Gracie & Dani on Artistic Swimming, Anxiety Underwater, & Redefining the "Athletic Body"

In today's episode of Athletes After Hours, I sit down with Olympic artistic swimmer, Dani Ramirez! Her insightful wisdom, unique perspective, and refreshing take on how we define the "athletic body" makes this episode so incredibly powerful. We cover topics like surviving in toxic training environments, leading her team to another Olympics, and developing her identity outside of the pool. While artistic swimming is her first love, she's learning to love the process, love the challenges, and most importantly, love herself. Thank you for tuning in, please leave a comment or review if you enjoyed today's episode! Love you so much and I'll see you next Wednesday!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

So, you use the word anxieties to describe how you feel about your practices right now.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

I spent probably the last year trying to get over that and trying to like rebuild trust with myself. I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

No, we want me to apologize. She's an Olympic silver medalist. She competed alongside her team at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. In addition to being in the pool for seven plus hours a day, she's also a full-time student studying art at UCLA. Go Bruins. She's been a national team member for 10 years. And get this, she's still hungry for more. She's going for a second Olympics. One wasn't enough. She's currently training for LA 2028. Danny Ramirez, welcome to Athletes After Hours. That's quite the intro.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

I'm like liking myself more now. Thank you so much for having me, Gracie.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Yeah, do you want this card so that you can like say it to yourself every day? Maybe put it on your bathroom mirror.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Now that you say it yes.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Yeah, some like self-affirmation, confidence building.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Reminders of my wins.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

No, literally, I was like, I need to make like a book of all my wins because I forget. I feel like I have like short-term memory loss.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Like I'm like dorked. Everybody does. Right?

SPEAKER_02 1:08

And then I'm like, Grace, you got this. Like, you're a baddie. Just don't forget all the cool things you've done, you know? So it's so important to like, maybe I will give you this card. You have that's your role you have to put up on your your mirror. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 1:20

I'm doing good. I really am loving your house. These couches are very comfortable.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Good, because we're gonna be here for a minute. So get comfy. Let's start from the beginning. Obviously, you're an Olympic artistic swimmer. It's so unique, so niche. I love it. How did you even get into it?

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Um, so I'm third generation artistic swimmer. So it used to be called synchronized swimming, and then it was called before that, water ballet. And that's when my grandma did it. So she was doing water ballet kind of as a circus act. My mom did it in Venezuela on national team and in college at Ohio State. Um, and then my sister did it um all the way up until college at um in St. Louis, Missouri. So I wanted a one-up her, I wanted to beat her, just like every other little little sister. I wanted to be like, I want to do this better. So I I really wanted a one-up her and I I think I did it.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

I love it. You're just like, I just casually went to the Olympics. It's fine. The sibling rivalry is crazy. I love it. That is so funny. And then I remember when we trained at the pool, you said that your brother and your dad also lived in the pool.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Yeah. So my dad was a diver. My dad doesn't like to be in the pool. So he's like, okay, if I'm gonna get in, I'm getting in for 10 seconds and that's it. So diving was the perfect thing for him. And that meant he could share the pool with my mom. And obviously he had a crush on her. So he was like, Okay, I'm gonna figure out a way to be at the pool. I love it. Um so he would be at practice and be watching her, and then my brother took up normal swimming, so speed swimming.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Um, very good.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

And he was pretty good at that. Did he do that in college?

SPEAKER_00 2:45

No, he only did it in high school, and then he wanted to become a chef, and there's not very many athletic and cooking curriculums that go together.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

So fair enough. Yeah, I think you kind of have to go to culinary school for that.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Wait, that's actually insane. So basically, your whole house smells like chlorine.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Always, always smells like chlorine. Oh, and there's swimsuits hanging everywhere, it's the best.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

That's so cute, and that obviously just it's such a good attestment to obviously how close you are with your family. Because I think a lot of times when you grow up in a family that all does one thing, like it's very easy to kind of be like, no, I'm gonna go do my own thing, you know, especially if you kind of saw it maybe bring in some toxicity or have maybe negative um, I don't know, after effects. So I think that's really cool that you you grew to it and you you wanted to obviously follow in their footsteps.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Yeah, I mean, it wasn't always like that. I was I was really a big rebel as a kid. Like, I really just want like because my mom coached me until I was 15. So all the time, like any problem I had at practice, it's gonna follow me home. Like if I'm talking back, if I'm having a bad day, like as if your coach came home with you, that's what would happen. So my coach came home with me. And I love my mom. Like she's the best. And she's very positive as a person. So I think she really wanted me to learn how to deal with those things. So coming home and being like, okay, you have to live with this. Like, nobody here doesn't know what happened. Everybody here knows what happened. You have to live with these things. And I think it made me more angry as a kid, but it also made me more resilient to like, okay, I have this whole sport thing has to not be, okay, I'm at the pool for four hours, that's my four hours, and then I leave. This is a 24-hour thing. Like, you have to be an athlete for 24 hours.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

Wow. So this is literally like your life. This is your life. Like, that's it. Danny Romerez, athlete, has been pretty much your identity for how many, how many years? 20, 20 plus years?

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Yeah, 20 plus years. Oh my gosh, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

That's crazy. Well, I can't wait to learn more. Um, I want to talk about you going into your sport and the competitive side of it. We as athletes, I feel like all have that one very strong visceral moment in our minds and in our memories that we could probably think back to and probably like relive. I want to know what moment in your athletic career would you want to relive.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Um I feel like this one might surprise people, but a lot of the success that I had in s in artistic swimming has been because of my team. And like, not even in just like a general sense, like we won it. Like I didn't qualify for my first Olympics, and I spent the entire four years training for it. So to go into the next quad, and we qualified on our very last chance for Paris, like, very last chance, like we lost every single chance before that to qualify. Um, and you only get to take eight to the Olympics, and the ninth person doesn't get to swim. So there's eight people that get to swim out of the 12 that qualify you. I had no idea. Yeah. So you could spend through spend your entire life working up to one Olympics, make number nine, and go, but never compete. Like that's just the reality of how it works. And that was true for four of my four of my teammates. So I think my favorite memory was qualifying with them at World Championships because all 12 of us got to feel that. Like, oh, that's so cool. And in Paris, it was only eight. Like, only eight of us stand on the podium, and it was almost bittersweet. I was like, I I want my team with me. I want them all to feel this. And like obviously, like they do, but it's different. It's different when it's all 12 of you, and all 12 of you made it happen, and everybody swam that meet. Yeah. So it was it was incredible. Like, I would relive that moment a million times over, and that night of just like getting to celebrate all 12 of us, like it was crazy.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

Oh, it's so special. I know. I feel like I can see the emotion like coming out, even you just talking about it. Like that's that's what I meant by like that moment that just like we all know, like in our cores, you know, that feeling. And so that's really cool that yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

And everybody thinks it's a medal. They're like, oh my gosh, this metal, this Olympic medal. And like, guys, there were 10 years, 12 years leading up to this that meant so much more to me than this not dumb medal, but this just like materialistic thing that is kind of like your token of okay, you made it. Like it was never that, like it was always all the stuff that came before it.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

