2023 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- June 27 – July 1, 2023
- Indianapolis, IN
- Indiana University Natatorium
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheet (updated version, 6/26)
- Live Results
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- How To Watch
- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Live Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
- Day 5 Prelims Live Recap | Day 5 Finals Live Recap
After making her first LCM world champs team, Lydia Jacoby was asked about the year following her Olympic gold win in Tokyo. Jacoby opened up about the fact that once she was deemed Olympic champion, she thought she was on top of the world, but quickly realized she wasn’t.
After only taking a week off, she rushed back into training, but months into it realized her swimming was stale and unmotivated. Outside of the pool, she came to see that she was showing signs of depression. After missing the 2022 world championships team in April 2022, Jacoby raced at the Mare Nostrum tour in mid-June then took the rest of the summer off, giving herself a necessary physical and mental reset.
That’s a great interview and candid insights. I often have moments where I lay in bed or sit in my car for too long, doing nothing, pausing between tasks for a minute or five minutes, and feeling sad, but like it’s ok too. When it is happening all the time though, or I get stuck there for too long and can’t get going again for hours or days, I need help out of that place because I no longer have the will to continue on my own. We live in such a noisy world now that the silence can be unbearable at times. It is necessary to question our why but can be dangerous too. If we query it for… Read more »
What do you do when you’ve achieved what you thought was your life’s mission by 16. Must have been a surreal experience.
Good on her for talking about this and excited to see what she can do with the rest of her career.
Why is it so vogue to publicly play a victim these days? Seemingly everyone has a problem of some sort that needs to be openly disclosed. Sure it’s hard to compete at the top level, it has always been that way and will be so in the future. It’s especially tough to climb the rarified air to be #1 even for a brief moment in time, let alone maintain it for an extended period of time. Everyone has those kind of things going on in their minds at some level, even the mediocre D3 swimmer who can’t even ascend to the C final in their small Conference Championships.
Welcome to sports and competition….
If your takeaway is that she is ‘playing a victim’, then you either didn’t watch the video or didn’t listen to her. This is one of the worst takes I’ve seen on this site.
No, I watch it and I perfectly saw and heard what I saw and heard….Worst takes? Seriously? Sorry you can’t take the bluntness of the message. I can’t imagine Katie Ledecky or Lilly King, for starters, ever uttering any such thing…
You mean this ledecky who is a psych major and cried a ton due to pressure in Tokyo.
https://www.si.com/.amp/olympics/2021/07/28/katie-ledecky-emotional-gold-medal-biles-mental-health-pressure
You just a bit of a dick to say that about a 16 year old
Frankly disparaging those who seek help is not only bad form but it could be dangerous if it made someone feel bad about seeking counseling or help with a mental illness. Stop and think a bit before typing comments–none of us know who might be reading this (if you doubt it, just search teens and depression and read the Harvard or Yale medical journal article).
Having to deal with a bump in the road is not mental illness yet all kind of sources want to convince you that it is. How many just plain teenagers experience some difficulty moving from home for school or elsewhere and away from their family and friends for the first time? Do they all have mental illness too? Life has never been easier with abundances of opportunity and societal insurances yet most recent generations seems to an ever increasing anxiety problems that didn’t exist in the past in such large numbers. In my opinion, many kids aren’t being presented with enough difficult situations growing up that they have to fix themselves. So when they finally get out on their own,… Read more »
This is a very sad take to read. Just because you liken depression to a bump
in the road doesn’t mean others like Lydia internalize it the same way. She got help and it seems like it really was a good thing for her, why would you urge others to just “toughen up” rather than seek help?
You say life has never been easier but did you have to navigate the world through social media like these kids do? Quite frankly I would say life has never been harder for many kids. Have a little perspective and compassion David. Quit trying to play the tough guy.
You’ve clearly either never suffered from depression or anxiety or you were told as a kid to “suck it up” and still can’t get out of that mindset. There’s a difference between having a “problem” and an actual mental illness. Surely you can’t believe that being honest about your feelings is playing the victim. Do better
Incredibly self-aware. She will be a better person, and swimmer, for having done it.
This woman is terrific. Swimming is not a career, it’s a passion.
She was swimming best times at every meet in 2021 and catapulted to the top of elite swimming. It was an amazing run to a gold medal. The kicker was she was from Alaska, which is better known for swimming by polar bears.
She didn’t let the pressure or Lilly’s psych out tactics get to her.
She gets to race Lilly and the others all over again in Japan!
One of the greatest clips from the Olympics was her hometown going crazy at the end of her gold medal race.
Yeah, they were literally jumping for joy. I think she swam a perfect race at the perfect time.
Even better is the way her Texas teammates engulfed her after her NCAA win. Startling, beautiful, touching, awesome. It gives an idea of the depth of her character and how her teammates draw from it. Which is what team is all about…
But ironically after all of that support from her parents, hometown and University team, she’s was still depressed…
You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about
Wow how fantastic that at Lydia’s age she had the strength and courage to reach out for help. Going forward she will become stronger and hope she inspires others to reach out for help. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. Go LYDIA…..
Everytime a major athlete tells their story, it normalizes mental health struggles. Maybe someone will seek the help that they need after hearing Lydia’s story. Whether it is counseling, medication, a break from the rigors of school/work/training, etc.