Today on the GMM Podcast, we sit down with Kate Douglass, Olympic champion, world champion, and one of the most versatile swimmers in the world.
From her Tokyo 2020 bronze medal in the 200 IM to standing atop the podium in Paris with Olympic gold in the 200 breaststroke, Kate’s star just keeps rising.
Will Kate compete through LA2028? We talked about it at length, and she’s leaving the door open, but she’s not confirming it. For her, swimming has to fit into a lifestyle that makes sense. Listen to Kate’s response in the podcast and tell me what you think in the comments.
After her 2025 World Championships performance, I don’t know how she couldn’t keep going to LA. In Singapore, Kate unleashed one of the fastest swims in history: 2:18.50 in the 200 breaststroke, breaking the American and Championship records to become the second-fastest performer ever. She left World Championships with three golds (including a world record in the women’s medley relay) and two silvers (100 breast, 4×100 free relay).
In this episode, we cover:
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Kate’s training since Paris, balancing breaks with her best breaststroke prep ever before Worlds.
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Her perspective on disappointment at U.S. Trials and how it fueled her summer training.
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How she manages her time and lifestyle year-by-year, keeping LA2028 open as a possibility.
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An update on her UVA Master’s in Statistics (she’s nearly finished).
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Her economic outlook as a pro swimmer, the financial realities for most U.S. National Team swimmers (it’s challenging), and what it means to build a career in this sport.
That’s just the start. We dive deeper into more topics. If I missed a question you wanted answered, drop it in the comments, and we’ll follow up with Kate next time she joins us.
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Many thanks to Swimoutlet.com for their 13 years partnership and support of this swimming news and media.
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This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.
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.
If I had a daughter who swam, I’d hope she could grow up to be like Kate Douglass more than anyone else. Competitively, she’s one of the top athletes in the world right now—no question. But what makes her so special is how balanced and well-prepared she is beyond swimming.
She’s well-behaved, responsible, and dependable in her sport, always delivering gold when it matters most. Outside the pool, she’s well-traveled, has a strong circle of friends, a loving relationship, and a close family who clearly adores her. On top of that, she’s finishing graduate school at just 23, showing how prepared she is for life after swimming. Her parents clearly did an incredible job raising her.
And while she hasn’t… Read more »
“Dependable in her sport, always delivering gold when it matters most”…yeah, except for the 24 times in international LCM competition when Douglass has delivered minor medals for Team USA, and the bunch of times she’s missed even making finals. AI generated public relations getting carried away, it’s the worst.
She delivered gold in Paris and Singapore when the team is being criticized for underperforming. Has the fastest split (among US women) in free and breast (overall) at the meet in Singapore. No medal is small medal. You can try to be sneak peeking every word if that make you sleep well at night but don’t talk AI if you don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t need it the same way you do.
Ok, I’ll bite. “Minor medals”; “missed making finals”. Wow! Most of us here at the comments would be thrilled to have time cuts good enough for the trials. A few of us might even be good enough to have qualified for the national team. So, based on how you described her accomplishments, I didn’t realize you were the goat, Mr Phelps or Ms Ledecky. So congrats.
I think Kate is a very sarcastic girl who speaks that way. Not everyone should behave the same; that would be very boring.
I don’t agree with those who argue that she doesn’t enjoy swimming. You should know what she said about the World Cup. She really enjoyed that competition last year and meeting so many great swimmers, and she’s already confirmed that she’s very excited this year.
i wanna see KD swim the 100 back LCM at some TYR pro series meets, as practice for the 200 IM. I bet she could go 1:01-1:02
Good point
Kate Douglass can do anything she wants to (swim or not swim) because it’s her life and time spent, not anyone else’s. She could be tired from the grind of elite level swimming and may want to do something else. She’s accomplished more than most swimmers could ever ask for and I wish her the best of luck for what she wants to do in the future. JMHO.
Another summary is that we’re the ones who don’t know anything, and she’s the one who gives away gobs of time by being ridiculously long to every wall.
It’s like a tennis player who voluntarily serves from two feet behind the baseline every time.
Yet on every turn in Paris, Tatjana Smith did what you desire and KD did her thing, yet KD had a better turn each time! She must have done something right.
Chopping into walls destroys the flow of a smooth fast turn
It’s like a tennis player who voluntarily serves from two feet behind the baseline every time and wins Wimbledon and the US Open.
Kate Douglass
2027 USA Swimming National Championships
Day 1 – 100 FR
Day 2 – 200 BR
Day 3 – 50 BR
Day 4 – 100 BR
Day 5 – 50 FR
Drop 50 FL (Day 2). Add 50 BR (Day 3).
What makes you think that YOU pick what Kate Douglass swims at WC trials
Too blase for my taste. You’re either all in or you’re not. There are too many good USA female swimmers who really want the spots to proceed in this quad with that kind of ‘tude. I laugh at the Mel “locked in” comment regarding Worlds–she wasn’t so locked in that she wasn’t playing with elephants in Thailand with Huske, Walshes, etc.
Fun interview Mel. Delighted that she doesn’t read comments. Who can blame her when commenters complain about her long turns. As if she hasn’t analyzed the trade-offs.
KD is very emotionally intelligent and secured and I’m sure that is instrumental to her success.