Photo Courtesy of Abbey Weitzeil on Instagram: @abbeyweitzeil

Four-Time Olympic Medalist Abbey Weitzeil Prepares for Paris 2024

Abbey Weitzeil, a four-time Olympic medalist and Santa Clarita native, is preparing for her third Olympic Games in Paris as a member of the 100-meter freestyle relay team. In an exclusive interview, she discusses her new role focusing on leadership, her emotional journey at the Olympic trials, and the growing popularity of women's sports.

 

July 13, 2024 - Abbey Weitzeil, a four-time Olympic medalist, is preparing for the Summer Games in Paris. She is on the 100-meter freestyle team and will be on her third US Olympic swim team. Her resume is already impressive, one gold medal, two silvers and a bronze, all on relay teams.

But making three Olympic teams is no small feat even though her role on this team is smaller than in the past.

She went to the Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 as the winner of the 100-meter freestyle at the US Olympic swim trials. She has been one of the top 50-meter freestyle swimmers in the country in two previous Olympics.

But this time she is solely a relay team member. Her role is different and she is preparing for these games a little differently too. In an exclusive interwith with Santa Clarita Weekly, we asked her about her approach to the Paris Olympics and what she wants to accomplish in her third stint on Team USA.

She talked about how hard it is to make one US Olympic swim, let alone three, and about how she has seen the interest and popularity of women’s sports grow in the time she’s been an Olympian. And she told us she tested positive for COVID after the Olympic swim trials.

 

Tim Haddock: I'm with Abbey Weitzeil. She's on the U S Olympic swim team. She'll be a member of the 100 meter freestyle relay team. And I had some questions for Abbey about her making the Olympic team for the third time in her career. And I heard an interview before, after the races at the Olympic trials, and you said your role on this Olympic team is going to be different. I wanted to ask in what ways and how are you preparing for for these Olympics differently than you have in the past?

Abbey Weitzeil: Yeah, I think every time, so this is my third Olympics and, you know, 2016, my role has changed mostly in leadership and experience, I believe, but also this year I'm not swimming an individual event.

So the last two Olympic trials, I was swimming the 100 and the 50 meter freestyle individually. And this time around, I didn't have the meet that I personally wanted. I wasn't able to reach personal goals of mine. But I did get myself on the team, which was the main goal. And so I think around this coming around this time, I want to have a most important role of leadership on this team that I see myself being able to take on that role and really loving that role and being there for the younger swimmers and kind of just being I think just someone who's easy to come to, if you have any questions, bringing in the smiles, the fun, and of course, getting stuff done when it needs to be done.

So I think that's how my role has changed. As you could see from the outside in is obviously I've been around the block. I've done this. I've done that. I'm no longer swimming individual events at this meet, but I'm going to prepare just like I have for every other Olympics. I'm going to, you know, I'm at this training camp and I'm ready to give everything I have on that relay in the morning and fight for a spot on the night relay and fight for spots on other relays. So I'm there reaching individual goals in that way. And I'm here to just, bring my experience to the team.

Tim: So, as you mentioned, this will be your third Olympics. The question I have is how challenging is it to qualify for three Olympic teams?

I know that's a big goal or a big accomplishment to have. So how challenging was it and what challenges did you face this time at the Olympic trials and getting on this team?

Abbey: Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say it's an easy feat to even make one team. The U.S. is so competitive in swimming and we have an amazing team every time the Olympics comes around. And I think it has taken me a minute to, like I mentioned, I didn't have a specific individual meet that I wanted at trials this time around, but to take a minute to be proud of myself for getting on a third Olympic team, it's no easy feat. Like I said, I put in everything I had this year and it just happened to be what came out at that meet.

So yeah, I'm so sorry. What was the other part of that question that you asked?

Tim: Just what were the challenges you faced this time around?

Abbey: You know, I think I was going through a lot at trials. I was a lot of emotions up and down for many different reasons. Being around the block, I know a lot of people at that meet. And I have very strong relationships with a lot of people who have also been around a long time like me and also watching my teammates who are newbies come around and make a team I was so emotional in a good way like happy for people watching people make their first Olympic team watching people make their third Olympic team and then watching people not make it is super super emotional for my close friends and everything so I was emotionally going through a lot of that me my own individual race didn't go my first one didn't go very well for me and so I was going through a lot of emotions I also was a little bit sick so um

Well, yeah. I don't want that to be a headline. Like what it's all to say, like, I just want, like, I was sick, which I found out after I tested positive for COVID when I got home. So I think I had COVID.

Tim: Oh, you're kidding. Oh my God.

Abbey: So I was going through a lot and I was really tired. I didn't know why. So it was, that was like, honestly, a main struggle of mine. And, but mostly just controlling my emotions. I have never been to a meet where I was like that, where my emotions got to me that much. And I don't know if it was because I was overly tired or, But I was crying happy tears, crying sad tears for people, like people that wasn't even myself.

So it was just a great, it was a great, great meet to watch and feel those happy emotions. And it was also such a stressful time to feel those down emotions as well. So it was truly a meet I had never been like, or like a meet I had never been to before.

