Bella Sims Breaks Down Full Olympic Experience as a 16-Year-old

In the SwimSwam Podcast dive deeper into the sport you love with insider conversations about swimming. Hosted by Coleman HodgesGarrett McCaffrey, and Gold Medal Mel Stewart, SwimSwam welcomes both the biggest names in swimming that you already know, and rising stars that you need to get to know, as we break down the past, present, and future of aquatic sports.

We sat down with Olympic medalist Bella Sims, who swam on the prelims of the 800 free relay in Tokyo at 16 years old as the 2nd youngest member of the US Olympic team, only older than her club teammate and training partner, Katie Grimes. Sims goes in-depth on her expectations heading into trials, her day-to-day training in Las Vegas, and what it was like being a teenager at the Olympic Games. Sims also talks about crying before all of her races, less-than-ideal open water swims, and not realizing that prelims swimmers got medals too.

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Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

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Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.

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Mia
2 years ago

I wonder if she likes the 800… she’s extremely gifted in that event (8:23.5?!?!) but being good at distance free is a punishment sometimes:-)

Joel
2 years ago

Wow . She’d never watched trials or the Olympics. Plus she started swimming in 2015.

Sam B
2 years ago

I was worried she’d fly away mid-sentence, during most sentences. Coleman did great to keep pulling her back to Earth 🙂

swimswamswum
2 years ago

Finally got the answer to my question of why she didn’t swim the 400 even though she did so well in the 200 and 800!! Excited to see Bella tackle the 400 this year after her 2021 performance

50M Pools Rule
2 years ago

This girl is awesome! Such a fun interview.

About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on …

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