U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM TRIALS - SWIMMING

June 19, 2021

Katie Ledecky

Katie Grimes

CHI Health Center

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined this evening by Katie Ledecky who won the Women's 800 Meter Free and our newest Olympian, Katie Grimes, following her second place finish in the 800.

Q. Katie Grimes, it looked like you were getting help from the other Katie on the podium there, wave to the crowd, like, what do I do up here? How overwhelming has the last you know, several minutes, 45 minutes, hour been for you?

KATIE GRIMES: Very.

KATIE LEDECKY: It doesn't feel like it's been an hour at all.

KATIE GRIMES: It feels like it's been ten minutes. It's crazy how much ten minutes can change something. She was super supportive and helpful of what we were doing because I had no idea what I was doing.

Q. Katie Ledecky, you looked like you were emotional there at the end here. Is it the journey to get to this point that hits you and now that you have accomplished what you wanted to do, what are the feelings going through you?

KATIE LEDECKY: Yeah, I think it was just a result of Brendan, what he said and how he got the crowd going like that. Just having that little moment. I know that we are not going to have as many fans or fans at all in Tokyo so acknowledging the people that have supported me and the fans here. It's been incredible this week. I just got a little choked up there trying to soak in that moment.

Q. Katie Ledecky, we heard from Simone an emotional press conference the other night. You're a close friend of hers. How much does something like what she is going through affect you?

KATIE LEDECKY: Yeah. I'm so proud of Simone and how she has handled herself, not just this week but over the last several months, really just the last year. I think Simone and I have kind of been on this journey together, the pandemic journey, given that we stuck together in the early days of the pandemic and made the decision that we were going to train in the backyard pool together, and when we were scrambling the first couple of days trying to decide whether we would go home or try to find pool space somewhere when we thought the Olympics were still on.

We kind of made an informal pact that we were going to stick together and try to continue to train together. We did that for three months together, and of course our teammates came back eventually and we were back in our normal environment. It bonded us. It's been tough to see what she has gone through over the last couple of months. She is such a fighter. I know she had a great swim tonight and put herself in a really great position for the 50 tomorrow.

Regardless of the outcome, she is a true champion. She has accomplished so much in this sport. She has accomplished so much out of the sport as well in how she has impacted swimming. I know that no matter the outcome tomorrow she is going to continue to do that both in and out of the water. I'm so proud to be her teammate.

Q. Katie Ledecky, curious about your next steps when you leave here. Five years ago you were able to lower your times from Trials to Olympics. Do you see that potential here today, getting back to work, and do you think you will look at the times you posted this weekend and see the potential to post something faster in Tokyo?

KATIE LEDECKY: Yeah, I'm very eager to get back into training. I will start back Monday at Stanford, and I have about a week there before training camp starts. We will build into next week, get the yardage back up and start hitting it harder by the end of next week. I love training camp. It's so much fun, just getting to train with some different people and being in a different environment.

I didn't realize it, I think somebody said it to me after that race, it's going to be the first time I'm getting out of the Stanford environment for a couple weeks at a time, and I think that's going to give another extra boost, just a different environment, different teammates. Typically throughout a non pandemic year we would go on training trips and go up to altitude in Colorado Springs, things like that.

So I think it's going to be a big boost to just get a change of scenery and hopefully attack training camp like I know how to do, and how it's benefitted me in the past. I know that I need a really big block here.

I think we know kind of the next steps, and I will talk to Greg early next week to lay it all out. I think we feel good coming out of this week, just mission accomplished. Can't really take that for granted. It's not easy to get through the yardage I got through this week. It was just good to do it and get the job done this week and check the box and move forward and not get too caught up in times or anything, just keep looking forward.

Q. To both of you. Katie Ledecky, you were 15 once. I'm curious, when you saw -- looked like everyone in the pool, right, it looked like a big pool party going on. You swam over into that group. What you thought of the joy and the happiness that was surrounding Katie Grimes? And Katie Grimes, for you, could you describe that scene? It looked like everyone wanted to be in the pool forever and celebrate. It looked like a big a pool party. Talk about that joy.

KATIE LEDECKY: Do you want to go first?

KATIE GRIMES: Sure, I will.

KATIE LEDECKY: You're the one experiencing it.

KATIE GRIMES: First thing I saw was my teammates come over, and I was just like in shock. I had no idea what was going on. It was fun! It was like a pool party! But it was just -- I was overwhelmed with emotion and stuff. Just so thankful to be able to swim in a heat with those kind of girls and make the team. Just crazy.

