Gabrielle Rose will be 47 when she competes in the U.S. Olympic swimming trials: "Age is a big way that we limit ourselves."

Two-time Olympic swimmer Gabrielle Rose found her way back to the pool while trying to save one.

Rose, who represented Brazil at Atlanta 1996 and Team USA at Sydney 2000, has spent much of the last few years focused on saving the only Olympic-sized pool in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. The project, says Rose, was her late father’s last philanthropic wish.

“He passed away in 2017 and the ball was in my court to get that done,” Rose told Olympics.com during an exclusive interview earlier this month.

That process required Rose to look inward and come to terms with her career, especially the way it finished first time round.

And it saw her start a journey towards next June's U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Indianapolis where she will be 47 years young.

“It required me to come out of my shell and re-embrace, re-embody Gabrielle the swimmer. That was going to be the most effective way to lead that fundraising charge and articulate the need to keep the only 50-metre pool in Memphis,” said Rose. “That ended up being very healing for me.

“I kind of needed to get over whatever emotions or feelings I had around being Gabrielle the swimmer, who maybe didn’t end her career the way she wanted to, to just coming out and being proud of that. And recognising my hometown embraces me and they’re really proud of my accomplishments. It’s a great thing that my Memphis Tigers have produced Olympians."

Gabrielle Rose's new goal - making the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials

Rose was not totally removed from the sport. She was “loving” Masters swimming and coaching one day a week.

But slowly, a new perspective and goal emerged, culminating this spring at the Masters nationals.

“I just wanted to come in and actually really prepare and see my best. And a great thing happened - I got my best time, like my lifetime best time in the 100m breaststroke,” she said of the event. “That time… if you converted it to long course metres comes really close to the Olympic trials standard.”

Having appeared at the Olympics in 100m butterfly, 200m individual medley and 100m freestyle, the 46-year-old targeted qualifying for Olympic Trials in the 100m breaststroke.

“The converted time got me excited and scared me,” she admitted. “That goal, it seemed like a really significant one, but I knew that regardless of the outcome, I was going to see my best potential and it was going to be a kind of once in like opportunity to go for it.”

And in late November, Rose swam a 1:09.82 in the 100m breaststroke to punch her ticket to the trials.

“I was so delighted and, more than anything, just relieved because it’s been so long since I’ve focused on getting a cut. I actually can’t remember a time in my swimming career when I was so focused on getting a cut,” Rose said of her qualification.

"I’m delighted to be beyond the point of having to focus on this one hurdle to get past. Now, I just get to focus on having my best performance.”

Gabrielle Rose: "We’re capable of more than we think sometimes"

Rose is not overly focused on what comes next – at least not yet. For now, she is cherishing what she has achieved on her return to the sport.

“I have not set those goals yet,” Rose said of the trials. “Just taking some time to reflect, celebrate, regroup. Certainly, it all will be about being my best, but we have not yet committed pen to paper on what those goals would be.”

In Indianapolis, she’ll have her biggest fan on hand to watch: her nine-year-old daughter, a swimmer herself, whom Rose recently asked what she loved most about the sport.

“I love her answer,” Rose said. “Her answer was, ‘The thing I like about swimming is it starts off as something you think is really hard and you can’t do, but then you do it and you realise you can do it and it wasn’t that bad.’”

That wisdom hit home, almost perfectly summarising Rose’s second life in the sport.

It’s something that the two-time Olympian hopes others will take from seeing her return to the pool.

“This is kind of teaching me that maybe we set limits on ourselves that we don’t need to,” Rose said. “There’s something to be said about continuing to set big goals, exploring and pushing yourself. We’re capable of more than we think sometimes, and age is a big way that we limit ourselves.

“I just hope I can encourage people to question that a little bit more, and be curious and be brave.”

The U.S. Olympic Team Trials take place in Indianapolis from 15-23 June 2024.