George Washington University Athletics
The Next Adventure
2/17/2020 9:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
GW swimmer Moritz Fath is always ready to take on a challenge
Every so often, Moritz Fath popped his head out of the murky Tennessee River and took stock of his surroundings.
Up ahead, the view rarely changed: The water was mostly calm, and the idyllic wilderness stretched as far as he could see. That peacefulness was only rarely interrupted by a passing boat or the occasional dam on the weeks-long journey.
Behind him, there was more action to track. When Fath started to speed too far ahead, he flipped onto his back for a spell to allow his father to catch up, playfully calling in German, "Auf geht's, Alter." Translation: “Come on, Old Man.”
Officially, Dr. Andreas Fath, at age 52, broke a world record by covering the 652-mile Tennessee River in 34 days during the summer of 2017. The epic trip blending swimming and science started at the river’s headwaters near Knoxville, Tenn., and ended more than a month later in Paducah, Ky.
It was undeniably a family affair, though. Moritz and his brother Leo served as pace setters for much of the trip, and all five Faths – including Moritz’s mother Nicola and little brother Enzo – swam together for stretches.
The Fath clan, with an assist from a team of graduate students on a boat following along, provided Andreas support throughout to keep him hydrated, fed and comfortable along a trip in which he averaged 20 miles per day while collecting data about the river’s water quality.
The expedition served as the ultimate adventure for the family from Haslach, Germany.
“We made it into a holiday,” said Moritz Fath, who estimates he covered 150 miles over 10 days in the water ahead of his sophomore season at GW. “It was a lot of work, especially for my dad, of course, but also a lot of fun.”
A versatile swimmer with the endurance for distance events and speed for sprints, Fath brings that attitude to the pool deck at GW. He has embraced every challenge throughout a decorated collegiate career with the same enthusiasm and determination that his family needed to complete their marathon river swim.
Fath’s hard work has paid off in 13 Atlantic 10 medals, including 10 golds, to help the Colonials earn their first three conference titles. Last year, he garnered Most Outstanding Performer honors after earning six golds and setting a pair of individual conference records.
Beyond the fast times and mounting accolades, Fath is a senior captain whose quiet confidence, maturity and care for his teammates make a daily difference for the Buff and Blue.
“No matter what’s happening around him, Moritz has a really steady nature about himself,” GW head coach Brian Thomas said. “I think that serves us well in the environment that we’re in, especially as the stakes get higher. To have a little bit of a steady hand, especially having that within a leader, is really a huge benefit.”
In short, Fath is a perfect fit with his high-achieving family.
Andreas and Nicola Fath met through swimming in Germany and made sure to expose their three boys to the water early. Andreas is a chemistry professor at Furtwangen University, while Nicola is a lecturer at Heidelberg University who specializes in German to Russian translation and speaks five languages.
Growing up, Moritz played soccer and dabbled in tennis and wrestling, but swimming just felt natural from the start.
Often, Moritz would complete a workout at the local indoor pool and then go with his father to nearby Gifiz Lake for some open-water laps. As a teenager, he kept a swimsuit, goggles and a toothbrush in his bag at all times, so he was always ready for the next adventure.
“It didn’t matter if it was a pool or a lake or a river,” Moritz said. “My whole family, we just like the water.”
Andreas took that notion to the extreme with his distance swimming.
After a break to raise his young family, he made his return to open-water competition a little more than a decade ago as part of a three-man relay at the 16.2-mile Lake Zurich Marathon Swim in Switzerland. The next year he went back and set a solo master’s record that still stands at the race.
Eventually, he realized he could marry his passions for swimming and science. He made headlines across Europe in 2014 when he completed the 766-mile Rhine River in 28 days.
Andreas can pinpoint when he realized his son possessed the same uncommon drive. Then 14, Moritz was tasked with a distance workout requiring him to swim 100 meters 15 times.
When the teenager completed the first one near his personal-best time, Andreas told him to slow down the next one. Instead, Moritz completed 14 more at essentially the same pace before emerging from the pool barely able to stand.
“That’s when I thought ‘OK, this guy is something special,’” Andreas said.
Moritz showed his devotion to the sport by taking weekend train rides to Karlsruhe to train with a more established club. He spent a semester studying in Australia where he worked with new coaches and buckled down on his craft far from home.
As his times dropped, he set his sights on continuing his career at an American college. Naturally, it was Andreas who taught him to dream big.
“I think that’s one thing that I learned from him: Do not be afraid to set goals that maybe seem crazy. Even to yourself,” Moritz said.
Moritz started making good on that promise immediately upon joining the Colonials for the spring semester in 2017.
Just weeks after his arrival in the U.S., Moritz flashed his mental toughness at the A-10 Championships. He finished his first-ever race at the conference meet in tears after being disqualified for an early start but then came back to win both the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle and help the Colonials celebrate a long-awaited title.
Six months later, Moritz was cruising the Tennessee River with his father and enjoying every minute of the anything-but-traditional prep for his sophomore season.
Andreas looked forward to the periods with Moritz in the lead when he could draft off the wake, even if it meant picking up the pace a bit.
“He made me suffer,” Andreas said with a chuckle. “That’s what I remember. When it was his turn in front, it was The Suffer Hour for me.”
Moritz had to leave the group early to get back to Foggy Bottom, but it was no surprise when Andreas reached his destination a few days later with local news cameras waiting.
The whole family celebrated with a trip to visit Moritz in D.C., where Andreas summoned enough strength for a bike tour of the monuments and a stroll along the Potomac River waterfront.
“I knew that he was going to finish it,” Moritz said of the barely-believable swim. “Because he never gives up on anything.”
The rest of the Colonials would say the same about Fath, who enters his final trip to the conference meet with his place as one of the best swimmers in program history secure.
Thomas points to Fath’s win in the 1,650 free last February as the best example of what sets him apart. On the final day of competition, he was clearly dragging at the end of a long week, but he still found the formula to get to the wall for a sixth gold medal in a program-record time of 15:18.37.
“He’s just such a gamer,” Thomas said. “He’s got all these different components that make him good, so when one isn’t exactly where we want it to be, he’s still got a bunch to rely on to get him through it.”
The thrill-seeking Fath is almost ready for his next adventure.
He plans to savor one final run through championship season with the Colonials before he turns his attention to the future. (Although his father is talking about a potential swim down the Danube River in Egypt in 2021!)
The three-time CSCAA Scholar All-American is set to graduate in May with a degree in International Business, a close network of former teammates all over the globe and a slew of great memories from his time in Buff and Blue.
“I took a chance, and honestly, I don’t know if it could’ve been any better,” Fath said. “I love the city. I love the team. I love the people I live with. I love the people who’ve already graduated. It’s been awesome.”