KATIE LEDECKY: She probably felt like she was in practice with all her teammates in that heat. They have had such an incredible week, so I tip my hat to them. They have had a great, great meet, all three of those Sandpipers that were in that heat are on the team, so they were excited probably that they get to travel together.

Katie said it's her first time traveling out of the country, which is going to be so fun. I think we're all just excited to experience Tokyo together. I think we all have great appreciation for the work that all of us in that heat have had to put in to get to that point.

I think distance swimmers, I think it's a different vibe in the ready room in distance heats. We're all just like, let's go. It's fun to see the hard work pay off and so fun to see this one's hard work pay off.

Q. Katie Grimes, if this was a normal Olympics you would probably have your family members coming over. The way we understand it now that's not going to be allowed. I'm wondering what it's going to be like to know that they are only watching on TV from far away?

KATIE GRIMES: I didn't know that's what was happening but --

KATIE LEDECKY: You didn't expect to be in this position so you weren't paying attention.

KATIE GRIMES: I haven't thought about that at all. I don't know. I don't know. I've been separated from them before, it's not like a new thing, but I'm happy that they're going to be able to watch it. They are going to be there in spirit and stuff, like, I don't know. That's going to be weird. They're usually at all of my meets. I don't know.

KATIE LEDECKY: Yeah, I mean, I think I said this the other day, I hope that we can come together as a family, ourselves, as a team, and it's a really young team so I hope that us older swimmers can show them the ropes a little bit and create that family environment.

There is FaceTime and stuff. We will make sure we stay in touch with our families and keep them connected to what we're doing.

Q. Katie G., after that great moment in the pool with the pool party with all the distance swimmers, seemed like you had a nice moment with your family at the side of the pool deck there. What did that moment mean to you as everything was starting to sink in?

KATIE GRIMES: They just know, like, everything that has gone into that, and they're my parents. They've helped me with everything. It was pretty emotional because it's a big moment for all of us.

Q. Katie, you were in a similar position nine years ago. You were 15, you won this race, and you qualified for your first Olympic Team. Now you have another 15 year old qualifying with you, same swim, when you break the record for most Trials wins by a female swimmer. So what does it mean to really come full circle and be in this situation? And for Katie Grimes, what does it mean for you to be doing this with her, someone who was in your position and has gone on to accomplish so much?

KATIE LEDECKY: It really is full circle. Nine years ago it was Katie and Kate, Kate Ziegler, and we have another Katie and Katie, so I don't know what it is about Katie and Freestyle swimming. It's awesome. I said this in the pool in the NBC interview after. She had an incredible mile and got third, and I think we were just saying her 800 split in her mile the other day was faster than her prelims 800, so I knew she had something up her sleeve, a really good time in her.

I told her after the mile I was like, you're the future. That was an incredible time. When I got over to her I told her, heck, I mean, you're the now, you're the present!

It kind of reminds me of 2012 when I got third in the 400 Free, I think Beisel or somebody told me, hey, you've got a big week ahead of you, bright things, or you've got such a bright future, something like that, I don't remember the exact words. Then I went on to make the team.

It's kind of like deja vu from the other side for me, and I can't wait to see what Katie can accomplish, not just this year but -- I mean, no pressure, but I think in your swimming career obviously you've got a huge swimming career ahead of you. It's really fun to see.

KATIE GRIMES: I forgot the question, sorry.

Q. (No microphone.)

KATIE GRIMES: Oh, yeah. I'm very honored. She has taught me so much already. I used to think it was cool that we had the same first name. Now we're going to be on the team together. I don't know. I'm super excited for training, just trying to get even better before the Games and stuff. I don't know, I'm just -- I'm speechless right now. I can't even begin to explain how excited I am. Oh gosh, yeah.

Q. Katie Grimes, Katie Ledecky spoke on that 1500. Can you take us through what this meet has been like for you and your week and how you had that 1500 and emotionally and physically moved forward into this 800?

KATIE GRIMES: Well in training leading up to this, my 400 IM was looking like really good, everything in practice was lining up perfectly for my 400 IM, and I just -- it was my first race of the meet, and I think the nerves got to me or something. I just blew it. I got 16th. Then the mile, I was like, okay, I'm going to try to have fun. The 400 IM didn't work out so let's just have fun. I ended up doing better than I thought I was going to do, so I was like, great, let's see what I can do in the 800 now.

