By Mary Duffy

Elvis Burrows can do it all. He swam in college and in the Olympics, and he is now making his way into the music industry.

Burrows competed for the Bahamas in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, training started in 2006.

“When I was training, I went into seclusion,” Burrows said. “I didn’t go out as much and I ate healthier. Day in and day out I would focus hard on training and nothing else.”

Burrows relied on Coach Gary Conelly for advice while training. Conelly swam in the 1972 Olympics, and he along with the rest of the swim team staff helped Burrows prepare.

“I told him to really enjoy the experience to do as much as he could do,” Conelly said. “He was at a different level than I was when I swam. When it comes to Elvis, the shorter the race, the better he does and the more he enjoys it.

“His scenario was different. If they did a 15m butterfly or a 50 yard he would be really dangerous. I wouldn’t work much technique, I talked more about pressure. I wasn’t a daily ‘you need this to do well’ type thing,” Connelly said.

During the eighth heat of round one, Burrows, at age 19 entered lane two of the 50-free. He was swimming against contenders from Switzerland, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. He finished the race with a time of 23:19.

Burrows had never experienced something like it.

“It was pretty eye opening. I got to compete against swimmers I’d never heard of and they were just as fast as me. It was humbling,” he said.

Coach Connelly recognizes Burrows’ talent and accomplishments.

“He did okay. It was a big deal,” Conelly said. “He must have been starstruck. He was a small town boy facing the big city. He’s kind of like the Michael Phelps of the Bahamas.”

When Burrows was 11, his dad moved his entire family with him to Louisville for his PhD in theology. Upon arriving in Louisville, he started swimming with the Lakeside Seahawks and from there UK recruited him.

“Since he swam in Louisville, he was an instate guy. We had a better read on him since we knew the coaches. We usually look at times, but based on his size and his age, he looked like he was worth a gamble,” Conelly said.

Burrows used music as a hobby when swimming got too stressful.

“I needed something on the side to keep me sane,” Burrows said. “In 2008, I wrote a song and put it online, and a while later I went to the library and heard people listening to it. People kept telling me how good it was and that I should keep it up. That’s when I started to take it seriously.”

Burrows said he came up with his own sound.

“It started as putting out melodies I had floating around my head. I had listened to techno, rap, pop and dance and eventually I came up with my own,” Burrows said.

“He’s kind of a funny guy. I didn’t know about it until one of the coaches downloaded his stuff and was playing it when I came out on deck,” Conelly said.

Burrows contacted First Entertainment Group through Facebook.

“They had a young girl artist (Alyssa Rubino) that they were working with and I had some songs that seemed to fit someone of that age group. I sent them some songs and they wanted to record right away. I flew out to Canada for a week and they decided to keep us on the team. We’re focusing on Alyssa Rubino and turning her into the next Hannah Montana or Justin Bieber. I’ll be writing and producing for a big name artist in the next couple months,” he said.

Alyssa Rubino started singing at the age of five and at the age of 10 she started recording. She is on the cover of Billboard Magazine this month and her album, “Every Girl’s World” will be released later this year. Her current single “Wave Your Hands” is available on iTunes.

Burrows has set big goals for himself. He hopes to be top eight or 16 in the world in swimming, and even have a No. 1 hit or a Grammy.

“It’s not a crossroad anymore, it’s almost a sixth or seventh road. He may have to lean towards one or the other. He’s a good athlete. He still has another Olympic cycle to decide which way to jump,” Conelly said.