U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM TRIALS - SWIMMING

June 12, 2021

Katie Ledecky

Simone Manuel

Greg Meehan

CHI Health Center

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with questions.

Q. Katie, obviously the last five years a lot of talk about you and the 2020, now the 2021 Olympics and expectations and I'm just curious if you can really put into perspective where your mind is right now, how you feel you're doing, and what your own expectations are presumably lofty expectations for Tokyo.

KATIE LEDECKY: Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited to be here action back in Omaha. I'm sure a lot of you that have been here before are as well. I mean, it's such a fast meet, such a fun meet, and I am really looking forward to this summer. I think I feel very confident in the work that I've put in and feel like Greg has prepared me super well and I have great teammates like Simone who have pushed me along these past five years. So I think I have big goals for myself and those goals are the ones that matter, so I stay focused on those, and I don't let any outside kind of expectations really enter my mind.

Q. Katie, with such a packed schedule, how do you kind of shut everything down in between races?

KATIE LEDECKY: I really just take things one race at a time and just stay focused on one at a time. So right now my mind is only on the 400 free on day two of the meet. And I am pretty diligent, I think, in between sessions about getting my recovery, warming down a lot, getting massage, eating well, getting my nap in, and by the you time you do all that it's basically time to swim again, so there's not much time for much else. So I just try to stay calm, stay focused, take it one step at a time and one day at a time.

Q. Simone, there's been so much in the past 15 months. How has that kind of shaped you for what you're about to jump into?

SIMONE MANUEL: 15 months in terms of?

Q. (No microphone.)

SIMONE MANUEL: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely been a transformative experience, I would say. One that's pushed me as a person, as an athlete, and it's something I'm really grateful for. I'm really excited to be here knowing the challenges that I face this year and how far I have come and so I'm really excited to get racing.

Q. Greg, so yesterday, Lilly King predicted that if the American women have the meet she thinks they can have they might be able to win gold in every single event in Tokyo, and I know we're not in the business of making bold predictions here, but I'm curious kind of what your take is on that and if you think it's possible that the women are really that strong this year.

GREG MEEHAN: I think Lilly's answer says a lot about Lilly and how just passionate she is about Team USA and the success of our team, not just our women's team, but just really our whole Olympic team. I love that about Lilly and that's why she's such an awesome person and athlete to have on the team. And now's not the time to necessarily go down that path as the coach. It's really just looking forward to these next eight days and putting together the best Olympic team that we can. And that's going to be a formidable team no what the 26 names are. I'm really excited. There's a ton of talent at this competition and the one thing about this meet historically is always the folks that come out of this meet that are fortunate enough to make the Olympic team are ready to take on the rest of the world and that's what I'm looking forward to.

Q. Last time you were here as amateurs. This time you're here as pros. I'm curious what the demands were like this time around. Was it more than you expected? Did you guys embrace some of the different sponsorship activities? Just how has your approach been impacted by being a professional this time?

KATIE LEDECKY: I would say in the recent weeks and months it's felt pretty similar to 2016 in that we have been very focused on trials. I have really enjoyed having some really great sponsors and have been able to do some great things with them. I don't think we really got the normal experience in that a lot of our obligations and things that we did, we did it in the first Olympic year, and then we, a lot of things went virtual and it was awesome to be able to still do some virtual visits and things like that. But of course that didn't involve as much travel. So in some ways I think that's, that was a nice thing that we were able to, obviously we weren't able to travel. I mean, we weren't going to and it wasn't possible or else we would have to sit out 10 days. So we were still able to adapt and be able to do things with sponsors and do things to connect with people virtually.

So I don't know if -- I'm sure in, I guess, three years it might look different and I might have a better answer. But it, honestly, I, in terms of, I don't know if you're asking about expectations while being a pro versus five years ago, but in terms of that, I feel like it's pretty similar to five years ago. I'm just older and have a little more experience under my belt in the swimming world.

