People ask how I raised an Olympic champion. They expect stories about hiring private coaches, driving to competitions across the country, and arranging my life around the sport she loved.
But the goal, for my husband and me, was to raise a happy, well-rounded, capable daughter with the good judgment to choose a career she loved. Raising an Olympic champion never crossed our minds.
In school, she really loved swimming
In elementary school, Gwen excelled on her hometown swim team, and sometimes she stood on the podium. Her life revolved around evening swim practices, Saturday competitions, and time with her swim friends.
While she nurtured her obsession with the water, I insisted she take violin lessons. As a music educator, I knew violin would teach daily discipline, perseverance through challenges, and the satisfaction of contributing to an ensemble. One evening, as I drove her to orchestra rehearsal, Gwen bargained with me: she would play violin that night if I took her to the YMCA for an extra swim session. I agreed, believing passion deserved as much nurturing as discipline did.
In her senior year, Gwen convinced the school to release her from first hour so she could do laps in the pool. But I knew that before she could be recruited to swim at a university, she had to be admitted. So, I signed her up for college entrance exams and found the information on college essays.
She didn’t get a swim scholarship
Despite her years of practice, Gwen failed to secure a scholarship. She enrolled as a walk-on and moved into a dorm room with three scholarship swimmers. After two years of two-a-days, without ever scoring points for the team, her coach recommended she pursue other interests.
Gwen’s devotion to swimming ended in what she viewed as failure. It wasn’t just the empty hours filling her day. It wasn’t just the loss of a team’s social life. It wasn’t just the absence of a goal. Gwen had defined who she was by her success in the pool. She lost her sense of self.
We talked. My husband and I assured her our love was unconditional. I told her that swimming didn’t get to decide who she was and encouraged her to be open to new possibilities. Open to change. To what the world might have to offer.
Eventually, Gwen walked on as a runner with the track and field team and competed for two years. She ran her final race with a stress fracture and dropped out before the finish line, never clocking the times required to compete professionally.
She laughed at the idea of competing in triathlon
These are the setbacks people don’t know about when they ask how I raised an Olympic champion.
Gwen graduated with a master’s degree, took a job with a Big Four accounting firm, and began building a conventional career.
Then, a few months later, while at her desk filing corporate tax returns, Gwen Jorgensen, CPA, took a call from USA Triathlon. They had noticed her collegiate swimming and running résumé, and they wanted an answer. Would she consider a triathlon?
She told my husband and me she laughed at them. And then she said she was planning to stay in shape anyway, and maybe she’d think about it. She didn’t own a bike, but they said they’d find one and set her up with a coach.
Gwen had learned that when one dream ended, another could begin. Swimming gave way to running. Running gave way to accounting. Accounting could give way to triathlon.
She accepted the offer. USA Triathlon found her a bike and coach, and she started traveling to triathlon competitions with her encrypted work computer. But adding three daily workouts to an accountant’s schedule seemed unsustainable. I said if she were serious about the sport, she should take a leave, and I would help. She said absolutely not, found a few local sponsors, and reduced her work hours.
Within 18 months, Gwen left her accounting job to pursue triathlon full-time. Within three years, she finished 38th in the Olympics. Within seven years, she won Olympic gold.
I didn’t create an Olympic champion. I only offered my daughter the tools to be the person she decided to be.
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