So I love that. You're like me though. I feel like I was never really driven by the medals because I never got medals growing up.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

I know I had to learn. So every time my coach is like, other people are working harder than you, they want to beat you. I'm like, I don't care. I want to be better today than I was yesterday. Why would I care what they're doing? Oh my god, I knew you were my soul sister when we first met. It would make me mad and then I would shut down. Yeah. Which is like, I feel like a lot of people have like kind of the opposite thing where it's like, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna beat this person. But I feel like maybe in gymnastics it's the same. Like you're not racing someone and they're not directly next to you. Like it's an individual sport. Yeah. And it kind of is for us too. Like you go out there, you do your best, and then your best, if it beats them, great. But if it doesn't, like at least you did your best, and you don't have to, you don't have to answer to anybody for that. Like you improved yourself. So I think that should be the main goal.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

I think that should be the main goal in every sport, but obviously it's tough when you're competing and you're literally actively combating another person. Like it's a lot tougher to kind of create that separation. I'm really curious to know about your guys's culture versus for us, there were times where the girls like did not get along because we were we were all competing for the same spot. Only six girls compete. So then when you're trying to compete on the same team as another person, like you're not only competing against the opposing team, you're kind of competing against your teammates just to even get a spot on the floor.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

So I guess my question is is like, do you guys get along? Do you like your teammates?

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Well, how is it going? That was one of the things that I think my Olympic coach was really good about is that she was like, I don't care who's the best eight. I want the best eight that are gonna be willing to give everything to the team. Like if you're competing and just trying to become an Olympian, you can feel it. Like if you're just competing to try and get that spot and try and get in there because you want to be better than the person next to you and not support your team, you can feel it. And I think she really could read that vibe and wanted to make sure that everybody got along and you could know who's good at what. So there were some days that like we would be like, okay, like she does this part really good. You guys are gonna watch her, you're gonna cheer her on, and then you guys are gonna learn from her.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

So you learn from each other and you want to get better. And obviously, like we definitely have cat fights. Like, there are definitely times where you're like, hey, you hit me in the face back there and you didn't say sorry. Like, yeah, it apologize.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

But also, seven plus hours in a pool with someone, you're gonna want to rip your head off at some point. Exactly. So, and you're human.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Yeah, we're human. We're we obviously get into fights, but then you come back the next day, you're like, okay, like we've got work to do, and I love you anyways. Let's let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

You guys are literally like sisters, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

All that's sort of and it becomes like hive mind, like yeah, you go to the pool and you're like, I know exactly what she needs, I know if she's in a bad mood, if she's in a good mood, if she's like really excited or like something happened at home, like you can tell. And like obviously it's not 100%, but reading vibes off of each other and like wanting to be a good teammate, I think is like the main thing that this sport has taught me.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

I love that. If you could change one thing about your sport for the next athlete, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Hmm. I'd put less time underwater. Really? Yeah. Because Is there a requirement for how long you need to be underwater? No, but the way that we I guess acquire difficulty scores is by movements. So, like, say you're doing like a split spin, and like that's worth the most, so you're gonna do like a million of them. So like it has it didn't used to be this way, but now that the system has changed and they've added difficulty scores that like you have to send in before and you have to do what you said. Now, instead of it being like, okay, we're gonna have two hybrids that are 20 seconds that you guys have to do, which is like that's still really long, which is what it kind of used to be. Now we're doing okay, the last hybrid now to get as much DD as we want and to have a higher DD or match China's DD, we're gonna have to be under for 40 seconds or 39 seconds. So it's just gotten like more and more because people are trying to one-up each other, and like in the at the junior level, there's a cap. You can't go past 25. Come like do as hard as you want.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

So maybe they need to put a cap for you guys.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Yeah, because like our lungs don't keep growing. Like our lungs are the same. You don't just grow gills, yeah. Which is like magically, which has been one of my biggest, I guess, in anxieties surrounding artistic swimming, like the change of the system, because this only changed like four years ago-ish. Um, so I would go to practice and like I would like you come up and like you think that you're fine, and all of a sudden, like your visions really like pinpoint, and you're like, I could go down right now. This is where it's gonna end. And then you come back, and it's like, what if that what if I don't come back? And which has happened, like there have been times where people don't come back, they go, they're gone. Like, oh my god, I literally just got shells. So Danny girl, it's just nerve-wracking.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

That's so and then to have that thought every single day, like you have to deal with that every single day.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

And it's not like the routine changes, the time doesn't change, you're under for however long it is. Yeah, and a lot of the things that frustrate me about artistic swimming and like things that I think we really need to change, is like no one's studying it. And I think that it's one of the most hard sports that's out there, if not one of if not the hardest. And no one knows that because one I can attest. I tried, it was really hard. A female sport, so obviously there's not gonna be as much funding. It's a female sport, so no, obviously, there's not a lot of studies, and the studies that we do have have been done on men.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Yeah. Um so is there even a men's artistic swimming?

SPEAKER_00 12:49

There is really, yeah, they're allowed to compete with us now, but there aren't very many. Okay. So they're working their way. Okay, they're doing really good, but they're working their way.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Like, we don't care about the men right now.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

We're talking about women and how women need to be.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

I didn't say that. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. But no, I do, I I understand what you mean by that. Like, I didn't really ever think of it as not like I didn't realize there was no cap on how long you can be underwater. And it sucks because as a coach, I'm sure they want to obviously protect you guys and hold you to obviously a realistic standard for how long you can be underwater, but also you're having to compete with all these incredible other teams to even hold weight, you know, and and potentially get a medal at the Olympics. Like that's the main goal, right? So oh my god, I have anxiety just thinking about it. So you use the word anxieties to describe how you feel about your practices right now. Can we kind of unpack that a little bit? I know that you've expressed to me that you've struggled a little bit with is it performance anxiety or is it daily anxiety?

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Maybe anxiety isn't the right word. It's more of a fear. Um because at practice, so this whole new system has been developing, kind of been getting harder and harder, longer and longer underwater. And one day I was doing duet and we did our hybrid. I came up and everything went black, like completely black. Um, and I felt like I I tried to keep going really hard, and eventually I came back, but for a good 10 seconds I couldn't see anything. And I didn't think that it freaked me out that much. Um I'm so sorry if I get emotional because this was like it's like just my nervous system regulating, trying to get over it.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

But this is such a safe space. Like I already told you I'm probably gonna cry so you can.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

I know so.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

It is a safe space, and I'm also a sympathetic crier, so you'll never cry alone.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

