Olympic preliminaries began Sunday afternoon, with finals airing on NBC17 in the evening. Included in the long list of Olympic hopefuls are a lot of people with ties to the Triangle.

A lot of people are paying close attention to the trials: family, friends and teammates who couldn't make it out to Nebraska themselves are keeping tabs from here.

"Some best times. Fast swimming," said Raleigh Swimming Association Assistant Head Coach Dan Ohm. "But everybody's swimming fast out there."

RSA is one of several Triangle-area teams that have swimmers competing this week.

"This is the pinnacle," said Ohm. "This is the fastest meet in the world."

Ohm says this is one of his favorite meets because of the staggering amount of talent gathered in one place.

"The top eight will probably be a little faster at the Olympics," said Ohm. "But in terms of sheer depth, one through 40, one through 50, there's not a faster meet in the world."

Ohm will make his way out to Nebraska Tuesday, but in the meantime he'll be glued to his computer.

He's got one window open with live statistics and another with the live streaming video, and every race is important.

"There's only 52 shots to make the team out of 1,200 swimmers," said Ohm.

And for every Triangle swimmer out there, dozens more back here are already looking four years down the road.

"We got kids talking about the next ones already," said Ohm.