U.S. swimmer Leah Hayes: Embracing who you are

U.S. swimmer Leah Hayes has learned how to take control of a situation.

The 17-year-old World bronze medallist was diagnosed with alopecia when she was just 7 years old.

It started gradually.

At first, she lost hair in patches on her scalp but then, she lost body hair as well. Finally, she had total hairloss.

Instead of hiding from her diagnosis – she wore wigs at first briefly, but that, she says, didn’t hide the fact that she didn’t have hair from her classmates – she owned it.

“I just decided it was best to address the situation by telling everyone what I had and just fully dispelling any and all rumours,” said Hayes in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com. “So in fourth grade on Veterans Day, I wrote a little speech and spoke to my whole class and told them about my alopecia, what it was, why I didn’t have hair and what I would wear moving forward.”

At first, that was wearing hats but then eventually, but those went away, too. The response from her classmates boosted her confidence.

“I finally was able to really just embrace my alopecia,” said Hayes. “[My classmates] were just so happy that I could be myself around them. I just remember they cried and I cried. It was a very emotional time.”

Ten years since her diagnosis, the teenaged Hayes has a growing platform ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

That’s not lost on her.

“I really hope to bring more awareness to help people with alopecia and help other people with autoimmune diseases or just differences, insecurities about themselves,” she said. “I hope to help them embrace who they are.”

Leah Hayes: "She kind of came out of nowhere."

For Hayes, that means leaning into who she is: a competitor.

As a youngster, Hayes tried out for her local swim team after taking a few lessons. She immediately caught the eye of coach Nancy Hooper, who still works with Hayes today.

Hooper says Hayes natural strength was evident from the start and crucial to early successes that fueled her drive.

“The first time that she really got to a regional meet, she won all of the events,” recalled Hooper. “But, then, Leah went to the state meet and she wasn’t winning there. She would come up to me and she’d say, ‘You know, I really don’t like this as much as that other meet.’

“I think just her passion and her drive to want to get on the top of that podium was just there,” Hooper continued. “It surprised everybody. She kind of came out of nowhere.”

At age 10, Hayes had already set her first national age group record in the 200m freestyle. At 13 in 2018, she was Sport Illustrated’s SportsKid of the Year.

Hooper recalls a “turning point” in her training early one when Hayes had asked to lead a practice of some younger swimmers. The experience didn’t exactly go as she hoped.

“She was really, really disappointed in how they did not listen to her,” said Hooper. “She goes, ‘Wow, this is not very easy. I need to be a better listener and I need to really, really do what you’re asking me to do all the time.’”

A helping hand from her biggest fan

That drive paid off – quickly, as Hayes qualified in three events to the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for swimming.

And although she did not qualify to the Tokyo 2020 Games, that experience helped her defy even her own expectations a year later as she landed on the U.S. team for the 2022 World Championships in Budapest.

“Last season, I was going into the World Champs trials not anticipating making the team whatsoever,” Hayes admitted.

She went on to win a bronze medal in the 200m individual medley.

World medal in hand, Hayes feels more confident ahead of this year’s trials and for the year ahead to Paris 2024.

She has a big goals for the next 13 months. Ones that she thinks about and sees, quite literally, everyday thanks to her biggest fan, her grandfather.

“He watches my races every day. He makes charts for me for all the times that I need or that I want,” explained Hayes. “I hang them up and I see them every day. It definitely motivates me and pushes me on the days that I don’t feel like going to swimming or going to practice, when I’m tired and I’m exhausted. I see those times and I know what I’m training for.”