U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM TRIALS - SWIMMING

June 14, 2024

Cody Miller

Lilly King

Lucas Oil Stadium

Media Conference

Q. Lilly, how would you compare your fitness and state of mind going into this Trials compared to 2016 and 2021?

LILLY KING: Yeah, I just did like a stinger just now, just some race prep and it went pretty well. So I'm feeling good to go.

Yeah, I mean, I don't -- I don't really feel like there's anything to compare it to just because it, like, I've been at very different stages of my life the last three Trials.

But yeah, I'm feeling good and ready to go.

Q. I'm sorry this is going to be for Lilly, also, I apologize.

CODY MILLER: You can give them all to her, it's all okay. I'm just here to look good. I get it.

Q. You certainly have never been afraid to talk about issues and important topics, and obviously the Chinese doping story is out there, and there's more news today. Just curious if you could talk a little bit about your thoughts specifically, where your sport is, another generation having to deal with this issue, and what it means as you move forward to Paris?

LILLY KING: Yeah, Christine, it's not great. I was briefed briefly on the article that dropped, what, ten minutes ago?

So yeah, it's extremely frustrating for the athletes to always have in the back of our mind that maybe this sport's not fair.

You know, when we put everything on the line, our privacy, really, everything that we do to compete with a level playing field, it's extremely frustrating to not have faith that others are doing the same thing.

So yeah, it's been a very interesting last couple weeks, months, and trying to focus on the meet but also kind of move forward with this. But you know, those thoughts are always in the back of my mind.

Q. You haven't been shy about your feelings or opinions as well on clean sport. Your reaction to the state of things?

CODY MILLER: Yeah, forgive me, I haven't read the article that just dropped. So whatever news you guys know, I don't know yet.

But it's just really disappointing, and I think it's just frustrating for all the athletes that, you know, do go through the process of dealing with -- you saw it on a regular basis. Like, I mean, they show up at my house when I'm trying to put my kids to bed and trying to feed them dinner, and I have to go stand in the restroom with a stranger and pee in a cup. This happens, like this is commonplace for the United States that has USADA, an actual doping agency.

It's just frustrating, yeah. Those are my thoughts.

Q. For both of you, you both have participated in Olympic Trials in the past, particularly in Omaha, how do you prepare for this Trials differently? Are there different sight lines, like different points in the stands that you're looking at as you're going through the water? How do you actually process swimming in an NFL stadium versus an auditorium or arena?

LILLY KING: I'm going to take a movie reference here, and I think it's great for where we are at right now. You guys have seen the movie Hoosiers?

There's a screen where small-town basketball team shows up at the State basketball game and they walk on to the court and they say, "What does it look like?" And they measure everything and it's the same measurements as their basketball court at home.

That's all it is. You know, I've been in the competition pool once, and I know the walls like the back of my hand because it's the same Myrtha pool that has been at every other Olympic. Trials. It's the same Myrtha pool that's been at every Olympics World Championships that we've swam in a temporary pool.

So it really feels the same for me.

CODY MILLER: Yeah.

LILLY KING: Yeah? Is that good? It's always 50 meters.

CODY MILLER: Fortunately we are not backstrokers.

LILLY KING: That's true. Backstroke, the ceiling is super high. So that was kind of trippy.

CODY MILLER: Yeah.

LILLY KING: So I just look at the bottoms, though. I'm good.

Q. Question for Cody, two-parter question. What does it mean for you to be able to be a part of the swimming world now both in terms of competing at national meets, but also making videos online, and how has that impacted your perspective on the sport? And then will you be watching House of the Dragon Season 2 or Boys Season 4?

CODY MILLER: I am so excited, dude. We are living in a time of amazing streaming content. I've already thought about this. I finish racing Sunday night, and then Monday morning when I wake up, I'm going to watch the new episode of House of the Dragon. So psyched for that.

But as far as my tenure in the sport, this is my fifth Olympic Trials, which is wild to say, and I just -- you know, I feel like I'm just really excited and actually happy to be here. Like, I don't feel any kind of pressure on my shoulders.

I'm not, like, the high-profile athlete that you guys are excited to interview, and that's a good thing for me. There's freedom in that. If I do great, awesome. If not, my world just keeps operating as usual. I don't have any, like, big plans.

Yeah, it's fun to see -- I actually had a conversation with an athlete like 30 minutes ago who said that he started watching my YouTube videos like seven years ago, and they made it a goal to make it to Olympic Trials. And now they are competing at Olympic Trials and swimming in a Division I program, and they said that I was their biggest inspiration.