SIMONE MANUEL: Yeah, I don't have too much to add to that. I think Katie said it pretty well. It's like COVID kind of was a blessing in disguise at times. So we didn't have to do extra travel to do sponsor obligations, but we still were lucky enough to do them virtually and still connect with people and be surrounded by the support that we have outside of the pool, and I think that's still wonderful. So expectations, I think are still the same, whether we're professional athletes or not. I know that both of us have pretty high lofty goals for ourselves, so we're just excited to have a team around us.

Q. How much, if at all, will the Australian Olympic trials going on concurrently pierce your performance bubbles?

KATIE LEDECKY: I haven't really thought about it. I actually didn't even realize that they were at the exact same time as ours or I guess a day earlier than us until maybe yesterday. So, honestly, I mean, I'm not going to be checking results every couple hours or anything. I mean, I'm sure we'll hear about certain things because I'm sure we'll be asked about certain things, but I think, my focus is on Omaha. It's not on anything else. I mean, the medals aren't given this week, so I don't think we have to get too caught up in what times people are going here versus anywhere else in the world right now.

Q. Are you both fully vaccinated?

KATIE LEDECKY: Yes.

SIMONE MANUEL: Yes.

Q. And for you Katie, yesterday Tim Hinchey was talking about Michael Phelps. It's the first time he has not competed in the trials since 1996, and who steps up into the role and replaces him or who becomes the name or the face of the sport. And he mentioned you as one of those people, and how cool it is that you're a woman, kind of being that face of the sport. I guess I'm curious what you think about the fact that Michael's not here and trying to fill that void, if you would call it that, of Michael's presence and his ability to draw fans and viewers to the sport.

KATIE LEDECKY: Yeah, I mean, it's an honor that Tim would mention me. I think I'm not the face of USA Swimming. I think Simone is as well. I think Caeleb. I think of Lilly. I think of Ryan. I could just rattle off about 10 or 15 names and I think that just shows the depth that we have as a team. And kind of like what Greg was saying earlier about what Lilly said, I think we feel like we're part of a really special team and we have accomplished a lot over the past five years since Michael retired, and of course Michael has big shoes to fill, and we're all just stepping up and enjoying it. I think we enjoy just getting the opportunity to come together. So we're all fighting for those spots this week to have that opportunity to come together and win as many medals as we can this summer in Tokyo.

Q. A lot of people are kind of wondering what this trials is going to be like. Do you expect faster times than normal? Do you expect slower times than normal? Do you expect the veterans to come through or do you expect a lot of upsets? What do you think is going to happen at this trials?

GREG MEEHAN: Well, I don't have a crystal ball in my hotel room, so I'm just going to focus on what's, kind of session by session what we're doing. My primary responsibility for the next eight days is helping Katie and Simone and their Stanford teammates have a great successful Olympic trials. Then along the way, also kind of thinking about the pieces as they're coming together for Team USA.

But if USA Swimming is proving anything over the years is that the folks when they come to this meet they're ready to go. And whether it's faster by a lot or slower by a little, it doesn't really matter, this is our USA Olympic team qualifying meet and this is the first step in sort of the process of going and competing at the Olympic games this summer. So we're just, we're going to take that as it comes. That's the beauty of what Olympic trials is. Nobody remembers -- I could probably ask this whole room and how many times they remember from Michael Phelps' performance at the U.S. Olympic trials from 2000 to 2016, but what they're going to remember is his places and that's how you make the Olympic team.

So when you're in that final, it doesn't really matter. You're just trying to get your hand on the wall so that then you have the opportunity to represent the stars and stripes abroad.

Q. Simone, you don't appear to be wearing many labels or logos. Is that a fashion statement?

SIMONE MANUEL: No, this is Nike. (Laughing).

Q. Simone, with all that's happened over the past year in this country in terms of racial issues, I know it seems you've become a little more out spoken about that. Do you feel a greater responsibility to maybe try to lend your voice to these issues that I'm sure you've felt your whole life, but how important has that been for you and do you -- how important just to diversify the sport of swimming more. It's still obviously a sport largely of white people and just what, you know, what kind of -- what would you like to see done there or just how important is that issue for you moving forward?

