Riley Gaines

And I certainly choose to celebrate the little wins when we get them.

Well, what you've done is very courageous because I know the kind of pressure that you must have experienced.

I know the hate that's come your way.

And you handle it with class.

And that is –

not a learned thing.

And I think that speaks to one of the things that I think is one of the most important things that kids can ever get involved in, and that's sports.

I know people think of sports as being like, if you're an intellectual, you think of it as being like a jock or a meathead thing.

But it teaches you a resolve.

It teaches you, when you have to swim six hours a day, you have to be strong mentally.

And it transcends beyond...

just your athletic achievements which is my point is how you can handle this the way you can handle it and honestly now like i love pressure i love it i love setting goals and achieving those goals which which sets me up perfectly yeah for this position um and you're right like i would highly encourage my parents did it my parents made me play sports

And when, you know, my dad being a professional football player, he did not, I won't say he didn't, he never really cared what sport I played.

But when I started swimming, he's like, Riley, come on, that's not a sport.

I'm like, Dad, it is a sport.

Like, it's hard.

Like, we work hard.

He's like, no, Riley, that's not a sport.

Then I started dating a swimmer.

And my dad was like, Riley, any sport, his justification was any sport where a man has to wear panties and competes.