Yeah, I I came up, everything was black, I couldn't see anything, and after that, I didn't think that that had freaked me out so much until I'd say like two weeks later, I did the same hybrid, and instead of staying under like I normally am, I can talk myself through it, you're fine, this pain is gonna pass, you will come up, you will get air again, um, the time will pass anyways, like all these different things I say to myself. All of a sudden I was up and I don't I didn't decide to come up. I don't remember coming up. All of a sudden I was just breathing, and I was like in the middle of the hybrid, or which is like the part where we do the stuff with our legs, right? Yeah, and I was like, that was weird. Why did I do that? Like, I've never done that. Like, that's not me. It's been 10 years. It's like, yeah, why did I do that? And then it happened the next time I did it, and the next time, and the next time. And it was okay for team for a while, and then one day I was just up and I was like, No, like I can't, I this cannot happen. And I would get through some run-throughs, some through some run-throughs. No, I tried to explain it to my mental co my mental health coach, my therapist, my coaches, and they were like, We get it, like you got scared, and you're like your body's reaction. When your nervous system and your body tells you to come up, like whether you decide to or not, you're coming up. Like, you're gonna do it. So we get to world championships, we do free team, everything's fine. We get to tech team, which is like our harder with breath. It's like probably the hardest with breath routine. We did warm-up, and our music wasn't on underwater when we did our warm-up. So they made us restart and go back to the beginning and then go again, but it was instantly. So my heart rate was already up, and it freaked me out so bad that I came up at at warm-up at Worlds. And then I hadn't proved to myself that I could do it before we did the full thing before we went out. So full panic attack in the warm-up pool. Like, I couldn't do it. I was like, someone else is gonna have to swim because I I can't. You don't trust yourself. I don't trust myself anymore. So I spent probably the last year trying to get over that and trying to like rebuild trust with myself. I'm so sorry. No, you want me to apologize. So coming into this year, I think like my coaches have been really helpful, like just trying to make sure that like you're okay, everything's fine, like your nervous system is telling you that something happened. Like there was a time where you weren't okay, and we're gonna make sure that doesn't happen again. And I just have to keep proving myself again, again, and again, like you're you're gonna be fine, you can do it, and like like your fear or anxieties aren't real, like you can do this, and you've done it many times before.

SPEAKER_02 17:17

So but it's so scary not being able to trust your body, yeah, and like not know what's going on. I mean, I can completely relate to that. I mean, there's so many times where I used to have like mental blocks and literally stop mid-trick, yeah. And it's like, what the fuck? I mean I'm in the middle of the air and like my body just stops. Yeah, you're gonna land on your head and you're like, yeah, well, and it's just so frustrating when you just you don't feel like you have a grasp on it, you know? And and I feel for you, girl. I literally got emotional when you got emotional. And you're such a beautiful crier, so you don't even need to say sorry. You look so cute. Freaking Disney princess over here. I'm like, holy shit. Ugh, I can't even you're so brave. I mean, I think just you right now, even being vulnerable, is gonna impact so many people, and like that's also why I get emotional is because it's like people need to hear it. Yeah, like it needs to be talked about. Because like I think the reason I'm doing this, oh my god, I guess I'm on my period. Um like the reason I felt so strongly about doing this podcast was because I know that younger me wishes I heard these types of conversations because I felt so alone. Yeah. And like you don't really understand vulnerability until you're older and how powerful it is and how important it is to like talk about things that you struggle with. And I just recently figured out how to do that, like as a freaking 27-year-old, and it's like these kids aren't gonna think, you know, like, oh, maybe I should tell my teammate that I struggle with this really big thing, you know. Instead, it's like you kind of just bottle it up, and I just I hate the idea that like these athletes who are our age or younger that are kind of dealing with this stuff in private. It's just it shouldn't be a thing anymore. Like, I want to use my voice, and I'm so glad that you're being brave enough to use yours because like it's so important that these athletes hear this. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

I mean, thank you. And this is an amazing podcast. I mean, like, I'm already crying, like, of course, it can't get any better than this.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

No, literally, me too. I already I already called it before we even started. Gosh darn it. All right, so I say we get into we get into the toxic stuff. Oh, yeah. Um, as young women, we are constantly told to look for the red flags, to avoid toxic men. But sometimes our biggest red flags are the ones that show up in our sport. What are some of your sport's red flags?

SPEAKER_00 19:59

My sport's red flags. It's probably one of the some pro very similar to yours.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Um I know our sport is very similar.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Yes. I think one of the main red flags that I see all the time is when your coach is constantly like pointing things out about your weight. Like, I can see your lunch today, you those legs are never gonna get anywhere. Like, really just like demeaning things that you don't there's no way for you to respond to it besides either you get defensive, you avoid, so you're more likely to quit, or you react. And I think the reaction part is probably the worst thing that you can do because it leads to many eating disorders, um, insecurities, um, just so many things that I think women already struggle with that many times it's the women in your life that are your coaches, or the women in your life that are like your your nutritionist, or like people that are supposed to be on your safe side that end up being the ones that make you feel the worst, you know? So I think that's something that's really toxic in my in my sport, and it's getting better. I won't say that it's not because it is getting much better. We're allowed to be strong instead of just thin.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

Um, it's definitely more normalized to have muscle in this day and age on social media. I feel like I've I have noticed like a massive weight off my shoulders as a more strong girl, like not having to compare myself constantly to like stick thin people. And I know that obviously the the solution is like, oh, just don't compare yourself, you know, be confident in who you are and everything. But like, how can you not? You're literally scrolling on social media every day and you're seeing people that don't even look like themselves, you know, it's all fake, it's all a highlight reel, and we know this, but still it doesn't change the fact that it's gonna condition our minds to expect something that's completely unrealistic. Yeah. But I'm so glad that you said that because, like, fucking so relatable.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

Are you kidding? Like, I think every athlete can probably, especially, well. I think every female athlete can think of one time in their life that someone's commented on their body. And I think that is disgusting. I block people that make comments about my body to this very day. I wish I could do it back then. I wish I could do it in real life. I wish if someone made a comment about my body, I could just be like, you're blocked, babe. But like it's so unnecessary. And I think people like Alona Mar and all of these amazingly strong, and one of my best friends, Molly Carlson, who does who does a lot of body positivity type content. It's so cool to see, like, these are some of the most world-class athletes, and they're comfortable in their skin and they're using their bodies to do amazing things. And honestly, the way we look is the least interesting thing about us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

And that's a great thing.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

And that's so rad. That's you know, like, and I think that's even when I get sucked into that like really toxic mindset, I just try to remind myself of that. It's like that is literally the least interesting thing about me. Even when I have like a bad skin day or a bad body day, it's like okay, I'm bloated, so I can still do some crazy cool stuff, and like I can still run five miles, I can still do all these incredible things. And I think when we forget that is when it really hits different.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

I love that. I love that you say those things to yourself. It took a lot of years.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

It took a lot of a lot of stressful years. But yeah, I'm glad that we've I feel like I've kind of finally come to that place. How are you? Because I know that you're a little bit younger, you're still in the thick of it, obviously, with the Olympics coming around and still holding yourself to such a high standard. Do you struggle with body image?

