Riley Gaines

So come from a family of athletes.

Started swimming when I was four, graduated when I was 22.

So, you know, 18 years of my life, I really dedicated to my sport.

Impossible to put in the words, you know, this, the time and the hours and the dedication and the sacrifices that it takes to compete and ultimately be successful at the highest level.

But of course, I was willing to do this, I knew I had to.

Right, you don't get to go to prom, you don't get to have sleepovers with your friends on Friday night because guess what?

Practice at 6 a.m.

on Saturday.

All of that to really say it's a lifelong journey.

College rolls around.

Truth be told, I really could have gone anywhere that I wanted to swim.

I'm absolutely biased, and the SEC is the best conference.

So I knew that was for me, but went to University of Kentucky.

Could not have been a better place for me.

So freshman year, right, there was a lot of adjusting.

It was a lot of time and hours.

I thought I worked hard before.

I was wrong.

We were in the water six hours every single day, with three of those hours being before 8 a.m., right?

So you practice from 5 a.m.