SIMONE MANUEL: I think my responsibility is to be authentically me, and I think a part of that is openly sharing my story or my experiences with others to help others. So that's one reason why I felt the need to be more outspoken about some of the things that I've experienced, because I do know that a little Black girl or little Black boy possibly will have the same experiences that I have growing up in the sport. And there was a time where I wanted to give up this sport and to know that I'm sitting here being in a press conference at my third Olympic trials, I want to inspire others to not hang up the cap and goggles at the same time that I would have.

I believe that representation is extremely important. I think in whatever area of life that you're in, whether you're a minority in the sport of swimming or you're trying to be successful in a business venture. So I hope my experience extends across not just the Black community, but all people to embrace differences of all of us because we all can be successful in whatever we put our mind to when we have the opportunity.

I think that I was given the opportunity through this sport. I was lucky enough to come and be a part of National Diversity Select Camp and that was an amazing experience for me. That really transformed the way that I looked at the sport. And that's what I want to bring to the sport. I want to be that representation. I want to be that inspiration. And I also want to open up more avenues to bring swimming into those minority communities.

Q. How good of a job do you think swimming is doing to address these issues? And is there anything you, more you would like to see them do?

SIMONE MANUEL: I think they're doing a good job. I think that, I think we have kind of learned -- or hopefully most of us have learned over the 15 years that we always can do more. We're not completely finished with the job of increasing minority representation in this sport. And so I know that USA Swimming is working to increase that representation, but I also know that I have a platform myself and it's also part of my job to do that as well.

Q. Greg, how can collegiately there be more avenues open to, particularly Black swimmers, but all swimmers of color?

GREG MEEHAN: That's a great question. It starts really at the grassroots level, right? The reality is Simone worked her way to a place like Stanford because she's someone who really prioritized school and swimming. That was a great fit for us at Stanford. And the other side of that, the reality is there aren't many Blacks in the sport at that level who are -- that have the opportunities really to swim and to advance in the sport and to work up to the collegiate level. There are certainly some, but that, it doesn't just happen magically at the collegiate level, right? And I think that's the point, is it happens at the grassroots level. And getting more minorities in the sport, giving them opportunities. The camps is an amazing example. You have someone here, sitting here, who is an Olympic gold medalist, American record holder who almost, you know, retired from the sport or walked away from the sport and because of that program didn't. There just has to be more of that. I don't have all the answers and, but to me, that's where really it just continues to grow.

That takes time, right? That's not an overnight process, as you all know, and the ripple affect from that is going to be felt 10, 15 years down the road, and then I think you'll start to see that change at the collegiate level.

Q. What's your thinking right now on the 100? Is it something that's on your radar? Would you like to be in the relay mix or is it something that you feel like you can rule out at this point?

KATIE LEDECKY: I think Greg knows that I'm somebody that will step up on a relay, and so if I'm asked to be on the prelims relay, the finals relay, both, in Tokyo, I will hands down do it. So that's my answer.

GREG MEEHAN: Perfect. I think the one change was just moving away from swimming it individually here. In 2016 Katie swam it individually at the trials and we're just going to keep the focus here on the 2, 4, 8 and 15, but knowing that Katie can step up in any opportunity, and if that is going to help Team USA earn a shinier medal, then we'll have that conversation.

Q. I'm not even sure how much you guys tapered in 2019, but what is it like to go two years without a full taper and how has it felt to finally get one?

SIMONE MANUEL: I think my body was ready for it. (Laughing). I think above all else we're just excited to be racing. Obviously if the Olympics would have happened last year, we would have tapered last year, and then we would be tapering for World Championships, but we're just excited to go out there and race. I think Katie, I don't want to speak for Katie, but I think that we both improved a lot over the past year in a lot of ways, our whole team, actually, and so that extra year we're hoping warrants some faster swims than maybe we would have had last year. So we're just really ready to go race.

KATIE LEDECKY: Yeah, ditto. I mean, I think we have been waiting and waiting for a little bit of rest and it's nice and a strange feeling when you finally get it. Went through all of the ups and downs that usually come with taper and just experiencing that again was kind of a foreign feeling, I guess, because we hadn't felt it in a while. So even just a little bit of rest can make a big difference, and so I'm just excited to have a little bit of that and see what we can do this week.

