Geoff Rathgeber will swim the 200-meter IM at the Pan American Games

While his Harvard teammates, no doubt, are enjoying their summer away from Cambridge -- visiting with family, working a summer job or internship, or beginning an off-season training program -- senior-to-be Geoff Rathgeber will be spending the next two weeks in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, along with 5,500 of his colleagues.

It will be anything but a vacation for the Crimson standout, however, who is representing the U.S. national team at the 15th Pan American Games.

Rathgeber will compete in the 200-meter individual medley in Rio, following his eighth-place finish in that event at the 2006 U.S. national championships. He is part of the 26-man U.S. team that will swim in this year's Pan American Games -- a team that includes Olympic gold medalists Gary Hall Jr. and Mark Gangloff.

Competition in the pool begins July 16 and runs through July 22, with evening preliminary sessions and morning finals.

Rathgeber was named the Most Outstanding Swimmer of the 2007 Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championships and went on to earn All-America status in the 200-yard IM at the 2007 NCAA championships.

The Pan American Games have been held quadrennially since 1951. The games are an Olympic-style competition for athletes of the American continent. A total of 595 athletes will represent the U.S. at the Pan American Games, which run from July 13-29. This year’s Games will feature more than 5,500 athletes from 42 countries competing in 37 sports and 332 events.

Live coverage of the Pan American Games, including the swimming competition, will be available on ESPN Desportes.