Meet Katie Grimes, the Olympic Swimmer Called the Future of Her Sport

Katie Grimes She wasn’t going to let a disappointing swim ruin her chance of going to her first Olympics.

Or the second.

“I’m just a stubborn person by nature,” the 18-year-old athlete, who will compete in both the pool and open water at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, told E! News in an exclusive interview.

She recalled her turnaround at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials after falling seconds behind in the 400-meter individual medley, saying, “I was really upset, but I wasn’t going to let that be my journey. I was so passionate about this goal, I wasn’t going to let it slip away like that.”

So after failing in a race she was confident in, she turned things around and finished second in the 800m freestyle final – enough to book her ticket to Tokyo at just 15 years old, making Grimes the youngest member of the team. complete The US Olympic team that year.

Meanwhile, the winner of this race had some encouraging words for the young woman who joined her on the podium.