Q. Are you doing the full taper for this meet or just resting a little bit or?

KATIE LEDECKY: I don't even know what a full taper is. I mean, people always ask, like, when does taper start for you? And I don't think anyone can ever pinpoint a date on when taper starts and when it, when you start transitioning to it. I got some rest for this meet. You can't come into this meet without rest. And, honestly, just with the schedule that I have, the amount of racing that I have, I have to have a little bit of rest.

At the same time, we had to balance that with the fact that if you think through the yardage of, or how many meters I'll be swimming on the days when I have the 200 and the 1500, if you add up all the warmdown and warmup it quickly gets up to 6000, that session. So just, I think Greg did a great job of making sure we kept my volume up the last couple weeks while just picking our spots on intensity and just getting race ready the last couple weeks.

GREG MEEHAN: The only thing to really add on to that is, to the earlier question is, yeah, they haven't tapered in two years and sometimes it takes a little bit longer to come out of that. And so just kind of starting that process slowly to allow for that to kind of kick in a little bit, and knowing that there is a lot of volume this week. And even for someone like Simone, whose back end of the meet is very busy and there's a lot of volume there, we're always kind of thoughtful about that. And then coming out of this week and into what's next, I feel like we have a good plan for that and we have a good sort of recipe for that, as we have done in the past.

Q. College athletes are presumably soon going to be able to take advantage of name, image, and likeness issues and earn endorsement money. Have you thought about whether that would have changed your college careers or when you ended your collegiate eligibility?

KATIE LEDECKY: I haven't thought about it, really, just because I made the decision I did and I've gone that path and I don't really think too much in hypotheticals. I really, I haven't kept quite up to date in the recent weeks on what's happened with any of that. I know there's something in the Supreme Court, but I don't know if any decision has been made, so I am interested in it and I think it will be interesting to see how things shake out and I know Stanford will probably figure out how to address that with their athletes. I think actually somebody from Stanford football team reached out to me a couple months ago just with a question of kind of thinking about for our athletes moving forward, what are the kinds of questions that you think you might have had with these kinds of things coming up and so I gave some feedback on that and I think it will be interesting to see how colleges, universities address that and help their athletes and help their student athletes navigate that space and I think Greg probably has some more insight on this topic than I probably do.

SIMONE MANUEL: Yeah, I'm kind of with Katie. I'm not a what-if type person, so I'm really grateful for the four years that I had as a Stanford student athlete, even though one of them was redshirt, but I don't think I would change it for anything. I think that it shaped me into the person and swimmer that I am and that opportunity wasn't for us then and it's fine, like we are here and we have to accept it.

GREG MEEHAN: I think there's going to be a learning curve and it's going to take a little bit of time for student athletes and athletic departments and universities and the NCAA, quite frankly, to figure that process out. And I don't necessarily want to speak for them, but in our conversations at the time in 2018 it was less about the monetary piece and more about learning how to be a professional athlete. Two years, two years before the games. It kind of takes a full year, in my experience anyway, it takes kind of a full year to learn how to become a professional athlete and we didn't want to do that in the year leading into the games and so that was kind of a lot of conversations is, make that transition in 2018 and then you've got just over two years until what would have been the 2020 games at the time. And so it was more about that part of it and so it will be interesting to see how student athletes can monetize and take advantage of the, of their name image and likeness and at the same time not lose sight of what they're working towards, especially in our sport at to be successful internationally.

Q. What is it like to have your uncle's team playing for a trip to the Stanley Cup finals and you're probably not going to be able to watch any of the action?

KATIE LEDECKY: I actually will be able to because I don't have a race tomorrow and the first game is tomorrow right before the swimming. So I'm thrilled, I mean, it's so exciting. I know my uncle John is so excited and I love the Islanders, I've watched I think almost every regular season game this year. During the pandemic I made sure I was able to watch the games because it provided a little bit of entertainment.

So I'm a big fan of the team and I'll be cheering them on. My uncle is planning on coming here, so I think he's doing a little bit of back and forth this week, which will be interesting. But, yeah, it's cool, it's really fun and obviously I can't go to any games right now, but in the fall they're opening up a new arena, so I'm hoping I can go to some of those games in the fall.

THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you all for coming.