Tim: I was going to ask, I mean, the 50-freestyle race was very, very close. I mean, the top two finishers were what, within two thousandths of a second? And you were a hundredth of a second behind them. Um, so yeah, yeah, yeah. Go, go, go back to that race. I mean, was it really that close and, uh, knowing what you know now, do you wish you could do it again?

Abbey: Oh, I totally wish I could do it again. I wish I could do it again. Like immediately after that, like, um, it just, I mean, I've the 50 is my favorite race and I've swam it almost every year since 2014. So, um, knowing that it was like my last chance to do an individual swim and, um, it being my favorite race, I kind of just went out there and was like, it was the coaches came up to me after and were like, that was your best race of the meet, even though it wasn't what I wanted. It was, it was what I gave everything I had. And that was what I had that day. So, um, I look back at it, like, obviously I didn't get top two and that, but I got third and I was proud of myself for getting up and having the best race of the meet for me after a long nine days.

So it was hard. But I'm super happy. I mean, Simone and Gretchen are going to do amazing in that race. So I'm kind of like passing that. Simone's still there. I've been with Simone in that event since 2014. So I'm passing the torch down to Gretchen now.

Tim: Okay. So I wanted to ask you, can you comment on the state of women's sports in America and in the world right now? It seems like a lot of attention and a lot of interest are in women's sports these days. And I wanted to know if during your Olympic career, have you seen or experienced a change in the attention and the interest in women's sports?

Abbey: Yeah, I think over the years that I've been in the sport, obviously women's sports has slowly been growing.

And recently there's been a big spike in interest and media around women's sports. And I think it's because of people You mentioned the WNBA before. People like Caitlin Clark in the swimming world. We have people loving the fresh faces. You have Gretchen Walsh. You know, you have the veterans. You have Simone. People are really, really interested in our sport. Swimming is growing in general and also just the interest in women and swimming women in any sport. And I think it's amazing. I think we've seen a boost in the last year or two, especially with people bringing attention to it like Caitlin Clark. once she boosts media attention to women in sports, then the microscope kind of comes to the different sports at different times.

And as we know, swimming isn't the main sport that people watch, but I think it's becoming bigger and bigger and bigger. You look at trials and we're now swimming in football stadiums and we have record-breaking attendance and it's so fun to be a part of and it truly is amazing. And I think it's awesome that the media is shifting to be more interested and bring more attention to women's sports. Yes, that definitely has been gaining a lot more attention, especially the WNBA. But I've also noticed the women's national soccer team gets a lot of attention. And it just takes kind of one person like Caitlin Clark's the great example of that. You know, you have she she's an amazing, amazing athlete. And once it catches someone's attention and once it catches the media's attention, it takes off.

And so once that has taken off, people are like, oh, OK, women in sports. What else can we get in women in sports? Like what other athletes are out there? So people are more intrigued. So it just takes one and then it starts to skyrocket. So it's definitely awesome to see.

Tim: OK, you have won four medals in the Olympics and one gold. I wanted to know what what are your goals for this Olympics? Obviously, you probably want to win another medal. But are there any other goals that you set for yourself in Paris this this time around?

Abbey: Um, well, my original goals I can't unfortunately can't reach for right now simply because i'm not swimming individual events. But currently, um, I love relays and they're like one of my favorite things to do ever.

So I'm really, really excited to be a part of the women's 4x1 free. And my goal is to get my hand to the wall in the morning to be able to vouch for a spot for myself on the night relay, which we have a lot of amazing sprinters now. Um, in the U.S. And so it's going to be tough to find a spot on that night relay. So I'm going to do my absolute best in the morning and hopefully can get my hand to the wall. And of course, the U.S., we're always fighting for a medal. We're always fighting for gold. So that's definitely a meat goal. Okay. And then my final question is, as your Olympic career is on the downslope, I won't say it's coming to an end, but it's definitely on the, you've reached the top.

Tim: I think you're on the way. you already had a great career up until now, but I wanted to ask you, what is your, what do you want your legacy to be in the Olympics? What do you want your Olympic legacy to be?

Abbey: I think my, what I would love to leave when I do leave the sport one day is I would love my legacy to be someone who people loved to have on the team. I want to be someone who people were like, she was awesome to be a part of team USA, not only in the pool, but outside of the pool. And I think bringing a strong, who you are as a person is just as important as who you are as an athlete.

And of course I want to be a legacy of winning medals and winning this and winning that. But I think the more, the longer I've been around, I just want to be someone that really embodies what it means to be on team USA and bring the spirit, bring the fun, bring the, the kick butt mentality and get my hands to the wall. So kind of just embody a whole embodiment of an athlete and a person all in one and not just to be known for, you know, the medals that i've won or not won, but just kind of like the athlete and the person that i am what leaving the sport and just remembered like that, because truly swimming has made me the person i am today.

Um, and I hope that that's what people see.

Tim: Okay. Well, thank you. That's all I have. Good luck in Paris and good luck training too. I know there's a little bit of training left before the Olympics start, but good luck. Good luck in the Olympics. Thank you very much. Thank you.

 

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Listen to Santa Clarita Weekly with Tim Haddock and Sage Rafferty right here on SantaClaritaStar.com, on YouTube, and wherever you listen to Podcasts. The show is also on the radio on KQRU 107.9 every week on Saturdays at 9:00 AM.

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