It's nice to get friendly comments on the Internet from people. But it's another thing to, like, see it in real life in person, like it manifest itself. Like that's a wild thing. I'm not saying I'm important or anything like that. It's just those moments, like, really stick with me when I have that interaction with someone who generally got something positive out of the silly YouTube videos I create. It's really great.

So, super pumped to be here.

Q. Piggybacking off that question, as an elite athlete, how do you balance being so active on social media and making good content while training as an elite athlete?

CODY MILLER: That's a great question. For me it's like having distinct separation, like a time when I'm focusing on actually swimming and the fundamentals of what I'm here to do when I'm racing, and then the stuff outside the pool.

So like right now, I haven't been on Instagram or social media or anything in, like, four days because I'm kind of blacking myself out.

But I'm lucky because I'm done racing on Wednesday, if I make the final, 200 breast, I'm done. So the second half of the week, I can just goof off and pull out my GoPro and do my thing.

For me it's important to have that separation. Like Instagram is not even on my phone right now. I don't need to see what other people are posting. I'll get to that later. I think it's important to set boundaries for yourself and not feel like you have to do everything all at once if that makes sense.

Q. I'm wondering with the order of Trials and seeing what else is happening in the world, like how much you keep up with that and kind of are looking at what the Aussies have done with their Trials, or if you, coming into this or coming out of this, like how you put the American swimming in context, how often you're thinking about that?

LILLY KING: Yeah, I'm not like super focused on the other countries to be honest with you. I look at results, but it's not going to affect how I'm training or how other people are training, I don't think.

Yeah, I guess I keep up with what's going on. But it's not really like affecting me that much.

Q. You're 32; is that correct?

CODY MILLER: Yeah.

Q. You're a youngster compared to Matt Grevers, who, I guess, is here at 39?

CODY MILLER: Thank God he's here.

Q. And Gabrielle Rose is here at 46 or 47. What keeps y'all coming back, even when maybe it's not -- the goals have changed and maybe Olympics is not realistic but when you come, people like you and Matt and Gabrielle who are still pumping along, and I guess it's a big accomplishment to be here.

CODY MILLER: Yeah, I feel like I'm being really loud right now.

I, like, legitimately teared up when I saw that Matt Grevers made his Olympic Trial cut. Like actually, I was looking at my phone and started weeping and my wife, Ali, was like, "Are you okay?"

I was like, "Yeah."

The thing that keeps me going is mostly it's the camaraderie. It's the kinship and the people. Like I genuinely enjoy going to the pool and like hanging out with Lilly and Ray and some of our coaches.

Like being here at this meet, I feel like it's a big reunion. I started swimming for the Sandpipers of Nevada when I was nine years old, and we have a massive Sandpiper fan base here. Right now my original a-troop coach when I was nine, Chris Barber, is here. The very first strength coach that I have had that taught me to do proper form in the weight room to prepare me to go to college is here. It's like a big party, a big reunion, and having those memories and being able to see those people again made all the years ever of grinding worth it.

But the day-in and day-out of work and going to the pool and sometimes doing things you don't really want to do, a big part of it is to swim in an NFL stadium. This is like the coolest meet in history in my opinion. And Olympic Trials itself is a very special event. Like for me personally, I think that Olympic Trials is the most fun meet, more so than even the Olympic Games.

The thing about -- and I think if you asked almost any Olympic athlete for the United States, you know, why we are so successful when you ultimately get to the Games, it's because of this. It's because this gauntlet. Nobody else has this. Even Omaha, 20,000 fans, the Trials, the pressure, gauntlet that is being successful at this meet, it's magic.

And everyone that's standing on deck can feel it and you can see it. And that doesn't exist anywhere else because of how coveted the spots the people are vying for on this team are.

And so even just the last couple years, like knowing that I get to be here to witness and be a part of this; take making a team or going best time, take all that, myself, all those accomplishments off the table. Just to be a part of it, like be there on hand, like on deck, it's special.

And all my friends that I swam with over a decade ago are all like really jealous that like we system get to do this. And so that's the honest answer. There's just a lot of passion behind the people like the Matt Grevers that are still kicking it around making us look good.

Q. Have you made a decision on whether to go another four years to try to make the L.A. team or have you not thought that far ahead yet?

LILLY KING: I've definitely thought that far ahead. I will be watching in Los Angeles, and I'm good with that decision.

Yeah, I will not be done after this summer but yeah, I will not be going another four years. I'll be cheering on the team?

Q. Maybe just one more season or take it a year at a time?

LILLY KING: Not sure yet.

CODY MILLER: Thanks.

LILLY KING: You talked way more.