SPEAKER_00 23:53

Yeah, I mean, just like everybody else. And I think when I first joined national teams, so I say that I was coached by my mom until I was 15, right? Right when I stopped being coached with by her, it's because I moved cross-country because I'm from Florida. I moved to California and I've been living here ever since. I'm um not exactly the ideal build for an artistic swimmer, which is usually pretty lanky, kind of more on the thin side, very, very lean stuff. And being Hispanic, that's not usually how we're built. I'm more built on the bottom side. So great for me, not great for artistic swimming, right? And so my first few years on national team, it was like, okay, you're gonna, how are you feeling about going running before practice starts? Sending us the running schedule, and we'll wait, we'll weigh you before and after practice. And it was like, what? Why? Like, why do we need to do that? Like, it was just you, yeah. And when you're 15, you're going right through puberty, you're trying to figure out who you are. Oh my god. You're trying to sleep as much as you can because you're like in a growth spurt. That's why I say I'm short because I miss my growth spurt. I was too busy training. Period. Skip right over it. Yeah, skipped right over it. So I think that type of culture that like kind of breeds you to be like, you're never going to be thin enough, and it's always gonna be you against the girl that's eating not so great, but looking way better than you. Um, I think that was probably the beginning of like my body image issues and like really just feeling like inadequate as an athlete. And I don't think that those two things have anything to do with each each other at all.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

Yeah, they're very mutually exclusive exclusive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Yeah, you can be an amazing athlete and have the amazing athlete's body. Like you are the amazing athlete, whether or not you think that you're the ideal body shape or not. Like if you're doing amazing in your sport, you are the ideal body shape.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Oh, I love that. Clip that period. That was so good. I mean, that's I was just thinking about that as well because it's like every single sport is gonna utilize different muscle groups, right? So, yes, obviously, if you're like, I don't know, the 1% that looks insane doesn't matter what sport you do. Yeah, like fine, whatever, good for you. That's not everybody. That's not realistic. I mean, swimmers, I know swimmers are so insecure about like their their big lats and like their strong upper body. And it's like, well, babe, if you didn't have that, you wouldn't be able to swim as fast. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

You already are the ideal body shape for your sport. Exactly. That includes optimizing your eating because I'm not saying that, like, okay, you can eat whatever you want. If you're exercising, you're gonna do great at your sport. That's not true. Like, everybody knows eating and your fuel, how you fool your body is how the gas is gonna run. It's gonna make you better.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

You gotta put premium gas in your ticket.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

If you put premium gas, you will be the ideal body shape for your sport. And we have nutritionists to do that for you now. We have science behind it, including women being studied. I know, hard to believe, but women are being studied for these types of things.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Bound in time.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Optimize your eating, optimize everything that you can, and you will be you will be the ideal body shape. But I think if you stress about it, stress makes cortisol, right? Yeah. So cortisol makes more fat. Like it act, like you will, the more stressed about losing weight you are, the less weight you're gonna lose. If that's your goal. Or if you're trying to gain muscle, like the same thing happens in your body when you're trying to gain muscle and you're so stressed about it, like you're never gonna get it. Relax. Chill, baby, chill. Everything will come in its time, proper time, God's timing.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

And also, who gives flying fuck what you look like if you can become an Olympian? Like, hello? Like, come on. You're doing such cool stuff that it's like, again, your body's the least interesting thing about you.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

And I have so many girls that like in my messages every single day, you know, how do I lose weight? How do I look a certain way? I see, you know, my teammates looking this way and they're really good at gymnastics. Does that mean that I need to look that way? And every single person's body is unique to them. Everyone's a snowflake. And if you recognize that and embrace that, you're gonna one, compare yourself a lot less, but also you're gonna struggle a lot less with that weird, unrealistic expectation that you've set for yourself. That like, I remember comparing myself to girls who had the longest legs. Babe, you got legs like a corgi. We know this. You're not gonna look like her. Let's be real. But you're you, but I'm me. And I love my Corgi legs now, even though they don't touch the ground when I'm sitting in this chair. I love them because they allow me to do really cool stuff. And like, I remember I was thinking about even like I've been insecure about my arms for as long as I can remember because I've always had muscular arms because my arms are short, so there's nowhere for it to go, right? It doesn't lean out the same way like a tall girl arms would be. And I always wanted those like really stick, thin Pilates arms. And I'm just like, if you had those, babe, you would not be able to do 10 pull-ups. Exactly. You wouldn't be able to hold your body weight in a handstand. Like, get fucking real. It's not realistic. So I think, yeah, like just remembering that and hearing you say, like a literal Olympian who's already done it, you've already been to the pinnacle, the peak of your sport. You saying that holds weight in the best way. So you should be really proud of yourself for already figuring that out. And say it shouldn't happen overnight.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

It took me until like I was like 22, maybe, to be like, wait, I don't have to constantly be trying to lose weight. Like, that isn't like a constant state of being of being like, okay, how many calories are am I eating? What are my macros? Like, yeah, how much do I weigh today? Oh my god, did I get enough fluids? Are these fluids gonna affect if I weigh in? Do I weigh in now or do I weigh in in the morning? Do I wait until after I have to take a shit or not? Like, it's like, why am I so anxious? Like, go to practice.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Like, yeah, and I bet your cortisol was like through the roof and just combating all of that work that you were doing anyway. So it's just like, what's the point? Yeah, what's the point? Actually, miserable? And you're like, why do I resent going to practice? Why do I resent it?

SPEAKER_01 29:54

If you're not my sport, what's the point?

SPEAKER_02 29:56

Literally, what's the point? What's the point? Leave. There's a reason why in sport they call it playing. Yeah, just play. Yeah, field of play. It is not that fucking deep. It is not, it is really not. So, but when you said that they had you running before practice, can we break this down? How far did you have to run?

SPEAKER_00 30:16

How long did you have to run? And then how long was your practice? I don't remember. I know that my practice was definitely eight hours that day because it's it hasn't changed in a long time. Holy shit. I at the time I wasn't doing team. I had just joined, so I was I was swimming a solo.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

At the time. So it was just me competing against three other girls that were trying to make the junior team that next summer. But they invited us to come and train full-time so that we could get a head start, try and make it for Tokyo, like all these different things.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

So I don't remember how much they made me run. I remember my team captain right now. Her name is Anita Alvarez. She's three-time Olympian, going for her fourth. Wow. And she noticed me working really hard and she came running with me. She would come at 5:30 in the morning, run with me until 6:30. We'd have practice at 7.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

Oh my god, that's a freaking team leader right there. Yeah. So that is like the epitome of like that is incredible.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

What did what's that saying? It's like like a wolf pack is only as strong as their weakest wolf or something like that. Yeah. And it's like, you gotta lead from behind. And like you're not a good leader unless you're leading from behind. And I remember learning that in college at UCLA. And I anytime I spotted a freshman struggling, like I always had that back of mind. And I just would go help them and give them tips on like how to stick better. You know, even if they were just like beating themselves up and I could see it, like they were just getting so in their head. I just, you know, pull them aside and hype them up for a second because you're only as strong as your weakest link. And also at the end of the day, like it's just a sport. Like at the end of the day, we're all human beings, and we're we're gonna move on to do normal things in our life at some point. And it's like I hope that you leave this sport feeling better about yourself than when you entered it. And I hate that that's not the case. And I think that's why these conversations need to be heard because I want people to be able to leave their sport being a better human. Yeah. And getting so much out of it in a positive way and not leaving with all this trauma and baggage, you know.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

Like, look at all that you were capable of. Like, let's get after the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

