Independence and love for data analytics: Kate Douglass charts path to Paris 2024
Olympics.com caught up with the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist at the 2023 Atlanta Classic as she looks to build on her Olympic Games debut.
Swimming
There is a striking independence and nonchalant spirit about US emerging swimmer Kate Douglass.
One moment she is tearing apart her competitors in the pool - winning both the 100m breaststroke and 100m butterfly on Day 1 of the 2023 Atlanta Classic - and the next she’s chatting with Olympics.com like someone on a vacation morning, shooting the breeze with a cappuccino in hand, contemplating what little they will get up to in the day.
“I think I do a good job of separating swimming and the rest of my life,” Douglass told Olympics.com in the bowels of McAuley Aquatic Center on Georgia Tech’s campus.
“The culture at the University of Virginia has helped my team to be normal college students and also be national championship swimmers. It’s all about having a good balance. When you have to go to practise, your mind is on that and then afterwards not really thinking about swimming and doing things you enjoy and other things to pass the time.”
Douglass chooses to pass the time with her Virginia team-mates, exploring Virginia’s idyllic Skyline Drive, scoping out various lookout points and finding various hiking trails to climb.
The New York-native won the bronze medal in the 200m IM at Tokyo 2020 for Team USA in what was her first international meet on that stage, and all indicators are that there are more medals to be added to her CV.
Since Tokyo 2020, Douglass has shattered several collegiate records in the United States and became the first top division swimmer, male or female, to win three NCAA titles in three different strokes. Add to that a bronze in the 200m breaststroke at the 2022 World Championships and, most recently, a standout showing at the Atlanta Classic invitational meet, and one senses an athlete finding her confidence and her true self as a swimmer.
“I’m trying to improve and have a wider range of events that I could have the possibility of doing really well in the summer. I want to focus on getting better at long-course racing and other events beside the 200m breaststroke.”
Her independence and balance can also be found at home. Douglass is the black sheep of the family; the only swimmer amidst a soccer-obsessed bunch. “My family isn’t a swim family. Both my siblings play soccer. My parents love to watch soccer. They didn’t swim. I’m the only one!” She takes pride in that independence and solo path she’s carved out for herself. “My parents do a great job with keeping their distance and letting me do my thing. They just want me to be happy. They don’t really care how I swim at all, to be honest!”
Kate Douglass: Chasing gold and preparing for life after swimming
Douglass completed college back in March of this year and already has her next steps mapped out; mostly.
“I’m still figuring out the next chapter of my career and life [after graduation from college]. I’ve decided I’m staying at the University of Virginia for graduate school for two years and train there also, because I love my coaches and my team, and wouldn’t want to go train anywhere else now. I don't really want to change things up now heading into an Olympic year and I’ll stick to what I know, and I’m excited about that. I’m going to just see where it goes from there. I’ve never really thought I wanted to swim forever. I’m definitely invested in my career outside of swimming as well and that’s why I’m doing grad school, so I’m taking it year by year, but definitely the focus is on next summer for sure.”
While she trains and competes on the road to Paris 2024, she will simultaneously be working towards completing a master’s degree in statistics. while taking on a remote internship focusing on data analytics with Dell, one of world's biggest computer manufacturers —once again, finding the right balance.
She’s taken sports analytics classes, but as with other aspects in her life, she wants to keep her options open. “I’m interested in the field of data analytics, and I’m not exactly sure how I want to apply that because it could be in so many different fields and there’s a lot of different opportunities with that. But I’m excited about that because there’s so many different things I could do with it.”
Opportunity. That seems to be the word for Kate Douglass as she charts her pathway toward more Olympic medals, but she’ll never forget who she is outside the pool along the way.