I don't want to end up leaving the sport early or hating it because I didn't give myself time to respect the water and I feel like the water has always respected me. I would like to prioritize myself a little bit more instead of swimming.Collection: Respect
The goal is not to count medals, it's just racing the best I can.Collection: Best
I like to learn.
I want to have a diploma to hang on my wall. Even if I don't use it, I can say I graduated from UF.
I don't know if you'll really get to know me unless you're close to me.
For me to have my little stamp on the sport, of course it's special.
The Olympics are different, I'll admit that now and stop lying to myself.
I enjoy the sport, I enjoy the challenge that it brings and it certainly does bring that for me and it's not an easy one.
Everything I do in the gym translates to being a better swimmer.
My lifting routine is designed to develop and maintain explosive strength off the block, so it mainly includes cleans, power cleans, jerks and snatches.
Strength training is an important part of every athlete's training program, but for me it's become almost like a sanctuary.
In the gym, you get out what you put in. There's no room for excuses, for taking shortcuts or giving half effort.
I love the sport, it brings a lot of obstacles that are hard to overcome.
I just tried to find a fine line between muscling in and staying relaxed.
If I try to be fast then I'm no good, so it's better just to shut everything off and let instinct take over.
I've been doing the sport since I was 5 years old. And if I don't have support behind me, it's just a dream and it will not be able to turn into reality.
It takes a lot of people. I would not swim if it was just me. If I didn't have any teammates, I couldn't stay in a pool for two hours, twice a day, nine times a week. I can't do that. And I'm fine with admitting that. I couldn't do this by myself.
I knew I was going to have to come with fire, passion and pride in every single race.
I feel like I fell short in Rio.
I swear every day I love it more and more. If you want to go 47.0 in a 100 free and you're 47.1, you have all these years behind you and it comes down to a 47-second race. It can be so brutal sometimes, but that's the part I like about it.
I want these medals to be for everyone, not just myself.
I probably sound like a broken record every time I do a race, but I always look for the bad. That's just kind of how I work.
As soon as the whistle blows, something triggers me.
I'm trying to show that it doesn't matter where you are from, even a little town like Green Cove. You can make it.
The whole podium time was like it was in slow motion. I was watching the flag go up realizing I'm part of one of the greatest countries on earth.
I don't want to be some hotshot. I'm not about that.
My favorite part of the Olympics was the flag raising and seeing my family there.
I don't mind the sun at all, I like it.
If my parents are at the meet, I'll try to look and just kind of spot them out in the stands.
I always say a prayer before the blocks - it helps calm me down.
I like to race. I like to compete.
I don't come to meets to count medals. It's not what I do. It's just really for me.
For me, it's just kind of a chase for self-improvement in and out of the water. That's why I do enjoy the sport.
I hope the feeling of standing up on the podium winning gold will never get old.
There's parts during the meet where it's not the greatest feeling - the stress that you feel, the pressure I put on myself.
I've got pimples on my face, I'm losing some hair.
It's not my goal to beat anybody in particular, it's about achieving what I think my potential is.
People want to dream up this big, giant goal without putting the stepping stones along the way, and for me, that's what gets you to that giant goal.
I think greatness is found within mundanity, those boring little ticks throughout the day.
I can be proud of every swim, every effort I put in the water, every mental approach to every single race.
I love meatloaf so much.
But just improving each day, that's just the ultimate goal from now until I'm no longer on this earth.
Fifth place is unacceptable for U.S.A. Swimming. It stings.
I don't think anyone will ever be able to perfect the sport, and that's kind of what I love about it. You're always chasing something.
I don't I don't really care what people expect me to do at these Games. It's all about me. It might sound a little selfish, but it's what I want to accomplish and reaching my potential. Everything else, everybody else's opinion, they can kick rocks.
Just because it's bad doesn't mean it's not worth it.
You can't reach perfection unless you reach zero seconds - it's just the constant chase for perfection.
We play a lot of Nintendo games, a lot of Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros, a few different card games, really just stuff so we can stay loose and get your mind off of swimming before going into the meet with full focus.
For me, it's about swimming faster. Anything that's not pertaining to swimming faster is irrelevant to me.
I would certainly love to be playing Mario Kart up until the wee hours, but sometimes I've just got to call it quits.