"I don’t think being a student-athlete is something that defines me. I think that swimming is just an aspect of my life, but it doesn’t necessarily change my viewpoints or my morals or my beliefs. I like to think of myself as just myself and swimming is just a part of that self. I treat [swimming] as a number of things: I see it as a way of not only self-improvement, you know, me striving to be my very best self, but also as a contribution towards a team collective as a whole. Then also, I see it as, honestly, an escape from the world. When you’re underwater and you’re submerged, you are completely free from all of your worries and all of your stresses that might impact you out of the water. It’s like a whole different world."
YaleSpeaks - Carrie Heilbrun