Ahead Quote by Jessica Long

With athletes, it's never fully understood the level to which we push ourselves. Especially in an endurance sport.

— Clara Hughes

It has nothing to do with swimming. That happens to be my sport. I'm trying to see how far I can go

— Mark Spitz

I've got to go out there and do a job and focus on swimming and do my own thing, and I think us athletes…

— Ellie Simmonds

In most sports they have a physical effect on your performance, in swimming only psychological. If you worry about what your rival is doing,…

— Louis Fabian Bachrach, Jr

Doing is a quantum leap from imagining. Thinking about swimming isn't much like actually getting in the water. Actually getting in the water can…

— Barbara Sher

I probably have a different mental approach to swimming than most people. I actually enjoy training.

— Dawn Fraser

The only reason I started swimming was for water safety. Then, once I started falling in love with sports, I got more comfortable with…

— Michael Phelps

You are always racing against the other swimmers, but I always try to just focus on what I'm doing and how I want to…

— Katie Ledecky

Part of being an athlete is constantly striving for more. We're looking for perfection in a world where that doesn't exist. No matter what…

— Tessa Virtue

For me, it's just kind of a chase for self-improvement in and out of the water. That's why I do enjoy the sport.

— Caeleb Dressel

I don’t know why we do it. But sometimes we just swim straight for the net.

— Deb Caletti

I think it's just having grown up around all that, it inspires you to excel in the sport that maybe your parents did. We…

— Emma McKeon