Kacey Oberlander is missing her dogs back home, and she's more than a little stressed competing in the high-pressure environment at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb.
That's where Holly comes in.
The adorable, 4-year-old Havanese is available for petting and furry hugs.
"It just calms me down a lot," said Oberlander, who will attend the University of Alabama in the fall. "It's nice to see the happy puppy dogs running around when everything is so intense and everyone's so serious. The dogs are very happy all the time. It makes me calm."
Yep, these Olympic trials have gone to the dogs -- and the athletes are loving it.
USA Swimming, in an effort to ease some of the anxiety accompanying such a major meet, has partnered with Domesti-PUPS -- a nonprofit organization based in Lincoln, Neb., that is providing four-legged companions for the athletes lounge at CenturyLink Center.
"There's a lot of pressure," said Leah Braswell, Oberlander's teammate. "Having the dogs here is a great distraction, a way to break from all of that. They're happy all the time. It just makes you happier. You can forget about whatever race you just had."
There are more than 1,700 swimmers in Omaha, most of whom have no chance of qualifying for the Olympics.
Yet the burden of competing weighs on all of them to some degree.
"Anywhere there's an elevated level of stress, we can take our dogs and try to de-stress them," said Sandy Ludwig, who works with Domesti-PUPS. "These dogs are just lying there, waiting to have their bellies rubbed or their ears scratched."
Money on his mind
Antoine Walker made $108 million during his 13-year NBA career, but two years after retiring in 2008, he had to file for bankruptcy.
Now, Walker is helping educate athletes on how not to make the mistakes he made as part of a program put on by financial services provider Morgan Stanley.
Walker, 39, made more than four times what the average player makes in his NBA career, which lasts almost five years on average. But a lavish lifestyle, poor money management, and generosity with family and friends left his fortune in ruins.
Walker is working with Morgan Stanley's Global Sports and Entertainment division to counsel players on how to budget and invest their money, pick financial advisers and investments wisely, and avoid going broke like he did.
A 2009 Sports Illustrated report claimed 60 percent of NBA players go broke five years after retiring. It's a claim the NBA denies.
"We have not found any kind of research or fact based on that number. In fact, we refute that it's true," Greg Taylor, the NBA's senior vice president of player development, told FOXBusiness.com. "What we do say is, if any player ends up in that situation -- and we do know that there are players who do end up in that situation -- any more than one is too many."
Sports quiz
How many NBA All-Star teams was Antoine Walker named to?
Answer
Three (1998, 2002, 2003).
Sports on 07/01/2016