth team Huron Valley Swim Club over the summer and was recently named the new head coach of Wolverine Aquatics, a age-group swimming club in Ann Arbor, Mich."It's from age 7 through high school, ages 17 to 18," said Namesnik."It will be a different experience, but it will allow me to be the head coach of a program and develop kids and see how high we can take it," he added."Eric is a coach with extremely great credibility," said Wolverine Aquatics president John Koselka. "We're fortunate enough to have him because he wanted to stay in the area."The guy coaches Olympians, but he can offer camps and other administrative duties. He got rave reviews as a coach. He's a solid coach who can run a program," Koselka added.Namesnik married his college sweetheart, Kirsten Silvester, who also swam at Michigan. The couple has two children, Austin (3) and Madison (1), and only time will tell if they'll take to the water as well."Both kids have been in the water, but haven't done any formalized swimming." said Namesnik. "They get excited just getting into the water."