Kathleen Baker Q&A: Crohn's disease has made me a stronger swimmer

Kathleen Baker is so much more than an elite swimmer.

The North Carolina native was a 12-year-old national champion when she was first diagnosed with Crohn's disease - a chronic bowel illness. Many people, including herself, doubted that she would ever fulfill her promise in the pool and become a professional athlete.

But despite Baker's severe weight loss, regular stomach cramps and nausea, she never gave up.

Her efforts were rewarded at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games when she secured the 100m backstroke silver medal, before helping Team USA to gold in the 4x100 medley relay. She had become an inspiration to children everywhere, that they could also achieve their dreams with chronic illnesses.

Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and in conjunction with Team USA sponsor Lilly, Olympics.com caught up Baker to find out how she balances her career and her illness, how Crohn's disease has given her mental strength, and how she copes with the mental pressure of being the world's fastest backstroker.

READ: U.S. Olympic Swimming Team Trials: Results

Olympic Channel: How does Crohn's disease affect you, and what life is like as an elite swimmer trying to manage that illness?

Kathleen Baker: I definitely think it's challenging and most people don't have to deal with a chronic disease while trying to make an Olympic team. There's never a day goes by that I don't think about it. I give myself shots biweekly. I used to go to the hospital to get infusions. I deal with an array of gastrointestinal symptoms depending on how healthy I am, or how active my disease is. At 24-years-old, I've had 10 endoscopies and colonoscopies, which is pretty unusual.

But at the same time, my Crohn's disease given me so much in return, like being an inspiration for so many young kids who are struggling with not only Crohn's but a chronic disease, and showing them how much they're able to accomplish even while having something that is a setback. I always say that you might not be able to get there on the same path that you once did, but you can take a different path to get there, and that's how I look at my success in swimming. It didn't go exactly how I dreamed it, but I still had the same end goal. I've been so grateful for everything I've been able to accomplish, and it's given me a lot of gratitude for my sport of swimming, not only my achievements but just being able to go to practise every day and being there and doing what I love.

OC: Has competing with Crohn's given you extra motivation or a competitive advantage, in that it's made you hungrier to succeed?

KB: Crohn's disease has given me an immense love and appreciation for my sport that I feel like you can really only have when you've had something taken away from you, or feel like it could be taken away from you. So when I compete, I compete for such a love of what I do and the process to get there, not only just the success or the racing, but truly just a love for my sport.

OC: We saw that at the Rio 2016 Olympics, where it was almost shocking almost that you were so close to winning the 100m backstroke gold medal. What was it about the Olympics that brought out the best in you in that moment?

KB: I had worked so hard to get there and there had been such a question of, "Am I going to be able to accomplish something like this while struggling with a chronic disease?" So making the Olympic team was this huge release and relief at the same time. Going from USA Olympic Trials to the Olympic Games, I remember telling my mom before I even swam in the final that I had already accomplished everything in this world that I had set my mind to. Then I went on to win a medal. So I think that just having that feeling already gave me that calmness. At the same time, I was so nervous, but still had some level of calmness to go out there and do my best and have that small amount of pressure taken away because I had accomplished something that had been so hard to get to. I feel very fortunate that I have been surrounded by so many people who have always believed in me every step of the way.

OC: Another incredible moment came at the 2019 World Championships in Korea, where you had plenty of adversity going in the run up. Tell us about that, and how you were able to push through.

KB: That was a really tough year for me. I got the flu in Israel and was extremely sick with a hundred and three-degree fever that I couldn't get down, flew back across the world on a 15-hour flight, went to the hospital and found out I had pneumonia, which led to me fracturing my rib because I coughed so hard! All of that meant weeks and weeks out of the water. And if you know anything about a broken rib, you can't really do much because it's in your midsection. So I could barely even sit out of bed and was in a lot of pain, and this was all happening in April and May and our world championships are in July. I didn't even get in the water for over eight weeks. And then coming in back in the water, I went full force and ended up with a herniated disc in my back in the weight room that summer. Five weeks before Olympic trials, and had to be carried out in a stretcher. So I definitely didn't have the luck on my side and was pretty stressed about going into that world championships. I look back and I'm really proud of that because I was able to put that aside and I still got six in the hundred back and six in the 50 back. I was so disappointed in that moment, but in reality I had barely swam since March and getting sixth place is an incredible feat.