Yes. And like, look at all these amazing resources we got and all these incredible tools that we learned, and now we can take that with us to attack the next thing that we want to do, whether that's being an entrepreneur or a doctor or whatever it is. Oh, I love that. You're so wise, by the way. And like so smart. I'm just you inspire me. Discoverance. Just got that UCLA degree, baby. No big deal. All right. I want to know what is the most outrageous thing someone has said to you? Because we talked about hearing a coach or anyone. Fucking let it rip. I don't know. Hmm. Okay. Whatever one really like hits hits you. Like you you still think about it maybe to this day.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

I think the one that kind of stuck with me the worst was that I had a coach tell me that I swam like a wet teddy bear because I was big and slow. Oh my god. And I was, I like went underwater because I was laughing because I was like, this is so ridiculous. I can't even take this insult seriously. Because that's what it was. It's not a correction. You're not making me better. But this is so funny that I am not that hurt. But as I like kept going with practice, I was like, ouch. What?

unknown 33:40

What the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 33:42

Why would you say that? Yeah. I was like 14, 15, maybe, and I was like literally the most impressionable age. And like, I was like, even I'm even I'm not gonna say some shit like that. Even I'm not gonna say something like that to an athlete if I was a coach. Yeah. And I know that now, and you don't. Yeah, it's just like, why? Why? This doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_02 34:03

Adults projecting is absolutely like the worst thing ever.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

Well, I think that sometimes if you're a coach and something makes you angry, I think they might be missing their why. Because like we talk, I don't know. I don't I don't know if you talk about this, but like I think having a why as a coach is really important, like knowing why you coach, why you do these things and why you give them a correction and why they need to know these things. Like as a kid, like you spend so much time with your coaches, like you spend almost more time with your coaches than you do with your parents. Like you wake up, you go to school, you go to practice. Yeah, that's the athlete. That's the one person that you have to respect the most throughout the day is your teachers, and that's one of your teachers, and if not the most, the more important teacher in your head, right? That's your coach, like you're spending eight hours with.

SPEAKER_02 34:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

I don't even spend eight hours with my parents. I know. So if your coach doesn't have a why, like they don't know why they're doing this or why, like or they're doing it for the wrong reasons, yeah for a medal or for accolades. Yeah, especially at that age when you're like 13, 14, like maybe you're going for an Olympics, but if that's the case, like you should be happy doing it. Like, no medal is ever gonna win you your self-confidence, and it's never gonna win you anything other than a piece of metal. Like that piece of metal should remind you of all the things you did to get there and what you've become as a person. Like, not wow, look at how great I am. It's wow, look at how great this journey was. Like, look at how great these things that I did leading up to this were.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

It's a reflection of all those things and all those hours you put in and your dedication to your craft. Yeah. But yeah, the people that have the bad um intentions, it's just it shows very quickly.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

And sometimes they don't even know it. They're just like, this is a job that I picked up that you're I just keep going with. Like you're literally impacting the youth of America.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

Yeah, like you are the people and figure out how to code problems. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

You are the people that are gonna be shaping what they are like for the rest of their life. Like, that's if you let them slack off, they will now be slackers. If you let them, if you really discipline them like very harshly, they're now afraid of ever getting any type of reprimanding, you know.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

Like or you only reward them for when they succeed, yeah. Or you only give them like positive, you know, feedback when they do something like that.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

You don't really want them positive feedback, and all of a sudden they're like, Well, I thought that that was expected. I didn't know that that was a good thing to do. Yeah, then they're so emotionless, you know, like all these things, like really rewarding like effort. Like, that's the stuff that you should be rewarding. Like, it's literally psychological warfare.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Yeah, it's crazy. The I genuinely think it needs to be harder for people to get coaching jobs. I know that they get paid like shit, but like I think that people need to be like psychologically vetted before coaching young athletes because of how much weight comes with that responsibility.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

I've been a coach, I know what that responsibility is.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

And it's hard. It's so hard. It's not an easy job.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

It's not easy to show up because, like, you know, there's days where you want to show up and not give 100%, but there's now kids that rely on you and they they show up for you, you gotta show up for them, and vice versa. And it's like if in your head, like what helps you sleep at night is knowing that your kid's gonna win a medal. Fuck that. Yeah, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that I said that to a child. Yeah. Oh, you're slow and wet, and that's why you look like a wet teddy. Like, no, like, what are you talking about? Like, that's insane. And I I I can recall multiple things that have been said to me in the past that I'm just like, I still think about, and it's thankfully doesn't affect me anymore. It doesn't have the same weight that it did back then. But it did then, but it did, and it made practices harder, it made my self-confidence dip. It's just it sucks. And I do think that coaches need to be better. Yeah, and for the coaches that are really amazing, it's sad, but it's like they're rare. Yeah, and they you keep them really close to your heart. Like, I was devastated when my like favorite coach passed away this past year, and I just remember like reflecting on all of that time I had spent with him. I had spent more time with him than my own dad. And I remember like kind of gaslighting myself and being like, why are you so upset? And it's like he was basically like your second dad. Yeah, like that's a hard loss, you know? So I think when you have that really positive side of it, it's it's yeah, you you understand like success is a lot easier when you're all working together in a positive way and not knocking each other down, you know? Um okay, I kind of want to pivot. Okay. Because we're we're so emotional. I can't. I love that. We're seven. Um if we were to drop the labels, because Miss Mam's got a lot of labels. She's an Olympian, she's a college student, she's an icon. Who are you beyond your sport?

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Um, I am amazing. And I don't want to be ashamed to say that. Like, I think that I am a really good advocate for people that want to get beyond their anxieties and want to calm their lives. And I think I'm someone who wants to hear you out and wants to help you. And sometimes that means that I'm a little bit of tough love. Like, I'll tell you how it is, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. And a lot of times I'll forget that it needs a little bit of sugar, you know, it's a little bit too bitter. But I think that's a good thing, and I really enjoy that about myself that I'm I'm I'm really blunt and I I want to tell you how it is, even if it hurts your feelings, because I want you to be a better person and I want everybody around me to be a better person.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

Oh my god, my girl. No, like that's literally into a T. I think, okay. Do you know what the Enneagram is? Enneogram? Enneagram. I'm gonna make you take the test. I make all my friends take the test. I'm an Enneagram nerd. I absolutely love it. It's kind of like some people's, you know, star sign or whatever, but like for me, it's it's a person personality assessment. Okay. And it essentially there's nine types, and then you can have all nine types in you, but some are stronger than others. I think you're a type eight. If you're listening and you know what Enneagram is, you're already listening along, you're like, yep, period, she's an eight. Like for real. Because you have that like incredible leadership and like that strong confidence within you. And I it took time for me to develop it as well. But like when I did, I was like, I took the test and I read the whole report, and it just gives you so much confidence in yourself and your abilities, and being like, oh my gosh, like that's why I'm like that. Or like they even tell you, like, it's really cool, they tell you like the stuff that maybe like are not so good about your personality. Like we can be really blunt. We can sometimes like rub people the wrong way. Oh, for sure. Or like people may assume that we're coming from a bad place if we like, you know, word it a certain way. So, like, one, we had to take it in at UCLA because we it was important for us to all know each other's types so that when we approached each other, we knew how to talk. So, like, there were some people I knew on the team who were a little bit more sensitive that I had to sugarcoat more with. But then on the flip side, I knew that there were certain people on my team that I could be like, babe, we gotta get together. Like, come on, let's work on that, you know? And so it's really cool and powerful. And I think you maybe should like, maybe you should have your whole team do it. And that'd be so fun. It'd be really, it's really fun. And then you can also like you, you learn about who you're most compatible with on the team and like what numbers you vibe with more, and like it just it makes it just makes so much more sense. And I remember when I first read my report, I got emotional about it because I was like, oh my god, that's why I am the way I am. And it just makes you like, it's kind of like putting up a mirror and just seeing yourself truly for who you are, and it's just it's very cool, anyways. I didn't mean to go on a whole rant. No, it's fine.

