I would probably get ice cream afterward because I have a big sweet-tooth. “My favorite part about Summer Swim were the meets,” said Claire, who spoke to the Guardian before she flew out to Tokyo, “because everyone just gawked at this little blonde girl who liked to swim fast. On Tuesday nights, the pool lit up with floodlights and filled up for “Summer Swim,” where the kids could win medals or, at the very least, score some pizza and ice cream. Claire’s swimming career began at that outdoor community pool in Cary, North Carolina, where her father and uncle hosted water safety and races for the neighborhood children. Of course, a lot of other moments had to happen before this one. “It’s one of those mind-blowing, pinch-yourself moments.” “You see these parents say that their kids will be in the Olympics someday, and everyone tells you this will come to fruition, but it wasn’t a done deal until I saw the number two behind her name on the biggest stage in the country,” said Mark, who swam for his Santa Barbara high school. Claire qualified in June with a time of 56.43 seconds in a three-way sprint for second place across the length of a football pitch.

She’s not even the team’s youngest member, heralding in a true changing of the guard for the 53-member team. At 6am on Saturday, he’ll proudly watch from home as his 17-year-old daughter competes in the 100m butterfly at the Olympics in Tokyo.Ĭlaire is one of four US swimmers under the age of 18 competing for Team USA in Japan.

Fourteen years ago, he watched proudly as his daughter, Claire, kept up with – and even beat – the six-year-olds in 15-yard races at their local community pool.

T. huske olympic games tokyo 2020