![]() ![]() He had Jacoby sign the back of his t-shirt. Edgecumbe Aquatic Center who were going to stick with it with or without inspiration from an Olympian.ĭean Orbison is an Alaska Masters silver medalist in the 100 fly in the 60-year-old age group. There were also a few swimmers at the Mt. She said she was just glad to have made it to the Olympics. Jacoby shared some Olympic stories with the kids - the early-morning hours, the intense training and how to take into competition whatever attitude helped you in practice. And she’s been super encouraging through the whole Olympic process for me, so she’s been awesome.” She came to do a clinic with our team a few years ago, when I was 13, and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. “She was the world record holder in the 100 breaststroke before Lily King. “I was really inspired by Jessica Hardy,” she said. Jacoby said she’s needed someone to motivate her, too. You have to stick with it because it’s tough.” “It’s not the same as, you know, a season of basketball or a season of baseball or something else like that. “You know, when you’re trying to stay in and get better and better and better, you have to keep at it,” Knox said. Kevin Knox said it is something every swimmer struggles with because swimming is the most solitary of team sports. In her talk with the kids, Jacoby said that just as she was breaking into the record books in Alaska as a 12-year old, her friends began turning to other, more social sports. “So it’s neat to kind of gotten to this level and realize how cool it really is and know what amazing people keep doing it.” (Photo by Katherine Rose/KCAW) “I think that’s definitely something that happens in a lot of the sports like running, swimming, skiing, you know, people don’t think of them as ‘cool,’ she says. “And I thought, ‘I’m gonna keep going now.’” Olympian Lydia Jacoby is just a few years older than the kids in Sitka’s swim program, and she remembers the feeling when her friends left the pool to play more social team sports. ![]() “When she said a lot of her friends were dropping out, and she wanted to quit - I’ve felt that before,” he said. Nellis said Jacoby’s talk encouraged him to stick with swimming. James Nellis, 13, just managed to edge her out. Jacoby gives the same starting advantage to all the age groups, and the competition tightened up a bit with the teens. When the kids were nearly halfway down the pool, Jacoby dove in and broke the surface just in front of the pack, swam two or three strokes to touch the wall, then turned and waited for everyone to catch up. Nine swimmers shot from the blocks, but Jacoby remained standing on hers. So yeah, this totally made made her school year.”Īt the starting blocks, Knox and Jacoby organized the swimmers into heats, youngest to oldest, to take on the fastest female breaststroker in the world. “She’s been counting her sleeps,” she said. And even though the two girls are just a few years apart, Johnson said the visit felt like a hero moment for Addie. ![]() She said the family watched Jacoby’s gold medal swim over and over. In the bleachers, Edith Johnson watched while her daughter Addison swam laps with Jacoby. Then she warmed up in the water with the young swimmers, chatting as she moved from lane to lane.Įmily Routon and kids look at Lydia Jacoby’s gold medal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics - the first-ever won by an Alaskan swimmer. She gave a short talk to introduce herself to the kids and parents - and to let them pass around her gold and silver medals from the Tokyo Olympics. ![]() Jacoby is a 17-year old high school senior from Seward and the first Alaskan swimmer ever to qualify for the Olympics. On the starting block, she was every inch the larger-than-life Olympian who captured gold in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke last summer. On the pool deck, Jacoby towered over the 30-odd Baranof Barracudas swimmers schooling around her. 28.Īnd when that was done, they dived in to practice with - and race against - one of the fastest women in the water. Olympic gold medalist Lydia Jacoby shared stories of her rise to the top with some of Sitka’s youngest swimmers in a one-hour pool session on Friday, Jan. And, as she told the Sitka kids, “I’m only 17” - meaning, she’s got a few more Olympic Games ahead of her. She told the Barracudas that she wasn’t disheartened by the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics by a year (from 2020 to 2021), as the extra time was put to good use in more training. Jacoby is a senior at Seward High School who will attend the University of Texas next fall. ![]()
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