Elizabeth Beisel, of North Kingstown, finishes second in the 400-meter individual medley last month at the Olympic trials in Omaha, Neb., a result good enough to earn her a berth on the U.S. team that will compete at the Summer Games in Beijing.

Getty Images / Al Bello

NORTH KINGSTOWN — Joan Beisel was waiting in the Omaha, Neb., airport Monday, her plane back to Rhode Island delayed, when she spotted her 15-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, about to board a plane to California with the Olympic swim team.

“I was thoroughly happy to see her,” Joan Beisel said yesterday, not having spent more than a few minutes in several days with her firstborn child, who over the last week had earned spots in the 200-meter backstroke and 400-meter individual medley.

“I gave her a big hug and told her, ‘Rhode Island is rooting for you.’ ”

And then mother and daughter parted: daughter heading west to a Palo Alto, Calif., training camp, and then to Beijing, China, and the Olympic Games; mother heading east to North Kingstown, and her first day on local soil as the mother of an Olympian.

When she got home, Joan Beisel was faced with 300 e-mails and dozens of telephone messages that had arrived at the snug white house on a quiet Saunderstown street where she lives with husband Ted, son Danny, and Elizabeth, whom national media are calling a rising swimming star.

A North Kingstown High School junior, Elizabeth set her first national age-group swimming record at 10. This time, she not only nailed down her trip to the Summer Games, but also missed beating a world record in the 200 backstroke by half a second.

“She accomplished what she set out to do,” said her mother. “She has a mindset. It’s just unbelievable.

“I’m still so shocked.”

U.S. SWIMMING Association regulations say that the top two finishers at the trials, in every event other than freestyle events, will earn Olympic spots. So that makes Joan and Ted Beisel’s daughter one of the top two swimmers in the nation in two events.

“But she’s still a kid,” said her mother yesterday. “She’s not a professional athlete. She still plays violin. She still needs to go to school, get a driver’s license.”

Elizabeth also surfs local waters, has acted in Fantasy Works Youth Theater, and has played violin with the Ocean State Youth Orchestra. She’s Rhode Island born, attended Hamilton Elementary School and Wickford Middle.

But, of course, the music, the surfing and pretty much everything else has come to a standstill as Elizabeth trains for Beijing as the youngest swimmer among 21 women. Among the 22 men, the youngest is 19.

Beisel was quoted in an Associated Press article as saying the veteran swimmers at the trials helped her out with her 15-year-old nerves.

“It’s pretty cool being the rookie,” she said.

“There are so many veterans here that will help me out with nerves and stuff. I was not expecting this. I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a little girl, and now that it’s true and I’m up here with these guys, it’s pretty sweet.”

ACCORDING TO the U.S. Olympic Committee, Beisel isn’t just young; she’s the first Olympic swimmer from Rhode Island since Tamara Anne Hazelton, in 1964. (Hazelton, who swam the 200-meter breaststroke, was eliminated in the preliminaries.)

Elizabeth’s family hasn’t focused on statistics, but on raising Elizabeth and her brother Danny, 14, who is also a swimmer, to follow their interests; the parents will follow their lead.

In an interview as Elizabeth prepared for the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, her mother described her children as “hard workers. We’re very proud of them.”

Danny, she pointed out, also played violin in addition to his swimming.

“He’s at a meet right now in Niagara Falls, and he’s on two golf teams,” Joan said yesterday with the voice of any mother attempting to keep teenage schedules organized.

The Beisels haven’t yet decided whether they’ll attend the Olympics, Joan said, due to the difficulty in obtaining tickets, and the probability that tight Olympic-team control would keep them from seeing their daughter. The opening ceremony is Aug. 8.

“I’m not sure if we’re going to Beijing. Even if we do go we won’t see her. They’re [the athletes] very protected.”

Elizabeth won’t be returning to North Kingstown until shortly before school starts, which means Beisel probably won’t see her daughter for much of two months.

By then, this All-State athlete could become all-world.

A WEEK AGO, Joan Beisel watched as Elizabeth finished second in the finals of the women’s 400-meter individual medley on the opening day of the swimming trials.

