S1E64 - “Swimming Chose Me” with 12-Time Olympic Medalist Natalie Coughlin

Laura’s guest on today’s episode is record-breaker, trailblazer, and history-maker Natalie Coughlin. Natalie has won twelve Olympic medals and twenty World Championship medals; she was the first US woman to win six medals at a single Olympic Games and the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the same event and consecutive Olympics. And as if that wasn’t enough, Natalie was also the first woman ever to swim the hundred-meter backstroke in less than a minute. Her achievements also include winning eleven out of a possible twelve individual NCAA titles, being NCAA Swimmer of the Year three years in a row, and winning a total of sixteen medals in major international competitions (twenty-five gold, twenty-two silver, and thirteen bronze) spanning the Olympics, the World Championships, the Pan-Pacific Championships, and the Pan-American Games. As impressive as her achievements are, Natalie’s also just a really cool, down-to-earth person who’s so much fun to talk to. During the episode, we jump into how her story began, her fierce competitiveness, and an injury that changed her whole perspective on swimming.

First up, Natalie shares how she got into swimming at a young age and how her natural competitiveness drove her to break onto the swimming scene at just thirteen. She then relates how she suffered a torn labrum in the run-up to qualifying for the 2000 Olympics team, the effect that had on her mindset and perspective, and her choice to avoid surgery and recover through physical rehab. Next, Natalie discusses how she chose which college to attend (eventually ending up at Cal, Berkeley) and the choices she made in her career post-injury, including ditching the two-hundred-meter backstroke and transitioning to sprint events. She talks about qualifying for the 2004 Olympics and the relief when she did, followed by the experience of winning her first gold medal and the positive impact that had on her confidence and ability to stay calm while competing. She also discusses how becoming a gold medalist led to more media attention and street recognition, how the Michael Phelps phenomenon helped shield her from the worst of that, and how she managed to achieve a happy medium of attention for her record-breaking success. Natalie then shares how it felt when other swimmers started nipping at her heels, firing up her competitiveness, and the mindset she gets into when preparing to compete. She then discusses how she prepared for the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, keeping her cool when the media were pushing retirement, and circling back to that early injury and how it helped her keep swimming in perspective. Laura then asks Natalie to share her most memorable and toughest moments in her career, including winning the hundred-back in Beijing and feeling isolated during the 2012 Games. And finally, Natalie shares what she’s been up to since retiring from competition, including writing her cookbook Cook to Thrive and starting the women-owned winery Gaderian Wines in Napa Valley.

Episode Highlights:

• How Natalie got started in swimming
• Natalie’s competitive spirit
• Breaking onto the swimming scene at age thirteen
• Dealing with injury while trying to make the 2000 Olympic team
• Choosing between colleges
• Ditching the 200 backstroke
• Qualifying for the 2004 Olympic team
• The impact of winning gold at the Olympics
• Dealing with media attention
• Winning medals and breaking records
• The mentality of competition
• The road to Beijing 2008 and London 2012
• The most memorable vs. the toughest moment of Natalie’s swimming career
• What Natalie’s up to now
• Natalie’s cookbook, Cook to Thrive

Quotes:

• “Like the Water Babies type thing, you know, that every parent really needs to do for the safety of their children. It’s very, very important, whether you want them to be a swimmer or not, you have to get your kids in the water early.”
• “When we did soccer at school, like during PE or during recess and lunch, all the kids in my class, they were in soccer, and they were just, they were so much better than me. So I remember going home and practicing with a soccer ball against the wall in the backyard, just so I could get better. And no one was coaching me, I was doing this by myself.”
• “I will never forget, like, walking out onto the pool deck in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and they’re like, ‘And in lane one, Natalie Coughlin. Thirteen-year-old Natalie Coughlin.’ And then I choked because it was the first time I was on, like, the major stage.”
• “A doctor, you know, finally told me, ‘Hey, you tore your labrum.’ So I had to deal with that, you know, most of ’99 and the lead up until 2000. And so my training really suffered. Emotionally, I really suffered. It was a really, really tough thing. And so I got to the 2000 Olympic trials, and by that tim...