Joe Johnson - (Author)

A Look Back at the Aquatic Events of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern.  With the summer of Tokyo a little less than a year away, it’s time to take a look back at one of the most pivotal modern Olympics, the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain. A total of 169 countries par...

The "Ins and Outs" of Lifeguarding: Appreciating the Heroes in Red and White By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern. Lifeguarding: the quintessential summer job. Perched on a stand towering over the water or seated at the guard office welcoming swimmers in. Most people are familiar with the masses th...

Celebrating Pride Month and LGBTQ Swimming Community June is Pride Month, a time to celebrate love and acceptance of all people, no matter their identity or orientation. Today, as we reach the end of Pride Month, we highlight LGBTQ members of the aquatic world who have spoken out about their identit...

Who Are They: Meet 7 Unsung Swim Heroes Not all heroes wear goggles. Making sure a swim meet runs smoothly involves much more work than you may think. While swimmers physically exert themselves and earn recognition at meets, the effort needed to organize and execute the meet is often unheralded. Thi...

Michael Jordan and the Greats of Swimming: Unique Connections From 'The Last Dance' By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern. How do we define the “greats” of each sport? Is there a scale we use to measure their prowess? A certain quota of championships won or records broken that earns them such titles...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern.  Every summer, swimmers from all walks of life flock to Lake Tahoe, Ca., to compete in the Olympic Club Trans Tahoe Relay. Olympians, Masters swimmers and past college teammates alike eagerly await to partake in this annual event. Founded in 1976, the Trans Tah...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern. The swimmers on the last night of the 2019 Speedo Sectionals Greensboro truly left all they had in the pool. Through a series of close, and not so close, races, major time drops and personal victories, the final night of the meet certainly did not lack anticipa...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern. After two days of nonstop excitement and competitive racing, the swimmers on night three of the Greensboro Speedo Sectionals delivered another heightened evening of competition. Kentucky Aquatics kicked off the finals by winning the first three events. Multiple...

A tie for first place, teammate filled podiums, maragin-of-a-second wins and personal bests: night two of the 2019 Speedo Sectionals Greensboro had it all! Feeding off the energy of Thursday night's success, swimmers competing in the finals for Friday left all they had in the pool in pursuit of team...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern. The first night of the 2019 Speedo Sectionals in Greensboro was full of nail-biter races, personal bests and victors of all ages. From Zachary Brown's dominant performance in the 200 fly, to Lakeside Swim Team's impressive relay standings, there was certainly n...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World College Intern. The term "marathon swimming" may sound daunting and unfamiliar to those on the outside of the swimming community. It is even intimidating to those within who are used to clear waters, walls and black lines. But to the tenacious marathon swimmer Catherin...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern. The weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer, parkas are being gleefully replaced with tank-tops and shorts, outdoor pools are open and there seems to be one word on everyones mind: SUMMER! For swimmers who spend the school year balancing academic...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern. When the months of April and May roll around and spring championship meet season finally ends, high school swimmers trade in their knee skins and sweatpants for tuxedos and dresses. The season of prom is unlike any other, especially within the swimming communit...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern.  Between attending practices, lifting weights, eating nutritious meals and traveling for meets, it seems as if Olympic swimmers can hardly take a moment to catch their breath. However, this is not the case. Just like anyone else, world-record holders and gold m...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern.  After achieving international glory and arriving home to the states as a champion, several Olympic swimmers have used their platform to support certain causes and spend time giving back to their communities. While almost all professional athletes have found ti...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern.  Why wake up at 4 a.m. to stumble around a dimly lit rec center and take a reluctant plunge into the cold pool? Why put up with the permanently wet hair and stench of chlorine with hopes of shaving off hundreds of a second? These questions often rattle around i...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern.  There’s nothing fans love to see more than two of their favorite athletes posing together for an Instagram photo. On the rare occasion when Olympic swimmers emerge from the pool to socialize, some of them have found time to hang out and even form friendships w...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern.  Over the past few years there has been an explosion of social media trends in the swimming community. Swimmers of all ages flock to Instagram, Facebook or Twitter to post videos of themselves participating in a certain challenge. Olympians have even joined in ...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern. Summer swim leagues are often a child's first exposure to competitive swimming and can foster a lifetime love for the sport. Five-year-olds sporting neon googles hesitantly enter the pool upon their parents' pleading and leave 13 years later with the biggest sm...

By Kate Walter, Swimming World Intern. While most teens worried about passing their Driver's Ed course or finishing their summer reading, 15-year-old Katie Ledecky had other issues on her mind. It was August of 2012, and the naive Olympian was preparing to swim in the 800 meter freestyle final at th...