SPEAKER_00 41:33

I really I really want to know what this Enneogram is. It's very cool.

SPEAKER_02 41:36

You need to get into it, but um, okay, so now that we've learned about the fact that you're amazing, and I could not agree more. I think that that is so important for every athlete to know that who they are outside of their sport because I didn't know who the fuck I was outside of my sport. And so when COVID ended my career, it was one of the most devastating things of my entire life. I remember my ex-boyfriend picked me up in his pickup truck and drove me around for three hours and I cried that entire time. Because he knew he just like put sad girl music on. And he's like, I just know. And thankfully, he like knew not to talk, he didn't need to say anything, he just drove me around and I just sobbed for literally three hours.

SPEAKER_00 42:17

And that's good. I mean, so negative. That's something that I feel like a lot of people don't prepare themselves for is leaving their sport and leaving part of their identity, you know, like that's who they are, that's who you were, but that's not all that you are, and like I didn't adjust, I didn't know that at the time.

SPEAKER_02 42:31

I didn't know to develop that side of my personality because it was like I was just all in on my season. I was like, it I'm going into my senior year, it needs to be all gymnastics all the time. So I genuinely pretty much threw everything else out the window. I maintained my school to be a good student and obviously graduate, but like I didn't think about life after sport as much as I probably should have, you know? And like, hey, it's fine, you're here now. That's why I'm still doing it, I guess.

unknown 42:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:59

But I want to fast forward five years. You just finished your second Olympics. We're gonna, we're gonna manifest for a little bit, visualize. So you've just finished your second Olympics. We're in LA. Everyone's screaming your name. Right. Your name is in lights. Maybe you're on some billboards.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

The tonight show. Maybe you're on the tonight show. Oh, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 43:22

Is that Jimmy Kimmel? Jimmy Kimmel. Get her on. Maybe you even won a gold medal with your team. Okay. What now? What now? What now? What's next? Well. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm like, Ses. No. Period. Um Do you think that'll be it? Do you think you'll be done after LA?

SPEAKER_00 43:44

I don't know. I feel like it's too much pressure, I think, for me to think beyond this year right now. I love that. Like, if I think beyond this year, trying to plan too much ahead, like I had kind of have everything set for right now, like this year's happening. Next year will happen, the next year will happen after that. Just be present. Yeah, and I enjoy it. I think I don't have very many years left of the sport, and I just want to cherish every single moment, and that includes these three years. So if I'm just like waiting for the Olympics to happen, I can't wait for them to happen. It's like you've missed everything. I missed it all. And I think that's what happened before Tokyo. I was really like, where did my teenage years go? Like all of a sudden I'm 20 years old and I'm like, what did I do? Like, who am I? Like that. I think that was when I realized. Like right when I got to college, I was like, so is there more besides this? Because it seems like I'm starting over on a journey that ended in a big heartbreak right now.

SPEAKER_02 44:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:41

And I still don't know what I'm doing here. I still don't know who I am. I don't have any friends besides my teammates. And now everybody has left. And not me. Yeah. So if I was finishing, if I was finished with the LA, I think I'd be really sad. Yeah. And just like, I'd I'd want to be able to go out and club with my friends. Yeah, period. Go out and like really celebrate all these 15 years now. Oh whoa. Like 15 years of being on the national team and like representing my country. Like, yeah. That'd be crazy. Like I I want to be able to give really small girls the chance to dream big because I'm not the ideal body type, but I was the ideal mentality and I made it happen.

SPEAKER_02 45:26

Oh my god. What a good quote. I mean, I'm gonna quote you from here on out. Like, I love that. And you have such a good approach to sport as well. I feel like that's why you're still doing it because you have such a good mindset. I think otherwise, if you were to be toxic and kind of feed into all the bullshit that, you know, maybe we used to feed into, yeah, you probably wouldn't still be doing it.

SPEAKER_00 45:53

Yeah, you'd be like, you're miserable. If I was focused on results, I would for sure have quit a long time ago. Wow. Like for sure. Like, there's no way I would be doing this if it was about results. Because I feel like after a while I was like, like, okay, why am I doing this? Like, found my why. Like, okay, I want to have fun. Why do I want to have fun? Because I want to do this with my friends. Okay, why do I want to do it with my friends? Because I want to learn something from it. And I want to come on the other side, like, oh my God, I'm an amazing person now. Like, and I'm not perfect. Like, my teammates can attest. I am not perfect. And I know y'all are gonna watch this. And I know I know you're gonna be like, oh yeah, Danny, she's amazing. But like, I wanna be able to share that, like, you can have self-confidence and not feel like, oh, like I have to be humble all the time.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

Like you're playing small is so overrated.

SPEAKER_00 46:38

I know you're allowed to be to sit at the head of the table and be like, I belong here. I love that. Like, I I choose to be here because I want to be here and I deserve to be here. And if someone shuts you down, okay. Like, it's not my time right now, but your time will come. And you just have to keep trudging along.

SPEAKER_02 46:54

I love that. Oh my gosh. You're incredible. We're we've literally covered like all of my questions. Yay! I need to keep looking. Wait, okay.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

Wait, I have a question for you. What do you think is the main thing that you want to see young girls come out of their sport with? Like the main thing that you want them to feel when they come out of their sport. Like, oh, I really got better at this, or I really, I really persevered through this. Like, what do you think that you want from that?

SPEAKER_02 47:19

I love that question, first of all. I think something that I would love to impact young athletes to feel is proud of every single try. Doesn't matter what it is, try. Because there's so many times in my life where I was so scared to try because I just predicted the outcome. And what that created was this mentality of I probably can't do it. Because it's kind of what you're telling yourself is well, I don't want to try in case I fail. It's like so then you're confirming that you think that you're gonna fail. And I had zero self-confidence. And so I think something I really try to implement now when I, whenever I coach or mentor or work with young girls, is like cutting out the self-deprecation, cutting out the self-criticism, and just learning how to enjoy trying and trying new things. And I think that's the main reason why I get so fired up to try new sports and try new hobbies and try, you know, work new workouts, whatever it is, because one, I get to capture it for my audience and show them, like, hey, it's not so scary. It's actually really important to develop your confidence and to to develop just yourself as a whole to just get out of your comfort zone and grow. You're never gonna grow if you don't try.

