Are you worried that your swimmer is behind because she got a late start in the sport, or because she didn’t start swimming year round until she was past her 10th birthday?
Look no further for your hope than Swedish swimmer Sarah Sjostrom, who didn’t play any sports until she was 10 years old. By 15, she was a World Champion, which shows that success in this sport can be sudden and unpredictable.
Sarah, who has apparently been given the nickname “GOLD BAE” by her World Cup teammates, stood up for an interview with US National Teamer Michael Andrew at the World Cup stop in Doha, Qatar
Other good nuggets from the interview:
- Sarah, who already has 3 Olympic Games under her belt at 25 years old, thinks she can make 3 more. She will turn 35 within 2 weeks of the 2028 Olympics, but has a role model in longevity from her own country: Therese Alshammar, who raced at 6 Olympic Games. That includes 2016 in Rio, where she was Sweden’s flag bearer at 39-years old.
- Sarah is left-handed
- Sarah recognizes that she sometimes gets angry after a race that she’s not happy with, but moves on very quickly – mirroring a quality frequently cited among the world’s greatest athletes.
Sjostrom is a 3-time Olympic medalist, winning the 100 fly in Rio, placing 2nd in the 200 free, and taking 3rd in the 100 free. She’s also a 10-time World Champion (7 in long course, 3 in short course), winning her first World Championship in the 100 fly in 2009 when she was only 15-years old.
Awesome!
Great interview!
The comments section for this article is cancer.
Cool interview swimmer to swimmer.
Everything gives you cancer. There’s no cure. There’s no answer.
@Karl Ortegon knows the correct way to pronounce it. I think it’s “Shostrom,” roughly.
There are quite a few english vowels and double vowels that sound similar to the swedish “ö”, when they are followed by an “r”. Though, I doubt any of them would work as a substitute for either “ö” in “Sjöström”. I’ve listed a few examples below. I regrettably couldn’t find any words starting with “Sj” that had “ö”-sounding vowels.
Stern, learn, swirl, word, slur, smurf, spur, squirm.
The pattern with “ö”-sounding english vowels, seems to be that they are always followed by an “r”, even in cases of the “ea” and “ui” double vowels, such as “learn”, and “squirm”. Unfortunately there’s no “r” directly following either “ö” in “Sjöström”. But if we pretend that it was actually “Sjö(r)ström”, which vowel(s)… Read more »
Great interviews. Love my lefties!
One more good nugget:
Sarah Sjöström holds the most world records in women’s swimming with six, all individual (four in long course, and two in short course)
Rowdy Gaines started swimming at age 17. Even more impressive.
The “beautiful” Sarah Sjostrom. Lol. Nice woman but I live in Tokyo. The levels of every day beauty here are MIND BOGGLING..
True authentic Japan had ladies from the islands with tattooed heads . Americans in 45 apparently objected.
cool