While striving to make it back to the Olympics for a second time, University of Wisconsin-Madison swimmer Phoebe Bacon is making sure she prioritizes her love for swimming leading up to her return to the Olympic Trials stage.
“I just want to be able to go there and show everybody that you can still have so much fun at any level that you’re doing your sport at,” Bacon said.
Bacon’s collegiate career thus far is an accomplishment in itself. The star swimmer competed at both the 2021 Olympic Trials and the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and she is a two-time Pan American Games gold medalist. Like many other UW-Madison athletes, Bacon hopes to make the Badgers proud at the 2024 Olympic Trials — and hopefully the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Bacon graduated in 2020 from Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls school in Bethesda, Maryland. During her high school career, she broke records set by other swimmers before going on to break her own records.
Bacon has a lot in common with a well-known alumna from her high school, seven-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer, Katie Ledecky.
“I've grown up with her. We went to the same grade school, we went to the same high school and I've known her for years. I know her whole family,” Bacon said. “She's always been a major role model to me.”
The two swam together for Team USA during the 2021 Olympic Games, a memory Bacon said she will always cherish.
“Getting to go to the Olympics and having Katie as my teammate, I was kind of in awe,” Bacon said.
Reflecting on the 2021 Olympic Trials and Olympic Games, Bacon said one of her biggest supporters was Yuri Suguiyama, head coach of both the men’s and women’s Swimming and Diving Teams at UW-Madison. Suguiyama has coached Olympians in the past, including Ledecky.
Suguiyama used that experience to coach Bacon through her first Olympic Trials. Bacon said he helped her to control her nerves and channel those feelings into a stronger race performance.
“He had a major impact going into those trials,” Bacon said.
Bacon also reflected on her teammates, a group that played a crucial role in bringing her to UW-Madison in the first place.
“It felt like another home,” Bacon said about the team’s environment.
Bacon explained that when you have to jump into a cold pool in the early hours of the morning, it is important to enjoy the people you are surrounded by.
Bacon’s Badger teammates cheered her on through the 2021 Olympic Trials, where she received a silver medal in the 200-meter backstroke that sent her to the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Bacon knows that her teammates at UW-Madison will support her no matter the result this summer.
Bacon has already qualified for the 2024 Olympic Trials in June. With one Olympic Trials already under her belt, Bacon said she is focused on remembering her love for swimming during the high-pressure event.
“I want to go back to that nine, ten-year-old that would stand behind the blocks, wave over at my mom on the side of the pool deck and then dive in and just swim for fun,” Bacon said.
Bacon urged any other UW-Madison athletes who might be competing at the 2024 Olympic Trials to have confidence in themselves and the tools that UW Athletics equips them with.
“Keep working hard and trust your coaches. Trust your training because the hours and the time commitment that we do put into our sports will pay off if you really want it,” Bacon said.
While competing at the Olympic level can become intense at times, Bacon said she was unable to envision a life where she does not have some sort of love for swimming. Bacon plans to take that passion and use it as fuel for success in the pool this summer.
