Career
However, as it was not an Olympic event, he did not gain national selection until 1997, when he competed at the 1997 FINA Short Course World Championships in Gothenbu, Sweden. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Watson swum the backstroke leg in the heats of the 4×100-metre medley relay, before being replaced by Matt Welsh in the team that trailed the United States team home in the final. Watson was also a finalist in the 100-metre backstroke, where he was narrowly beaten into fourth place.
Watson continued to be selected in the same role (except for a self-imposed break in 2002) until the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, when he failed to qualify for the semifinals of the 100-metrebackstroke.
This enabled him to collect a gold medal in the 4×100-metre medley relay at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.