Breakout Olympic star Maya DiRado, swam away with an impressive hardware collection while competing at the 2016 Olympic Games. While in Rio, the Stanford graduate claimed individual gold in the women’s 200m backstroke, silver in the 400m IM and bronze in the 200m IM, while also nabbing relay gold as part of the American women’s 4×200 freestyle squad.
Even before the Games began and her in-pool success realized, DiRado held steadfast her post-Olympic plans of starting a career at Atlanta, Georgia-based consulting firm McKinsey & Co on September 9th. Now, however, her start date is postponed a few months as 23-year-old DiRado makes the most of her Olympic success via media, speaking and endorsement appearances.
According to Jeannie Goldstein from Chicago Sport & Entertainment Partners, who represents the swimmer, the delay in DiRado’s ‘out-of-water’ career was actually McKinsey & Co’s idea.
“They actually reached out to her and said we want to offer you support in continuing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Goldstein said. “I don’t think she realized the impact, the groundswell back in the U.S., because they’re kind of in that bubble (in Rio).”
Goldstein continued, “When she came back, I said, ‘You know, you were on TV for every other night for a week in the U.S., and you’re kind of a big deal.’”
However, fans of DiRado shouldn’t get their hopes up of a possible 2nd Olympic Games just yet, as Goldstein confirms, “This isn’t a long-term thing. She’s McKinsey bound and Atlanta bound and all that stuff.”
Wise decision; makes sense.
I love McKinsey’s motto:
“Not only are we smarter than you are, we’re also younger than you are.”
Don’t go to the dark side, Maya, the real world can wait until 2020! #comebackmaya
Give her a backpack as an incentive 🙂
We might even throw in a Brick 😉
These two remarks were HILARIOUS. That was some of the best sarcasm I’ve seen in years. OMG. Still laughing as I write this.
Congratulations Maya. Well earned. Enjoy this special time!
Maya has some good karma all around her. So much positive has happened I am glad that others appreciate this and want the best for her and in return for themselves. Nice. Big smile.
Smart moved by the company.
She needs to go train with Dynamo Swim Club in Atlanta.
She’ll probably swim with them or swim Atlanta with Weir.
Maya deserves a pay raise for the publicity she has brought to the firm!
Just to be clear, McKinsey is headquartered in New York and operates in multiple offices across the globe. Maya will be working for McKinsey in their Atlanta regional office (the way the article is written implies McKinsey is based in Atlanta).