“I was screaming,” Beisel said. “I was a nervous wreck.”

In front of 12,000 people, her little girl not only took the second Olympic spot, but also missed beating the world record by a half second.

But, given the crowd, mother and daughter didn’t make eye contact.

“She didn’t know where I was,” said Beisel.

Has it been emotional for the teenager?

“No, she’s very focused,” said her mother.

“I got emotional when I saw her get inducted to the team,” she admitted.

ELIZABETH AND DANNY, both members of the Attleboro Bluefish Swim Club, have for several years been traveling daily to swim practice after school, delivered by their mother.

Their father, Ted, who works in construction, has taken the early morning shift several times a week, delivering Elizabeth to the South County Y by 5 a.m. There she meets her coach, Charles Batchelor, who leaves his Attleboro home at 4:30 a.m. to get to the Y on time.

Elizabeth then swims five miles, gets dressed for school, is picked up by her mother, then reports to classes, where she is an honor roll student.

Batchelor didn’t return calls this week, but Beisel said he is in California helping to coach Elizabeth. In a 2006 interview, he said that “to people who don’t do this, it might seem bizarre, but I’m there because I feel it’s important as a coach. If I’m asking her to do something, I need to show that I’m willing to do it, too. “I tell the kids, we don’t get sick, we don’t miss practice, we’re superhumans.”

That season, his team, with Elizabeth and Danny on it, departed on Christmas Day for Scotland and a weeklong swim competition.

ELIZABETH’S FIRST coach at North Kingstown High School, Matt Emmert of Middletown, recalled Monday how even as a freshman, she went up against a state champion and “blew her out of the water. Elizabeth hates to lose.

“There couldn’t be a better kid. She’s humble.”

Emmert lists her “competitiveness” as one of the factors for her success.

This season, the North Kingstown team was coached by Jillian Oresman, who described Elizabeth as “a great athlete and a great person. She did as much as she could for the team while preparing for the Olympic trials.”

Oresman said Monday that Elizabeth had a lot of obligations while getting ready to go to Omaha, but participated with the school team whenever possible. The team placed third at the state championships and third at the Division I championships, she said.

At the state championships, Elizabeth won the 200 freestyle and broke the pool record at the University of Rhode Island.

“She just has a fire. She sets goals for herself and does whatever she has to do to make it happen.”

Elizabeth qualified to swim in seven events at theOlympic trials, and was the youngest member swimming in the World Championships in Australia as part of the U.S. National Team.

AS FOR HER other interests, Joan Beisel said her daughter is missing a trip to Europe this summer with the North Kingstown High School Orchestra.

“It was very upsetting to her. She’s sacrificed everything. Last year, everything was put on the back burner.”

Whenever possible, Elizabeth still takes private violin and piano lessons, her mother said. She has been an All-State musician, but this year didn’t have time to audition. “She completely made the commitment to this.”

How will a worldwide spotlight change the life of this North Kingstown family?

“I’m not sure yet,” said the Olympic mom yesterday, as she prepared a list of tasks that included figuring out the possibility of getting to China to see her daughter compete.

Considering her daughter’s future, she said:

“She’ll still play violin. She’ll still be a high school student.

“But for the rest of her life, she’ll be an Olympian.” Beijing update

•With a month remaining before the Beijing Olympics, the International Olympic Committee yesterday praised the city’s preparations but also cited two “open issues” that remain: whether the city can deliver good air quality and fulfill promises to allow TV broadcasts from non-Olympic sites.

 Pollution and media access remain uncertainties in advance of the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies.

 The controversy over broadcast access began in March, after the authorities suppressed the violent Tibetan protests in western China.

 Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the IOC’s Coordination Commission, was quoted as saying it remained an “open issue” as to whether the temporary measures the city plans to take “will make an impact on air quality.” (The New York Times)

Elizabeth Beisel

•Born 8/18/92

•North Kingstown High School junior

•Youngest member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Swim Team

•At 10, held seven

national swimming

records for the 10-and-under group

•Plays violin and piano, but not video games

•Honor roll student

•Makes her own breakfast before early morning swim sessions

•At 10, played title role in The Wiz.

afleming@projo.com