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New Zealand Olympian Ali Galyer Announces Retirement
New Zealand Olympian Ali Galyer on Monday announced her retirement from swimming, after competing for her country at the Tokyo Games.
Galyer made the announcement via social media.
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The native of Greenville, South Carolina, attended the University of Kentucky. She qualified for U.S. Olympic Trials in 2016 and won a national title at the 2017 AT&T Winter Nationals before switching to represent New Zealand. At the Tokyo Olympics, the 23-year-old finished 24th in the women’s 200-meter backstroke, 33rd in the 100 back and anchored New Zealand’s 12th-place 800 freestyle relay.
From Ali Galyer’s retirement letter:
As much as I am proud of myself for the career that I had, making it to the epitome of world sport, I hope more that I have been a role model for the younger generation to follow their dreams. To know that it might not feel worth it in the moment, but if you truly want to accomplish something that no one should stop you. You can achieve greatness.
Galyer was an All-American as a freshman and sophomore at Kentucky, a total of eight times (four first-team, four honorable mention). The 2015 and 2016 South Carolina High School swimmer of the year finished eighth in the 200 back at NCAAs as a freshman and sixth as a sophomore. She qualified for NCAAs all four years, with four runner-up finishes at SEC Championships and five third-place results. She followed in the footsteps of older sister Danielle Galyer, who won Kentucky’s first NCAA swimming title in 2016.
Ali Galyer was a member of the 2017 SEC All-Freshman Team and a four-time All-SEC second team honoree. She made the SEC Winter Academic Honor Roll three times and the CSCAA Scholar All-America first team three times majoring in marketing.