I ended up making the team. The meet was not anything how I expected it to go. My race that I thought I was going to do well in didn't turn out that way. I guess I should just not go into a meet with expectations. It's really something I've learned this week. It all ended up working out how it was supposed to. I'm very pleased.

Q. Katie Grimes, Katie Ledecky was sitting in your situation nine years ago. She was a 15 year old that made the team. Were you aware of her history? Did you watch that Olympics? You were probably six years old then.

KATIE GRIMES: Of course I was aware of it. Who wasn't? I don't remember watching the 2012 Olympics, but I definitely went back and watched that. I was, like, 15 years old? That's nuts! She is incredible. Now I get to do it with her, and I'm sure it's crazy. I'm sure it's crazy, and who knows, maybe I'll be like her, nine years from now, and there will be another 15 year old here or something. I don't know. It's just crazy. You know?

KATIE LEDECKY: I know. You also went 8:20, and I went 8:19, so --

KATIE GRIMES: Oh, really?

KATIE LEDECKY: Yeah. In Omaha, nine years ago. She didn't even know her time back there when we were waiting. I told her she went an 8:20.

Q. For Katie Ledecky, Phoebe was in here reminiscing on when you met each other, I believe she said she was four or five years old.

KATIE LEDECKY: Uh-huh.

Q. Do you remember that first meeting? What is it like to see her make the team, after knowing her for so long?

KATIE LEDECKY: It was actually at Little Flower school. She was in pre-K, and I was in fourth grade. Our school, Little Flower, it's a small school, about 20 or 30 kids in each class. They had kinda like a buddy system where fourth grade, you're the older buddy to pre-K class; fifth grade and kindergarten, and so on. When I was in fourth grade, it was my first time being the "older" buddy, and I got assigned to be Phoebe's buddy, and I don't know how random those assignments are. I couldn't tell you.

I think it may have been -- from my perspective, I don't know if Phoebe had started swimming at that point, she may have. I remember she was in the pool at a very young age and summer league swimming. She was younger than everyone. Most people start at age six, and she may have been four or five. It may have been because we both swam. It may have been because she was super energetic. She was the kid that would play on the playground, play football, basketball, soccer, whatever everyone in the class was playing. I was very much like that as well, so I think they matched us up maybe in that way. I have no idea.

So as buddies, you do things with them, maybe twice a semester or once a month, something like that. I do remember just playing with her and eating lunch with her in the cafeteria, things like that. And then, of course, she was on the same club team that I was and swam at the same facility for some years. I just always followed her progress, and our families know each other pretty well, and she ended up going to the same high school that I went to, Stone Ridge.

We didn't overlap at all in high school but, of course, I followed her in high school, and they won the championship meet, or they are the defending champions since there were no Metros this past year, so I guess it was two years ago.

We've, of course, gone to the same schools and she now is at Wisconsin being coached by Yuri who was my coach going into London and for those years. She knew Yuri from our club team, and her older brother was coached by Yuri, I think, for a year or two. So, yeah, I know Phoebe very well. I have been pulling for her this whole week and knew she could do it. She is such a "gamer."

She steps up to whatever level she needs to step up to, and she certainly did that tonight, and I can't wait to be going to Tokyo with her. I know Little Flower School and Stone Ridge, they must be ectatic right now.

Q. Katie Ledecky, something mentioned in passing. Most wins at Trials by a female swimmer, ever, is what this last one did. Can you put that into perspective, just what that means at this point in your career?

KATIE LEDECKY: Yeah. I didn't know that. That's not one of those kinds of things that you're ever chasing or anything. But, yeah, this was my third Trials, and I guess those numbers start to stack up. It be doesn't -- it's not -- this isn't an easy meet. You've seen it at this meet, man, probably more than any of the other Trials I've been at, even World's Trials, Olympic Trials, all of them, I feel like this meet has been the craziest meet.

So excited for swimmers on this team, and at the same time heart broken for others. Like it always is, it just seems like it's more so on both ends of the spectrum. I'm someone that always strives for consistency, and I think when I first came on the scene when I was this Katie's age, I think a lot of people said that distance swimmers don't have super long careers and they don't, you know, they've got a certain window and this and that.

I think I've at least shown that you can have as long of a career as you want. You can have -- you can sustain that level of success, all of that. It's not to say it's easy. It does take a lot of work. I'm thankful for my coaches, the ones when I was younger that taught me how to swim the strokes, kept my shoulders healthy, kept me moving and doing things the right way, both in and out of the water. I'm thankful for my coaches now who have continued to encourage me and help me take things one step at a time to get to this point.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, everyone.