SwimSwam Welcomes Carly Geehr, Hear Her Roar

Editor’s Note: SwimSwam would like to welcome our newest contributor, Carly Geehr, to our team. We haven’t decided what exactly we’re going to do with Carly, but we’ll be sure to put her to good use. Carly has a long, winding history in the sport of swimming, and did more at a younger age than anyone in the modern era. Simultaneously to when Amanda Beard was “that amazing 14-year old,” Geehr was chugging along as “that amazing 12-year old.”

Beneath is Carly’s introduction to the SwimSwam readers. This is Carly: hear her roar.

To put it mildly, swimming and I have had a complicated relationship. The trajectory of my swimming career was characterized by a meteoric ascent and then a descent that seemed nearly as dramatic. What happens to those kids with lots of potential who then just seem to… disappear? For better or worse, I know a little something about that.

My 11-year-old self might as well have been stapled to the TV during the 1996 Olympics, watching with awe as my heroes in USA-emblazoned Aquablades tore through the water. A year later, after the meet of my life, I met those same heroes of mine in the lobby of a hotel near LAX – as their teammate. And they had a bag for me. And that bag contained, among other things, those very same Aquablades. And American flag caps WITH MY NAME ON THEM. Life, you’re gonna need to hold on a second, because my dreams haven’t quite caught up with you yet.

I was an also-ran at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships in Japan. I swam next to then world-record-holder Penny Heyns in the 100 breaststroke, the event I’d qualified in, and to this day I don’t think I’ve ever been so intimidated in my life. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the many great people on that trip. To Josh Davis, for patiently listening to me sing what must have been the entire Grease soundtrack to him on the plane; to Lia Oberstar, for graciously agreeing to room with “the 12-year-old”; to Kristine (Quance) Julian, for the hugs and encouragement after I failed to meet my perceived expectations; to Jenny Thompson, for being Jenny Thompson and still sitting next to me on the shuttle that one time.

It wasn’t lost on me that I didn’t belong there. I’d only made the team through some selection fluke where they actually took a 4th place finisher from Nationals. To some extent, I felt I’d exceeded my own abilities, but I wanted desperately to not end up a young burnt out breaststroker (as many seemed to think was my destiny). So I quietly transformed into a 200 freestyler and actually had a decent shot at making the 2000 Olympic Team in the 800 Free Relay.

Then life happened. A series of poorly-timed shoulder injuries and, finally, two surgeries (temporally separated by 2 years) coupled with my firm unwillingness to subject myself to any more months of kicking through every practice saw me spending my first years at Stanford as a non-athlete. Junior year, though, still plagued by lingering shoulder issues but sort-of-almost healed, I re-joined the swim team, grateful for every pain-free meter. My comeback was ultimately derailed by a freak knee injury from off-season cross-training, and that’s when swimming and I parted ways.

Until now! Well, that’s not entirely fair. I’ve always followed swimming results like a maniac, a skill which becomes semi-relevant in the world at large approximately once every 4 years. Even if I’m not in the water, I’m still a huge fan. It makes me so happy to see all the amazing advancements in the sport, both in and out of the pool. I’m thrilled now to be contributing to SwimSwam and hope that I can use my enthusiasm for and somewhat unique perspective on the sport to bring you good news.