Ask a Medalist Anything
Over the last several weeks, we've asked YOU, our Big Blue families and swimmers, if you have any questions for three Olympic medalists! We got so many great questions that Big Blue's three former-Olympians, Tom Dolan, Kristy Kowal, and Peter Vanderkaay, were so excited to answer below.
Thank you to everyone who submitted questions, we hope that you enjoy hearing from these incredible swimmers and members of the Big Blue team!
Q: What events did you swim?
Tom In the 1996 Olympic Games, I swam the 200 Individual Medley, 400 Individual Medley, and 400 Freestyle. In the 200 Olympic Games I swam the 200 and 400 Individual Medley.
Kristy I swam the individual medley and breaststroke events. One of my favorite things to swim was the 200 freestyle relay because no one expected me to swim on a freestyle relay 😊 In the Olympics, I swam the 200 meter breaststroke.
Peter I was a freestyle specialist and swam the 200, 400 and 1500 meter freestyle. I also swam individual medley, but not at the international level for Team USA.
Q: What do you do now?
Tom I am the President of Corporate Pools for Big Blue. My team and I oversee operations of the 19 corporate swim schools.
Kristy I am a third grade teacher and I’ve been teaching for almost 20 years!
Peter I live in the Metro Detroit area now, which is the area I grew up in.
Q: How did you keep your legs from getting tired?
Tom It is important to work on kick technique and endurance in each swim practice to ensure your legs provide consistent power throughout your entire race.
Kristy Oh! This was a hard one because I firmly believed that the more that I cheered, the faster my teammates would swim. At the Olympics, I actually hurt my elbow a few days before my race because I was cheering so much with a pom pom that the coaches banned me from using pom poms anymore to cheer. I think I just had to remind myself that my race was coming up, and I tried to find a good balance between cheering for my teammates and preparing for my own race. But it was something that I had to be very mindful of and my coaches were constantly yelling at me to save my legs!
Peter For me, the key to keeping my legs fresh was building into the race and making sure I didn’t overextend my leg energy on the front half of my races. Pacing a race is really important.
Q: What do you do with your medals now?
Tom My medals are in a safe in my closet. I don’t bring them out very often, but I do show them to families at each of our Family Fun Days for new pool openings.
Kristy Some of my medals from my international competitions are back home in Pennsylvania with my parents. But my Olympic medal is currently in my sock drawer!
Peter I keep my medals in a secure cabinet in my house and I only bring them out when people want to see them. I rarely look at them personally, but I like sharing them because people always enjoy seeing them.
Q: How can you swim so fast?
Tom Swimming fast is a result of a lot of practice and hard work. But what is most important is that you have fun, which then enables you to reach beyond your goals and dreams!
Kristy It took years and years of hard work and practice to finally be able to achieve my goals! I think I was around 12 years old when I realized that the harder I worked in practice, the faster that I would go in my races. There were lots of days during practice when I wanted to give up, but then I always reminded myself of the goals I had, and it kept me motivated!
Peter Swimming fast is all about preparation. So much training goes into a race behind the scenes and challenging yourself is the key to improvement. No pain no gain!
Q: How old were you when you learned to swim?
Tom I learned how to swim when I was 5 when I joined my summer swim team. My sister is 3 years older and I wanted to beat her in anything she did. So, I credit my sister for motivating me to learn to swim.
Kristy My mom actually started me in the local “Mommy and Me” classes when I was nine months old. My mom isn’t the strongest swimmer, and she wanted to make sure that my brother and I were safe in the water. I’ve always loved being in the water and I was on my first swim team when I was five years old at our local pool in the summertime.
Peter I was about 5 years old when I learned to swim but I didn’t join my first team until I was 7 years old. When I first started, I wasn’t very good but I kept working to improve.
Q: How far can you swim?
Tom I certainly cannot swim nearly as far now compared to when I was training for the Olympics! 😊 I trained long distances to prepare for the 400 IM. I would swim as much as 100,000 meters per week – that is just over 62 miles!
Kristy Well, I’m not sure how far I can swim anymore, but during college I did do a 10,000 meter-long race for time! That is still the longest I’ve ever swam straight without stopping.
Peter The longest race in the pool is 1500 meters but I did practices where we swam 14,000 yards (about 12,800 meters or 42,000 feet!) in one session.
Q: Is it hard to get so good?
