100 breaststroke Olympic bronze medalist Katie Meili graduated from law school on Saturday, she announced on social media. Meili had enrolled at Georgetown School of Law in the fall 0f 2017 after she won an individual silver medal in the 100 breaststroke at the World Championships, finishing ahead of Russia’s Yulia Efimova in one of the biggest surprises of the championships.
Meili was one of the highly respected members of Team USA, having earned team captain status at the 2017 World Championships. She also served as a speaker at the 2018 LEAD Summit, and was a leader in learn-to-swim clinics at the 2019 US Nationals. Meili had qualified to swim at the 2019 World Championships in the 100 breaststroke while volunteer coaching at Georgetown, and flying across the country on occasion to train with David Marsh in San Diego.
But she gave up her spot to Micah Sumrall, believing she didn’t necessarily have the drive to train for a World Championships and pursue a law degree at the same time. She retired in July 2019.
The coronavirus has eliminated in-person graduations all throughout the United States, but Meili was still able to pose in her cap and gown. Meili also earned an undergrad degree at Columbia in 2013 in Psychology.
Katie Meili also swam at the Olympics in 2016, winning a bronze in the 100 breast and also swam on the gold medal winning medley relay team in the morning. She finished her career sixth all-time in the 100 breaststroke with her 1:05.03 from 2017.