By Matthew Barnard, Swimming World College Intern
Steele Johnson has returned to the Purdue Diving Team after an Olympic redshirt season that culminated with a silver medal in Rio with synchro partner David Boudia. The Carmel, Indiana native was back at the IUPUI Natatorium last weekend competing in the House of Champions Invitational, the same aquatic center where he made his first Olympic team in June. Swimming World sat down with Johnson to discus the past year and what lies ahead.
Swimming World: How has it been coming back to the pool where you made your first Olympic Team?
Steele Johnson: It’s cool being back in this pool because it’s not just the pool that I qualified for the Olympics in, but I also trained in this pool for about eight and a half years of my life. So It’s cool coming back and getting all the nostalgic memories, driving to practice, hanging out with the old team, but then there is also that sense of ‘this is where I made the Olympic team, this is where that dream became a reality’. Now walking into this pool, seeing my name on the wall with all the other great Olympic legends is something that brings a bit of that emotion back every time I come here.
SW: Having that dream become a reality, what did it mean to you to be part of Team USA in Rio?
SJ: It was cool being a part of Team USA in Rio, it’s cool to be on the Olympic Team, it’s cool to go to the Olympics, but to compete for Team USA is something I’d always dreamed of. There is this hyped sense of excitement when you’re on Team USA because the team is just so big, so dynamic and so diverse. It’s really a powerhouse country in not just diving but in all sports, so it’s cool to be on the same team as the most decorated Olympian of all time or the USA Basketball Team. Being on Team USA was really cool because you really got to meet and make friendships with all these people that you grew up idolizing as an athlete.
SW: Being heavily involved with social media, how did you handle that during the games?
SJ: During the games on a couple days leading up to each competition I would just shut down from social media, I wouldn’t go on it, I wouldn’t check anything. There are thousands of tweets and lots of comments coming in constantly just straight up either reflecting on what you’re doing or judging what you’re doing. When you’re getting ready for competition you don’t want to see what people are saying in a sense that they could be talking about results, and that can change your mentality going into the contest. So I just wanted to keep a neutral mindset during each dive and during each contest so I would just block it out a few days before and get back on once the excitement had slowed down a bit.
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
SW: How was last season as an Olympic redshirt?
SJ: It was nice taking a lot less classes last year and taking a redshirt year off from competing for Purdue because I was able to go on the World Series and get that international experience and just work on the dives I needed to fix. Having constant college competitions on 1 meter and 3 meter would have been a lot more taxing, so just focusing on platform was something that was really good for me.
SW: Coming back this year how has it been rejoining the Purdue team?
SJ: It’s been exciting joining the college team again. There is such a good dynamic and such it’s such a good fun group. Everyone is just having the time of their lives right now. With Team USA we are all focused on getting to the Olympics and getting that Olympic medal, but here we are just having a good time diving and enjoying the places we are going.
SW Being a young Purdue team how has your role as a leader been this year?
SJ: It’s weird because my freshman year I was one of only two freshman and everyone else was a senior, but now I’m a redshirt sophomore and there is no one older then Samm [Samm Reese] who is a junior and we don’t have any seniors. It’s cool though because everyone is so close in age, everyone is having good learning experiences not just from Samm or I but we are all learning from each other, I’m learning from Emily [Emily Meaney] or Brando [Brandon Loschiavo]. It’s been cool on this team because we are all so close in age and we are in similar points in our lives, so it’s great having that dynamic and having those people you can go to on a daily basis.
SW: What are you looking forward to in the next four years?
SJ: The next four years I’m just looking forward to doing what I’ve been doing the past four years. Hopefully qualify for the World Championships, World Cups, World Series, and continue to prepare for Tokyo in 2020.
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