Tom Getting good at anything requires hard work and passion. But we can all be good at the things we love because we are willing to challenge ourselves every day to improve.
Kristy There are lots of challenges along the way to achieving your goals. There will be races won and lost. Sometimes I would swim a best time in a race, and then sometimes I would lose a race and didn’t swim as fast as I wanted to. One time so even missed the Olympic team in my best event by .01 of a second! But I think one thing to always remember is that in order to achieve the goals that you have, no matter where they are in a pool, in school, that you learn from your mistakes or your bad races and you take what you learned and you use it moving forward to make yourself better.
Peter Getting to swim in the Olympics takes years of practice and preparation. There was certainly a lot of sacrifice and hard work, but I enjoyed the process. It’s never easy to do something great.
Q: What is the fastest you've gone?
Tom I was fortunate to be the world record holder in the 400 IM from 1994-2002.
Kristy Oh my goodness haha! One time I did swim a 50 yard freestyle in 22 seconds and a 50 yard breaststroke in 26 seconds. And I was the first American woman to go under a minute in the 100 yard breaststroke 😊
Peter The fastest I’ve gone was always at the biggest international competitions. It was always the goal to go the fastest at the right time. The shorter races create the highest speed but I was a distance swimmer, so my fastest speed was always relative to the distance of the race.
Q: Do you ever teach anyone?
Tom I started my own swim school, Tom Dolan Swim School, before partnering with Big Blue so I have been fortunate through the last 15 years to help teach lots of kids.
Kristy My current job is a teacher! I’ve been teaching third grade for almost 20 years. I’ve also coached high school swimming and given lessons to lots of swimmers over the years. One my favorite things to do is to pass on my love for swimming to others!
Peter I’ve never coached professionally but I’ve done clinics with competitive swimmers. The biggest advice I could give is trust the process and work on the small details daily.
Q: Are you the best in the world?
Tom When I was training for the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, I was the world record holder in my best event, the 400 IM. So, I was honored to be the fastest in the world and win back-to-back gold medals.
Kristy At one point in my life, I was! During my career, I became the first American woman to win a world championship title in 100 meter breaststroke, and in my career I held eight American records and one world record. But that was a long time ago!
Peter In my prime I was one of the best in the world. I don’t train anymore but I was able to be ranked top 8 in the world in my events and win bronze medals in the 200 and 400 freestyles in Beijing and London.
Q: How old are you? How old were you when you were in the Olympics?
Tom I am 48 years old, and I was 20 in the 1996 Olympics and turned 25 on the day of Opening Ceremonies in the 2000 Olympics.
Kristy I am now 45 years old, and I was 21 years old when I saw in the Olympics.
Peter I am 40 years old today. I was 20 years old in Athens 2004, 24 years old in Beijing 2008, and 28 years old in London 2012.
Q: Do you do any other sports?
Tom Growing up, I played many sports - my favorites were golf, baseball, and basketball. Now, I play lots of different sports with my kids. I also coach baseball for my 6- and 7-year-old sons' teams.
Kristy I tried lots of sports growing up, I tried T-ball when I was little, track and field, but I realized that I was a way better athlete in the water!
Peter When I was younger I did other sports but nothing to the commitment level of swimming. I played soccer and tennis.
Q: How do you earn a medal?
Tom Earning a medal was the icing on the cake of my sports journey. But the most impactful part of my Olympic journey was the friends I gained and the life skills I learned. I was incredibly lucky to earn the first gold medal for the US at the 1996 Olympics!
I participated in lots of sports when I was growing up. The best advice my parents gave my sister and me was requiring us to participate in two sports/activities each season until we were in high school. This provided experiences in team and individual sports which built life skills that we still utilize today. Earning a medal came from years of pursuing my dreams and working hard.... but most importantly, having fun!
Kristy The best way to earn a medal is to work hard, listen to your coaches, never give up, and - the most important part- have fun!
Peter Winning a medal takes finishing in the top 3 of every event at an international competition.
Q: Do you still swim?
Tom While I don’t have a lot of time to swim now, I do still love hopping in the pool or ocean with my kids.
Kristy I do still swim! I actually just swam a mile in the ocean today! I love to swim for exercise and fun!
Peter I still swim now but not competitively. Only for exercise and nowhere near at the level I used to swim. Swimming is a great sport for lifelong fitness!
