Lethbridge Herald, April 10, 2024.
Written by Justin Seward
Lethbridge Herald
Rachel Nicholl reflected on her successful career as a swimmer after announcing her retirement from competitive swimming after 26 years earlier this year.
Asked how she felt about her retirement, Nicole said, “Overall, I feel good.”
“I am happy with this decision, but I have no regrets so far…I'm happy in a way. I'm also on the other side of things. Just like when I went to the (University of Calgary) Dinos' swim meet as a coach a while ago, I was kind of happy to be on the other side… As a coach, you worry about other things, but I'm worried. You don't have to be about all of the race day trivial things you need to do to become a swimmer. So that was kind of cool. ”
Nicole credits swimming with shaping her into the person she is today.
“If it wasn't for swimming, I wouldn't have gone to school in America. Swimming really helped me grow as a person,” she said.
“I was a really introverted, quiet kid and didn't have a lot of life or social experience, so it was really hard for me to move away from home. But it was definitely one of the best decisions I made. It was because of swimming, so I always look back very fondly on my days at SMU (Southern Methodist University) and all the things I learned there and became the person I became.”
Nicole was lucky enough to become an Olympian in Rio 2016.
“If I hadn't made the Olympic team, I think I would have been perfectly fine. I wouldn't have made the Olympic team either and life would go on and that's okay,” Nicole said.
“But I still think that what I can say that I did was what people asked when I made the Olympic team.” Oh, is it still sinking in that you were selected for the Olympic team? And I say, no, I'm sure you would feel that way if you actually went to the Olympics and competed and came back. And I still feel like it was just a fever dream that happened and that it was an out-of-body experience that I was even there. But as it really is, it means a lot to all the difficult things I've been through. ”
She placed fifth in the 4×100 medley relay and 100m breaststroke at the Olympics.
She finished her career as a champion by winning the 100m breaststroke and 4x100m medley relay at the 2023 Pan American Games.
She also was runner-up in the 100-meter medley relay four times and won a bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2015 Pan Am Games.
Other past accomplishments include a third-place finish in the 4×100 meter medley relay. long course world championship At the 2016 Short Course World Championships, she was runner-up in the 4x100m medley relay.
In 2010, he earned one first place and two third places at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.
“They're all special because swimming was really, really difficult for me,” she said.
“And all those medals mean that even if it didn’t work out, I had the courage to stand on the block and have the courage to swim that race…and all those medals , even the ones when I was a player, the kids, regional competitions, club competitions, all of them are really meaningful because they all lead to big medals in the end.”
Nicole's fondest memory from Team Canada is getting in the pool with the Icelandic swimmers. In the semi-finals of the 2017 World Championship, she faced Hilda Luthersdottir.
“She was in the lane next to me, so we all marched for the race, and everything was very serious,” Nicole recalled.
“In swimming, you have your own lane and the lane is pretty wide, so we're pretty far apart from each other. So we're on the block… getting ready to go in. Hilda comes up behind me and… He tapped me on the shoulder and gave me double high fives up and down and I was like, let's go, let's go, this is so exciting and so great. And a little bit more excitement and endorphins. Just by stepping up, (and) getting up on the block, I achieved my best ever breaststroke time of 50 seconds. I never touched that time again, but my best time in the 50 was about half a second. I did. That’s a really big deal.”
She praises her parents Chris and Lorraine, her brothers Geoffrey and Alastair, and her fiancé Ojem Izegbu. Various teammates, coaches and mental health consultant Charlene Hoare helped her.
Her plan is to relax after 26 years of competitive swimming and enjoy her part-time job at TCR Sports Lab and Bike Shop in Calgary.
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