FORT WORTH, Texas – They are holding hands, arms thrust powerfully in the air, mouths wide open, letting out what almost certainly have to be screams of joy in the photo. It is an iconic image from Athens, swimmers Ian Crocker, Aaron Peirsol and Brendan Hansen looking very much how you’d expect college buddies to look.

Or at least college buddies who had just teamed up to win Olympic gold and set a world record in the 4×100 individual medley relay.

And now the Texas exes are back for one more go.

“We more or less, in the last six years, have grown up together, have gone through college together, know the ins and outs of each other extremely well,” Peirsol said recently. “We’ve all helped each other, not just physically, but letting each other know we belong here and that is half the battle. It really is.”

What is funny is none of them is from around here, as the saying goes. They were not born in Texas but got here as fast as they could. From LA and Pennsylvania and Maine, they converged on Austin.

Peirsol is the Cali surfer dude, so laidback that he lists going to the beach as a hobby. Hansen is a hunter with a dog and what appears to be a slight confidence problem. And Crocker has what looks like about two days’ worth of stubble at all times and a normal physique.

All of them give off what I swear is a slacker vibe, but this is impossible. One can not be an Olympian and a slacker. They flirt with it, though, laidback, fun guys likely to be a hoot in Beijing.

Do not be fooled by this. They are three of the best in the world at their respective strokes with Peirsol bringing back individual golds in the 100 and 200 backstroke in 2004 and now battling Ryan Lochte.

Hansen has his rivalry with Japanese breaststroker Kosuke Kitajima.

And Crocker might have the hardest assignment since his specialty is a Michael Phelps event.

“The 100 fly was the gift I was given so you have to shake your money maker in what you do,” he said at trials when asked about going against Phelps.

Crocker is one of the few swimmers in the world not cowed by Phelps’ presence in his races. He battled him stroke for stroke in Athens; nor is he conceding anything to him in Beijing.

“I’m going for the individual gold in the 100 fly, trying to wrestle Michael for it,” he said.

Michael, Michael, Michael. All U.S. swimming seems to revolve around him lately and justifiably so. He’s going for eight, including a certain butterfly race.

“The focus has been on Michael,” Crocker said. “If you look at what we’ve done at UT, Piersol, Brendan and myself and a lot of others, we’ve done everything that Michael has done. It has just taken a few of us to do it.”

There are certain bonds formed by spending as many as six hours a day together, training and prepping for a day that is years away and not guaranteed. You need friends to push you and to cheer you.

“It is great having Brendan and Ian in there training with because neither of them swims my race and none of us is competitive in that way,” Peirsol said. “Because of that there is kind of a unique dynamic. We can help each other with the training without worrying about giving too many secrets, if you will. It helps push aside our egos.”

Never was this more apparent than at the trials, when Hansen failed to qualify in the 200 breaststroke. He had to be devastated yet he praised the guys who beat him and promised to help them. This is part of why he was named captain for the U.S. team. That and he gives what apparently are really good motivational speeches.

“I was told at a young age there are only three ways you are going to beat somebody-if you outwork them, outrace them and you intimidate them,” Hansen said. “And that was Ben Hogan that said that. Here’s a guy that went on a golf course and dominated.”

Hansen, Piersol and Crocker talk and walk and practically drip Texas, from Longhorn insignia on almost everything they wear to references such as Hogan and Crocker with his old-soul appreciation for eclectic Texas music. He lists Steve Earle’s “Fort Worth Blues” as a personal favorite, quoting from a lyric on his personal blog.

“You used to say the highway was your home

But we both know that ain’t true.

It’s just the only place a man can go

When he don’t know where he’s travelin’ to.”

“We’re a unique crew,” Crocker blogged recently, “and it’s been good to soak it all in together.”

Anything is possible in this brave new swimming world where Dara Torres has legit Olympic gold contender at 41, but this may be the last chance for this Longhorn trio.

And they are looking for one last chance to do so together.