A Pittsburgh native is traveling to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to compete in this summer’s Olympic games. Leah Smith was a standout swimmer at Oakland Catholic High School, and has become a four-time NCAA champion at the University of Virginia.
After posting a personal-best time in the 400m freestyle at the U.S. Women’s Olympic Swimming trials, she was selected for the national team. She will participate in that event as well as the 800m freestyle relay.
Smith has been dreaming about the Olympics since she was 10 years old. She said it doesn’t quite feel real yet.
“Maybe it will feel real next month when I’m there,” Smith said. “But it’s pretty surreal. I’ve been wanting to do this for over ten years.”
Smith participated in the Olympic trials four years ago, but she said she dealt with the stress better this time around.
“It’s pretty brutal when you think about it,” Smith said. “You could be lighting it up the whole year and when it comes down to it, if you just don’t have the race that you needed at that time, you’re not going to be on the team.”
But Smith lit it up at the trials, too. She said she was shocked when she came out of the water and saw her time. At 4:00.65, she dropped three seconds from her time going into the meet and was close to a personal goal of four minutes in the 400m. She said she thinks the winner-take-all nature of the trials prepares athletes for the Olympic games.
“If you can’t perform under the pressure of Olympic trials, it’s probably unlikely that you would perform at the Olympics,” Smith said.
Many athletes have declined to participate in the Olympics because of concerns about the Zika epidemic, but Smith said she’s placed her faith the U.S. Olympic committee to keep the athletes safe.
“I’m trusting that they’ll take care of what they need to take care of, and let us do our job, which is to focus on swimming,” Smith said.
Smith grew up practicing at the Jewish Community Center pool in Squirrel Hill. She said preparing to be an Olympic swimmer can be a grind. Your face is in the water for a long time, you can’t listen to music or talk to one another.
“But I think that’s what makes it really special,” Smith said. “When we come to the wall for short breaks, we’re really motivating for each other.”
She said her parents are planning on traveling to Rio to support her.
“I’m happy for them that they’ll get to also have a once-in-a-lifetime experience like I do,” Smith said.
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