SPEAKER_00 48:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:48

And I wish I learned that sooner.

SPEAKER_00 48:50

Had have you heard of the or like I don't remember where I saw this. I'm definitely not gonna be able to quote something at you because I'm not like that. Oh, you're so good. I'm not like that either. But there's a Theodore Roosevelt quote that's like the real credit belongs to the man in the arena, not the person that's talking about it. Oh, so the more that you try, like the person that has been through all of it, they're the one with the credit. Like you deserve the credit because you've tried to do it and you come out the victor.

SPEAKER_02 49:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:14

It doesn't matter how many times you lost because you still won.

SPEAKER_02 49:16

Yeah, no, 100%. And I know this is kind of wild to say, but it's like I literally would not be sitting here with you if I didn't push myself out of my comfort zone time and time again for an entire year. Because doing this was like the scariest thing ever. And it's so out of my comfort zone. And like every single day has been such a journey for me mentally and emotionally, because it's it, I don't know, it just like requires so much self-confidence to just be like an entrepreneur and just fucking send it and try something that like is so different than like your normal day-to-day stuff. Like I could easily stay in my comfort zone, make good money doing my normal content and do that till the day I die. Would that be fine? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 50:02

You wouldn't be fulfilled.

SPEAKER_02 50:03

I wouldn't be fulfilled. And I also think that I was put on this earth to use my voice and I haven't used my voice yet. And I'm like, I'm fucking over it. I'm done shutting up. I want to use my voice and I want to make a difference.

SPEAKER_00 50:13

Let's get you that mic, girl. It's time. It's time to use your voice.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

Yeah, so I think that's probably the I hopefully I answered your question.

SPEAKER_00 50:23

You definitely did.

SPEAKER_02 50:24

Try new things and use your voice. So we're gonna answer some questions together. Are you ready? Yeah, I'm ready. All right. Have you encountered any unpleasant experiences where artistic athletes get sexualized?

SPEAKER_00 50:40

Yes. I actually made a big post, or it was, I guess it wasn't a post, it was an Instagram rant because NBC posted a like compilation of everything. It was like a slow-mo of all of the Olympic routines, but it was um artistic swimming provocative. And I was like, what? Provocative. That's not a word you should use. Why are you using the word provocative? How are we provocative? Yeah. What? Yeah. And I was trying to see this. That's crazy. What the hell? Like, why? Like we're not being provocative at all. None of these routines have anything to do with anything sexual. We're just women. In swimsuits. Yeah, we're just women in swimsuits. See us. That's free work. Maybe it's easier in gymnastics because you guys are dry all the time, but like there's no like glue that we can put to like make sure like the suit doesn't ride up our butt or like like things move around all the time. People's swimsuits get unclassed sometimes sometimes, and you just have to keep going. Oh my gosh. Like you need to keep going.

SPEAKER_02 51:38

If there's a nip slip, you just keep going. You just keep going. Power through the nip slip. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:42

And that's happened before. That's crazy. Like you accidentally like brush somebody the wrong way and then. Wow. It's gone. Oh shit. And it's live. There's nothing you can do. Oh shit. But that hasn't happened, and it didn't happen at this in this video. And it's just us performing. Yeah. So for them to call us provocative, I was like, NPC?

SPEAKER_02 52:05

I wonder why they used that word.

SPEAKER_00 52:07

I literally know.

SPEAKER_02 52:09

Do you have to maybe put it as a disclosure so that they didn't like get it taken down? Like that's bizarre to me. I have literally no idea. It was the weirdest thing. And I can totally relate to that because like I felt like I worked so hard to eliminate the sexualization of my sport. Like I feel like I've tried to really shift the energy around gymnastics and make it more fun and like hard. Like, literally, like, this is fucking hard. This sport is a sport. So, like, stop commenting about my body and start like pay attention to what acknowledging what's happening. And like, there have been so many times, like in videos, even like now, obviously, living online and putting my life out there every day. It's like, I do get comments where it's just like, I will be doing the most insane gymnastic skill. People are like, damn, her ass is fat. It's like, can we not? I know that's all you got from that. Like, are we kidding?

SPEAKER_00 53:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:10

It's just shit like that that I'm like, you need to go to a therapist and like maybe get, I don't know, get help. Yeah. Go get help. Like, we're still sexualizing women in 2026. Like, we need to touch.

SPEAKER_00 53:23

Like, there's a place for this, and it's not on my page. Nope. And it's not on the YouTube channel of NBC Sports.

SPEAKER_02 53:28

And I'm not asking for it either. If I were like posting, asking for it, like if I was being sexual, like sure. Then fine. Comment all you want. But also go away. Respectfully.

unknown 53:41

Fuck off.

SPEAKER_02 53:42

Yeah. Our favorite non-athletic hobby. Mmm. All my shit is athletic. Let's start it. Well, I was gonna say like peach volleyball. I'm like, wait, that's athletic. Um, okay, I have one. Okay, go ahead. I really enjoy like arts and crafts and painting. I'm not the best at painting, and I'm really OCD at arts and crafts, but I really enjoy it. And I want to start scrapbooking this year. And like, like I told you, how I want to have all my accomplishments like in one place. I'm gonna make an accomplishment scrapbook.

SPEAKER_01 54:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:17

So I'm gonna like print out all like really cool moments, like when I walked my first red carpet. I'm gonna have like a page for that and stuff like that. Nice. Yeah, just so like when I get older and like maybe I'm a grandma, I can be like, look at all the cool stuff your grandma did. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 54:32

Well, yeah. You'd be a bangin' grandma. You'd be a hot grandma.

SPEAKER_02 54:41

Oh well, Lorraine looks amazing, my mom. So oh, perfect. Can't wait.

SPEAKER_00 54:45

I want to meet Lorraine. Oh, she's such a give, she's gonna give us the skincare routine.

SPEAKER_02 54:49

Oh, period. No, literally. Everyone was commenting on her my story with her recently, and they were like, is she aging in reverse? Like, what's going on?

SPEAKER_00 54:55

Literally.

SPEAKER_02 54:56

I'm like, she's just an icon, and she's gotten zero work done. She's like literally my inspo. So yeah, that's inspo. Both my parents just so healthy, and so I feel like that's I live that lifestyle because I've watched that live it. Yeah. And I want to be that type of parent for my kids too. What about you? What's your non-athletic hobby? Well, I am an art major.

SPEAKER_00 55:19

Oh, truly. I also do painting. Okay. I I do paintings, painting sculptures. Um, I really, really love journaling. I've been journaling for a long time. Cool. So you're into writing? Yeah. I really, really love writing. I'm writing a book right now. What?

