VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Olympic Swimmer Kate Douglass Recalls How She Began Swimming

U.S. Olympic swimmer Kate Douglass discussed how she began swimming in a recent conversation with uSports.

Douglass is currently on a quest for an individual gold medal after winning a silver in team relays.

The Pelham, New York, native recalled that she began swimming when she was little during summer league. “You know, everyone kind of just does every sport, I feel like, when they’re younger, that’s kind of what I did,” Douglass said. “I realized that I was pretty good at it, so I stuck with it through high school and a goal of mine became to swim in college.”

The Olympian added that college was where she figured out her full potential as a swimmer and that it translated to her representing the United States national team.

Douglass won her first major international medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a bronze in the 200m individual medley. The success keeps pouring in as she won three medals at the 2022 World Championships and two golds at the 2023 and 2024 World Championships. The American Olympian competed for the University of Virginia’s women’s swimming team where she was a household name; Douglass won UVA three competitions, and the Honda Sports Award as the best college female swimmer in 2022 and 2023, in addition to winning 15 gold medals during her colligate career. Currently, Douglass swims for Connecticut’s Chelsea Piers Aquatic Club.