I was able to put that adversity behind me when I stepped up on the block and was able to pretend like it didn't happen and race to the best of my ability. I really wish I would have done better and I wish that year wouldn't have happened, but it gave me a lot of grit going into this next 2020, 2021 period that I am grateful. I'm just really proud of the way I was able to bounce back from adversity.

OC: Given all the fitness issues that you went through, did the delay of the Olympics come as a relief?

KB: No, I was definitely ready to go. I was having some of the best swimming in my entire life. I was top three in the world in three events so I was very much ready for the Olympics to happen. I would say that originally it was a relief because I was losing time in the pool as I live in California which shut down pretty early on and I felt like it was unfair that I wasn't being able to train while other people across the world and even within our own country were still able to train. So when the Olympics ticket was postponed, it was a relief. But at the same time, it was still crushing because of how hard I had worked and how great I was swimming last year.

OC: What sets you apart from the other backstrokers out there?

KB: One thing is that I have an unreal eagerness to be at practise and to race. There's nothing I love more than just getting my head down in the pool and just racing as hard as I can. I think that really comes out in the one hundred backstroke. On a technical level, I have a very, very amazing catch in my backstroke. My pole is very, very good and I'm proud of that. But at the same time, I think that people say swimming is 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical. I stand by that, and that's why Olympic Trials is so hard, it really brings out the mental toughness in everyone and the people who have that, and the people that don't. I feel like I can have that mental toughness and that mental grit to not let the pressure get to me and to be able to perform at the highest level. My coach always says, "Put a smile on your face and your body will think like you're having fun, even if you're not."

OC: Backstroke is sometimes called 'the leg destroyer'. What are your leg workouts like at the gym?

KB: Very intense. I squat like two to three times a week. I do the main kick sets. And for people who don't know how bad back stroke hurts, at big Olympic meets, we get out of the water and we have like a football field long of media. I am so tired that I have to sit down before I go through the media behind a wall so people don't see that I'm like dying because my legs hurt so bad that I can't even walk through the media zone. It's a pretty tough race and it definitely is a leg destroyer. And we have to do a lot of kick sets and a lot of stuff in the gym to make sure our legs are strong. But also, genetically, you've got to have those great flexible ankles and some hyperextended knees, which definitely help you have a really great kick.

OC: The women's backstroke sprint is so competitive at the moment with yourself, Regan Smith, Olivia Smoliga and Kaylee McKeown also swimming well. What does it mean to be in that exciting group?

KB: It is always an overly competitive race, but I don't know another year in which it was so competitive as it is right now. I feel like the top eight in the world and probably the top five in the country are so close, and it's going to be a really tough race. And honestly, it's exciting because I think it just really brings out great racing and it allows this event to continue getting faster. I really think world records will get broken this summer. The US is known to swim faster at the Olympic Games than Trials, so I'm excited to see what happens there.

OC: On the subject of world records, how much of a motivation is it to get your 100m backstroke record back?

KB: I would love to break that world record again. But at the same time, getting my hand on the ball and touching top three at the Olympic Games is one of those races where the time is about least important. I'm excited for that and definitely have the world record in the back of my mind. I feel like I'm capable of doing that. I've done some prep for it and I'm looking forward to this summer.

OC: Can you expand on how you deal with the pressure of being a former world record holder, being a favourite, being someone that people expect big things from you every time you get in the pool?

KB: I definitely look at the pressure and a positive mindset. I think about turning the pressure, that's sort of scary and negative, into excitement. I feel like I want to throw up before all my races because I care and I want to do something amazing. I look at that pressure and that excitement as adrenaline, and it gives me that big burst of adrenaline where I literally feel nothing my first like half of my race, which is super ideal in terms of pain. And so that's sort of how I look at it. And I just try to look and trust the process and be grateful for where I am and lean on the people that I know that can support me, especially my coach. He knows exactly what to say and do to get me in the right headspace and the right stroke to be able to compete at my best.