A narrow victory
Saturday night was the finals of the 800. I really like the 800 because it is still a long distance, but it is short enough to be fun and exciting.Going into the 800, I was calm and confident. The 1,500 had gone really well a couple days earlier. I had nearly gone a best time on my 800 split (on the way to the 1,500), so I thought that I was going to do really well. I didn’t feel any pressure. I was ready to just swim.
Leading up to the race, I felt like all eyes were on Laure Manaudou. In interviews I was doing, everyone asked me whether I thought she was going to break the 800 world record and how fast she would swim. And in the papers I read, it said that she was going to win. I felt like I had already lost — and the race hadn’t even begun. But, that did not discourage me. I figured there was no pressure and that I would just swim my own race.
The night of the 800, Mark Schubert came up to me and told me to remember that, “No one is unbeatable.” This mantra stuck with me going into the race.
I knew that Laure takes her races out fast, which I like to do as well. I figured that if I were close to her after the 400, I had a chance to win. This strategy worked well. After the first 50, I was already behind, but I expected this. I continued to try to stay within a body length of Laure and at the 400, I was only a couple of tenths behind. I was still in the race.
With a 50 to go, I flipped a half a second behind. Coming off the wall, I turned on my kick and felt myself catching her. Repeating to myself over and over again “No one is unbeatable,” I swam with every last ounce of energy I had. With 30 meters to go, I just knew I was going to win (even though I was still slightly behind). I touched the wall at 8:18.52 — she in 8:18.80. A best time by six seconds and world champion again!
This swim taught me to never doubt myself. Had I listened to everyone who said that Laure was unbeatable, I would have never come out with the swim I had.