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PHILLIPS 66 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPSAugust 5, 2014Jessica HardyIRVINE, CALIFORNIA JESSICA HARDY: It's nice to be here. This is the first time I've seen the pool yet, and it's crazy walking in here. I swam in high school, I won my first national title here or my second national title here in 2005, and won four PanPac medals in this pool, and to see it even bigger now is cool. I was reminiscing with my family and they were reminding me that I learned to swim like five miles away from here. My story, I don't know if you guys know, but I almost drowned, so my mom enrolled me in swimming lessons. To be able to come here and compete and promote that message of learning to swim and getting excited about the elite competition in our sport so close to home, I feel like the unofficial host kind of on the National Team, showing everyone how awesome southern California is, and hopefully this meet will be pretty cool. Q. What events are you swimming this week, 50, 100 breast, 100 free? JESSICA HARDY: Yes. Q. Is it mostly breaststroke at this point for you or are you back to freestyles a little bit? JESSICA HARDY: I have no idea. I train for both of them pretty hard and I never know what's going to be on at that moment. My shoulder since the Olympics has been injured, so getting the strength back to swim freestyle has been a slow process. I've been training well, so hopefully I'll start racing well this week. Breaststroke definitely is something I'm confident in and excited to race, too. Q. So coming in, is it more time expectations, place expectations or no expectations at all? JESSICA HARDY: No expectations, just have fun. I've been doing this for so long, I don't really care what times I go anymore. It's just putting on a good race and trying to make PanPacs. Q. When you came back here in 2010, I remember it was so meaningful for you, it was kind of like a relaunch for you. You were so awesome at Nationals at PanPacs and whatnot. You talked about being the unofficial host, but that comfort of you being here, knowing you're in front of friends and family, you get to sleep at home and just all those things, how much does that factor into just you being able to feel well in the water and hopefully perform well throughout the week? JESSICA HARDY: I think happy swimmers are the fastest swimmers. I don't get much happier than getting to compete at Nationals in my backyard. I've had success in this pool in training as a kid and up until the elite level, winning PanPac medals here already. It's great to have that confidence and that excitement to be here. Q. Ryan was just in here talking about when you've been swimming for a long time, you have to find new ways to motivate yourself, to keep going. I'm just kind of wondering sort of along those lines, what are your approaches and what have you found works for you? JESSICA HARDY: I think just being more relaxed. The older I get, the more relaxed I get, the less competitive in practice I have to be. I don't have to be the first one to touch the wall, I just want to be the one with the biggest smile in practice. Just a change of perspective has been what I've done to keep myself engaged. I didn't find out until May of 2012 that I was eligible to go to the Olympics, so this whole quadrennium has been like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I'm here for the party and hoping for the best. Q. Just tell us a little bit more about your shoulder injury and kind of how it occurred and when and what you've been doing to build it up since then. JESSICA HARDY: I tore my biceps tendon my first practice back in the water after my break from London, so I've been trying everything. I got prolotherapy done, which is kind of an operation where they release bone marrow to stimulate growth. That was super painful. I did that twice, but mostly physical therapy has helped and just getting the strength back. I don't think the tear is completely healed, but my strength is slowly coming back around. Q. Just in terms of your perspective, obviously you talked about like playing the waiting game and not finding out until very, very late about making the Olympic team, but even since then where is your perspective at in terms of how much you're enjoying the day‑to‑day and whether PanPacs and Worlds are in the future, how much further you want to go with this. Back in 2010 it was like, I want to get back in there and get back after it and make up for lost time. Where are you at in terms of your perspective in the day‑to‑day and the future? JESSICA HARDY: I achieved my dream of going to the Olympics in London so now everything is just the cherry on top of the cake. I think Rio will be the end of my career. I have life goals that I want to move on to personally. I think I'll swim forever. I can't guarantee that I won't keep competing after that, but definitely take a step back after that year. Q. Can you talk a little bit more about returning to school because on Twitter you mentioned you had some tests you had to deal with right before this? JESSICA HARDY: I left Cal early and never finished my undergrad degree. After I got married in the fall I decided to go back to school, so I'm taking classes at ASU online and finishing up my undergrad next year, so I'm excited for that. Q. What's that in? JESSICA HARDY: Communications. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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