The US Olympic Trials for swimming began Saturday. It’s bittersweet to watch. On one hand I’m excited to see who makes the Olympic Team for Paris. On the other hand, I miss being at swim meets cheering on my kids and spending time with other swim parents.
One of my favorite parts of watching Olympics are the stories about the athletes. Throughout the broadcast, there are personal background stories about individual athletes. When I feel a connection, or am impressed with what the athlete has overcome and persevered, I find myself invested and rooting for that person.
Although it’s not the Olympics yet, three stories stood out to me on day one of Olympic Trials:
Katie Ledecky
Also known as Katie “Freaking” Ledecky, she has earned more gold medals than Michael Phelps. From her X bio: 3x U.S. Olympic Swimmer – 7x Gold-Medalist. 21x World Champion. 16x World Record Breaker. Stanford grad.
I’ll add to that: “The greatest female swimmer of all time.”
On day one of Trials, the 27-year-old Ledecky earned her spot on the US Olympic Team by swimming the 400 Meter Freestyle in under four minutes. So now she can update her bio to say 4x U.S. Olympic Swimmer.
Ledecky has revolutionized the sport by breaking barriers and opening a path for those following her. A swim dad friend, who has two daughters who medaled at the Olympics, told me Ledecky made the impossible possible. She has opened opportunities for young girls who believe they can swim those times, too. Ledecky has made the sport faster.
Gretchen Walsh
Gretchen Walsh, age 21, added excitement to day one by breaking a world record in the 100 fly in semi-finals. This is the first world record broken at Olympic Trials swimming since 2008. She broke Swedish swimmer Sarah Sjostrom‘s 2016 world record of 55.48.
Even though she is now the world record holder in the 100 fly, she hasn’t made the US Olympic Team. She has to place first or second in finals to earn a spot — there are only two swimmers per event who make the team. I am rooting for her! Also her sister Alex, age 23, is competing in Olympic Trials, but they swim different events.
UPDATE: SHE DID IT! She’s on the team coming in first place last night at finals!!
Aaron Shackell
I watched 19-year-old Aaron Shackell from Carmel, Indiana win the 400 meter free, earning his spot on the Olympic Team. He’s young and hasn’t been in too many elite level meets. But he had plenty of confidence and speed swimming before the crowd of 20,000 at Trials held in his home state. Instead of holding Olympic Trials in a Natatorium, they built a pool in a football stadium.
During his post swim interview, Elizabeth Biesel asked when he first wanted to go to the Olympics. He said it was in kindergarten, when he learned his dad was an Olympic swimmer. Hard word since kindergarten through his freshman year of college paid off. His Olympic career is mostly likely just beginning with plenty of years ahead.
Do you watch the Olympics? What is your favorite sport to watch?
Katie “Freaking” Ledecky . . . ha, ha, love the description. Crazy, but I can’t think of a better word to describe her! She’s definitely fun to watch.
I’ve read that name on Twitter for years now. I think it’s a perfect description 😂
Her longevity and records have been amazing. Fun to watch.
I love her distance events when she’s going in the opposite direction of everyone else. Or she’s the only swimmer in the camera shot.
Yes, it’s such an amazing image and to be 27 and still doing that. Just absolutely crazy.
There was one swimmer who made it to finals who was 46! She got a huge cheer!
I like the way the Olympics seems to bring the country together. I enjoyed watching some of the swimming events this weekend too. I was extra impressed with the swimmers, since I can’t yet lift my right arm over my head (working my way back from surgery). Their feats seemed that much more unreal. :). God sure gave some people uncanny talent and work ethic! One of the men who won one of the heats slipped at the gun and came back from dead last. When they spoke about him, they said he is a full time engineer, has a wife and baby on the way, AND he trains for Olympic swimming. I hadn’t thought about those athletes having jobs and families on top of the time it takes to train for that level of competition. Incredible!
I saw that race too. Unbelievable that he can train, hold a job and have a family. I’m impressed also with how many kids around 16 to 18 are at Trials.
I bet this is a fun time for you and your family EA, given your swim history! It’s really amazing the skill these athletes have and the records that are being broken all across the trials and at the actual Olympics both summer and winter. I don’t follow sports in general but do catch the updates on the local news as they come in. It’s always fun when we have local athletes who are doing exceptional things.
Yes. It’s so fun to know some of the athletes, or have someone local to root for.
I didn’t realize Aaron was from Carmel, Indiana! Yep…for some reason I’m more excited about the Olympics this year – the hubs, too. Thanks for all of this, Elizabeth. Something about it gives me hope on a large scale. 🥰
It does bring everyone together and we can celebrate and empathize with the athletes.
Great stories! I also love the personal stories of the Olympians. I used to watch the Olympics more than I do now, still enjoy them, just get caught up in other things. The winter olympics were always my favorite. Watching the figure skating and the luge. Love the movie Cool Running of the Jamaican luge team. 🙂
Having Aaron be from Carmel, Indiana is pretty cool. My husband is from Indiana and we lived there for a short time after we got married. He is from Upland, another really small town, and not far from Carmel.
I love figure skating and the luge also. Then in Summer I enjoy swimming and gymnastics. The Olympic Trials for swimming are in Indianapolis in a football stadium where they built a pool.
Do you watch the Olympics? The winter ones more than the summer ones, but even then not too much.
What is your favorite sport to watch? In the summer I like diving. In the winter I like bobsledding. In both seasons I like to see the uniforms each country wears at the opening ceremonies, perhaps being a little snarky about some of the uniforms! 🤨
I like diving too. It was until PAC 12 swimming champs watching it live, that I began to understand the scoring. The costumes are fun.
I love the personal stories too! It’s fascinating and so inspiring. I always watch swimming but also diving and I do love how the games seem to bring us all together! Hugs, C
The personal stories are better than the competition in my opinion. Tonight Teagan O’Dell is swimming the 100 back. She’s 16 I believe. I wrote a story “Raising Teagan”’at the suggestion of a swim coach and interviewed her mom. Her mom coached her before having her join the big So Cal Teams. Teagan has been a standout young swimmer and her brothers are football stars —like your family 😊
I used to watch the Olympics, but haven’t in a long time. The winter sports interest me more than the summer ones.
Oh, I love this post. It’s so much more fun to watch when you know the stories of the athletes. Thank you for introducing me to Gretchen and Aaron – such phenomenal young people. And Katie Ledecky – amazing! I didn’t realize she’s won more gold than Michael Phelps. Wow!
I’m so glad you enjoyed my post 😊