USA OLYMPIC TRIALS Experience ｜ Full Pool Tour

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the coolest pool in the world. Lucas oil stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana, summer of 2024, the largest swim meet in history. I am done racing and this meet did not go as well as I wanted it to go. We'll talk about that later. Right now. I am here to show you all of the awesomeness that is the athlete experience of this venue. At the time I'm filming this video, we are halfway through the competition. Multiple world records have been set and team USA is looking awesome. And this is without a doubt the coolest swimming experience that I have ever witnessed. I mean, it just when I walk in every time I'm in awe of of where I'm at. Like it is. It's wild. I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you are a young swimmer, make it a goal to come to this competition. Make it a goal to come as an athlete or to come as a spectator someday to witness this meet, because it really is something special. There is truly nothing like seeing athletes train their entire life for one moment for a shot of representing the United States at the Olympic Games, the most dominant team in all of Olympic history, USA swimming. When I was 10 years old, I had not one but two posters of the great Michael Phelps on my bedroom wall. And I was lucky enough to meet Michael when I was 16 years old. And I asked him, what makes you so good? Like, how are you the goat of all goats, the greatest of all time? And he said one thing work. I'm willing to do things in training on a regular basis that other people are not so that I'm capable of doing things behind the blocks when race day finally comes. Basically, he was willing to sacrifice anything to get to this moment and be the very best. And that made a huge impact on me when I was 16. And then eight years after meeting Michael, I won this meet. I went to the Olympic Games and I won an Olympic gold medal alongside my childhood hero, Michael Phelps. And if that can happen to me, it can happen to you. I never would have achieved my Olympic dream if I didn't have people along the way telling me that I was capable of doing things that I didn't know I was capable of. People believing in me, people telling me to set goals that I thought were quite literally impossible. And it worked out. And I had an amazing career. So I'm telling you, young swimmers out there, dream really big. Write your goals down. And you never know. You might be on a relay with your childhood hero someday. You might be wearing a gold medal that you won at this meet or the next meet someday. Here is the Olympic qualifiers podium. You stand on this awesome thing. The place just erupts. One slightly odd observation is just how far away the spectators on this side are in comparison to the pool. Like this is a this is a large distance. That is that is quite a distance from the pool. Like they feel people over here feel very far away. Whereas over there, that's the athlete seating area, which is really nice. It's wonderful. The US of Swimming gave all the space to the athletes that are actually here to compete in the meet and then watch their friends achieve their lifelong dream. Really, really close to the pool over there for the athletes. This is this is incredible. This is where I've been sitting with my friends for most of the sessions. These are the fancy seats. Not really sure how you get these, but definitely the best seat. And the entire venue right here. Now, let me show you behind the scenes, behind this massive curtain, all the other stuff back there, the backstage athlete only area. This is the athlete lounge right behind the warm up side of the pool. And it is huge. There are tables, chairs, couches, Nintendos, TVs, card games, all kinds of spacious mats to sit on. You could be in here all day and it's just very comfortable. It's a very comfortable swimming environment. And there's giant LED screens in every room throughout Luke's room. So everywhere you go, you can watch what's going on in here. They have the animal sanctuary. They have dogs on rotations. You can go in and pet like little, you know, nice to pet a puppy before you go out and race the swim of your life. If you walk this way, this is the massage room. And this is the largest massage room I have ever been at any swim meet in my life. It's absurd. Up these stairs is the warm up side of the arena. And it is it is big. 10, 50 meter lanes right here, which is connected to seven short course meter lanes right here. One of the smartest things they did was they staggered blocks across the pool. So they have a starting block lane, no block starting block lane, no block. And then it alternates on the other side. So there's lots of dive sprint lanes. It never gets too congested for people that are trying to do pace stretch cord lanes. Everything's labeled. They really thought it through really well. If I had to come up with one nitpick, this warm up pool is a little too shallow. It's not the same depth as the competition pool, which is minorish. But, you know, my nitpick, there's change tents all over. So you don't have to walk very far to the bathroom to put your suit on. Cold tubs set to 45 degrees for cooling down after your races. Only nitpick. I wish we also had hot tubs to do the contrast. Nevertheless, this is awesome. I have been to a lot of really cool, loud suites in my life. But when Lilly King walked out for the final of the Women's Hunter Breaststroke a few nights ago, the roar of the crowd was the loudest thing I have ever witnessed at a swimming. It was insane. That might be the biggest curtain I've ever seen. It's like it's preposterous. I don't even know how they make curtains that big. Now, let me take you on a walkthrough of what it's like to go through the ready room process at an Olympic trials final in this venue. Leaving the warm up pool here. The first call room and ready rooms are over here. This is the first call room where you take your seat before your race. Then they walk you this way to the second call room just up these stairs. They parade you out this way. And then this is the final standing waiting area before you walk out in front of the largest LED screen I've ever seen. You watch the final heat before you finish, and then they call your name and you walk out and it is as epic as it looks on TV. Isn't this cool? I'm just trying not to cry. Keep it together. When I started this YouTube channel six years ago, my goal was to create a show where I showed the ins and outs of the world of an Olympic swimmer. Most importantly, the really fun experiences like coming to places like this, doing tours like this, showing the behind the scenes like this is my favorite thing. That's the thing that I wanted to see when I was young. So I hope that you have all enjoyed it because I still truly love doing this. About an hour ago, my sister and I walked around the Aqua Zone just down the road. And there is a massive billboard of me over the street. And it is one of the coolest things that I have ever seen. Little 10 year old me is freaking out. I still can't believe I'm 32 years old. I still can't believe it's real. Look at it. I'm like, I can't I can't believe that's me. It's it's just it is absolutely, absolutely wild. So you never know that legitimately could be you someday. This is what just a little bit of YouTube success gets you. A little bit of good swim good. Mostly YouTube. Another important note. There is just under a thousand athletes competing in this competition. And because this place is so massive, you would never know. And because there's so much bathroom space, all the locker rooms, there's always a stall, which is a lot of times assuming it's a big problem where it's like you got to go to the bathroom and you got to wait in line. There's no lines. There's always stalls. Silly things I think about. It's like when you got to go, you got to go. My absolute favorite thing, the snacks, drinks everywhere. Water snacks everywhere. Popcorn stocking up completely on popcorn. I'd like to congratulate all the athletes who competed in this competition, especially the Paris Olympians, who will be representing us this summer. Thank you to all the fans who came out and cheered us on. You made this environment epic. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and followed me on this journey. Over the years. I want to thank my mom for putting me in swimming over 22 years ago. Big shout out to coach Chris Barber and Ron Aiken of the Sandpipers of Nevada. I never could have done anything without them. I love my Indiana Hoosiers. My head coach Ray Luz, coach John, coach Corey. You guys are the best. Thank you, Hoosier Athletic Club and coach Sean. Thank you, Ali, for always supporting me. I love you and our awesome boys. My sister, Katie, I love you. My in-laws, Chuck and Kathy, Zach, y'all are the best. And my partner in crime, Lilly King. You're welcome for introducing you to James. And a huge thank you to Tear. Tear was my very first sponsor that I ever had way, way back in the day when I was a mid-level national teamer and absolutely no one knew my name. They took a big chance on me. Click the link down below to check out all the awesome Tear stuff that I've been sporting this week. And all the fastest swimmers in the world have been wearing like Lilly King and Katie Ledecky. My favorite Venzo racing suit, goggles all there down there in the link below. This has been an absolute blast. Definitely the coolest pool I have ever swam in. Next week, I'll have a full race breakdown video for all of you. So, as always, until my next video, I will see you all later.