SPEAKER_02 55:38

Oh my god. Yeah. Oh, I'm gonna be the first one to buy it. Okay, good. I know a lot of really good publishers. Oh, that's good. Also, our producer is also an author. So you can talk to him after. Yay, networking. All right, what is a common misconception about you? About me? Well, about both of us. I'm gonna answer too. I gotta think on it too. Kind of a lot. Ooh, I think a big misconception about me, and I guess I kind of I guess this is kind of my fault. Um, I a lot of people think that I am extremely, extremely confident in myself at all times. Um because I think I portray that, and obviously everything that I'm doing, I am confident in to some degree. But like, I don't show the like mornings before I go do those things, or the moments where I change my outfit ten times. Like, literally, my producer saw me change like my outfit different times. I I literally close the door, walk back out in a different outfit, and he's like, different outfit, okay. I'm like, just to film this episode. Yeah, you know, it's just like I don't share that enough. I would I really hope that with this podcast and this new outlet, I'm I learn to be braver with my vulnerability. And so yeah, I think that's a big misconception about me. I always have it together, and I'm definitely not, I do not always have it together. And I'm also very type A. So like I look like I have it together because I have gone over every single thing to avoid slipping.

SPEAKER_00 57:25

I feel like that's very similar to me. Like, I feel like people always think that I have it together. I'm like, girl, do you know what it took to get here? Like I cried 30 minutes ago. I know, seriously, like this is not not as simple as stuff. So I definitely like I relate to that a lot. But when I think of like a misconception, I feel like people think that I'm very aggressive because of the whatever we were talking about, number eight. Being type eight. Yeah, we are aggressive.

SPEAKER_02 57:53

I think that I'm just we're passionate.

SPEAKER_00 57:55

Yeah, like when I really want you to know something, like I need you to know it right then. Like, yeah, you need to know this right now. I think this is very important. This is gonna happen right now.

SPEAKER_02 58:03

See, but for me, I love people like that. I'm like, give it to me straight. Tell me right now, don't sugarcoat it. I don't want cut the bullshit. Yeah, tell me exactly what you mean, tell me how you feel. Yeah. And I've had people literally beat around the bush with me, and I'm like, girl, just tell me what is it? Yeah, I shouldn't have to like, it's not like pulling teeth to get it out of you. Like, just freaking tell me. I can take it.

SPEAKER_00 58:22

I just I do think that it rubs people the wrong way a lot of the time, which is like very frustrating because I feel like I'm being kind and I feel like I want them to know that like this is because I love you. Like I literally I'm obsessed with you. Like, I want you to be amazing.

SPEAKER_02 58:36

The best version of you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:38

But a lot of the time, like maybe sometimes it's just like not either not the right moment or I'm I'm coming from a bad place, like I don't know everything about what I'm saying, so I'm saying something wrong in the right moment, in like the wrong moment, you know?

SPEAKER_02 58:48

Like, um, I think it's tough too when if you are extremely successful in your sport, which you are, and you've been around for as long as you have. I think maybe if they're younger, they're newer, they're just more insecure. Like outside looking in, like you look like you have it all together. So then maybe just they're like, what does she know? She always has it together, you know. Like she doesn't know what it feels like to experience the things that I'm experiencing outside of practice. So maybe, like, I guess my advice to you would be like, maybe just be more vulnerable with them, best like outside of the pool and outside of practice, so that they know that you're coming from a good place because that's something that I learned, and like obviously we're extremely similar. So I'm just literally telling you what worked for me, yeah, and building better like relationships with my teammates because yeah, they would always be like, I'm sure they probably talk behind my back, like, Grace, you're such a bitch. But like at the end of the day, like it all came from love, it all came out of my heart, and I think just continuing to express that and also good taking the time outside of that practice to like grab a cup of coffee with them, yeah, and just be like, Hey, how are you doing? Human to human, cut the you know, pull stuff out of it, no more sports, like let's just be real with each other. I want you to know that I was coming from a good place, that my intentions were pure, and I hope that you know that. And like, I think that alone speaks volumes to like your character and who you are, and obviously your intentions behind it, you know. So, like, I don't know, that was just something that really helped me like moving forward as a leader because I wanted to help people and I wanted to lead, and I realized that I was good at it, and that's why I got into coaching and I got into mentoring and like but understanding how to do it, yeah. Especially when we do have pretty strong personalities, it's sometimes hard for people, but I think it's important that like once you channel it, it's you're unstoppable. Yeah, it's so cool. Um, okay. If you didn't do your sport, what sport would you do? Diving. Oh, I was gonna say diving. But then I also thought about how I would have to be in chlorine, and I'm like, nah, I don't know. I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:55

She was complaining so much we had to get in the pool. She was like, How do you do this every day? You're gonna be like wet and like wet hair. I like it. It's the worst.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:04

Ugh. And then your skin is all scratchy and itchy afterwards, and your hair gets wet.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:08

Yeah, imagine doing it for seven hours, eight hours a day, and the hair touches my back. And like sometimes you're looking at the coaches for so long, your hair, your face dries, so then you're itchy, and then you have to put it back in the water, so it's like even more stimulating start getting hives.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:19

It's like I get more stimulated, absolutely not. Yeah, and then you can't like well, you guys still look really cute when you do when you perform, like you wear makeup underwater, which is crazy. I need you to drop the makeup routine right away. L'Oreal, babe. Oh, crazy. Love Floreal. Um, but yeah, I I would say I was thinking about it. Obviously, you guys know I'm on my beach volleyball journey right now, so it would be really fun. Everyone makes fun of me though, because I'm very short. So they're like, you beach volleyball. I'm like, guys, I'm close to the ground. I can get the balls. Yes. Don't underestimate me. Yeah, Libero. Libero. Yeah. Yeah. Don't underestimate me. I'll blow you out of the water. Anyways, I honestly feel really good. Yay! I don't have anything else for you.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:02

Yeah, this has been amazing. Any tag that I can use? Um, I feel like everything that we've talked about, one has come back to self-confidence, and two has come back to remembering like why you're doing something and what you can get out of it. Not just the result that you want out of it, but what you want from the process and what you want from the actual act of doing it every day. Yep. Um, and that's like your life, your like your sport, like all of the things that you want to do in a breakup. Like, what are what are you doing for yourself and why are you doing this? And like, do you know yourself well enough to know that this is the healthiest thing that you could do for yourself? Because that kindness that you have to keep going in your life with, like that goes into everything. Oh my god. Everything.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:48

Everything. So and the moment you hate yourself is when everything falls apart. Yeah. You gotta be your best friend, you gotta be your your biggest supporter, and that's how you are going for a second Olympics, is you're gonna be out on that stage, and yeah, you'll be with your teammates, but at the end of the day, like you'll be with yourself. Yeah. And I pray that you figure out this mental block. I know that it's tough.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

It's I'm working through it. Like it's it, I know that this fear is never gonna go away because it was there before and it's gonna be there after. Like, but I can't be brave if I'm not afraid, right? So it's time to be brave.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:20

I love it. I'm so proud of you, and I can't wait to see all the amazing things that you do. Be sure to follow her on everything and also subscribe to my YouTube channel so that you can see all the visuals. Um, because we look freaking gorgeous right now, okay?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:35

So if you want to see this-I didn't do my makeup for y'all not to see this.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:38

No, literally, period. Like come on over here and do my heatless curls for you to not watch us on YouTube. I'm so jealous of heatless curls. Look at this. Are you kidding? You're a vision. All right. Well, I love you guys so much. I'll see you next Wednesday. Bye.