Four years ago, when Leah Smith participated in her first Olympic Trials, the thought of actually making it to London was not feasible in her mind.
“The word ‘Olympics’ really scared me,” Smith, now a junior, said.
Fifteen years ago, no one in her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pa. would even imagine that 5-year-old Smith would one day be a dominate force on the national and international swimming circuit — especially not Smith herself. A year after she started swim lessons, her mother signed her up for summer swim league.
“I wasn’t really too excited about starting swimming,” she admitted. “I was only really doing it because my siblings were doing it.”
However, she stuck with it, and by age 10, her feelings about swimming had started to change.
“By the time I was 10, I had been like starting to set goals for myself,” Smith said. “There were different things that I wanted to qualify for, like different meets that I wanted to win. … I had started enjoying it and [was] also thinking of how far it could take me.”
This change in heart may have been sparked by two people who also hung around her pool — her older sister, Aileen, who swims for Columbia, and her childhood coach, Al Rose.
“My sister was kind of the first person to show me what it means to work hard,” Smith said. “She kind of just showed me the ropes, and I will never be able to thank her for that.”
Smith described Rose as “one of the wisest people that I know.” He was the coach who helped her get to the international stage.
“[He was the] first person to make me believe in myself, that I could do more than just things locally,” Smith added.
After a wild high school career that included medaling multiple times at the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Championships and twice at the 2011 Winter National Championships, Leah decided to continue swimming at the college level.
She took the allowed five official visits, with the other four schools ranked higher than Virginia at the time.
“I was taking a chance [on Virginia],” she said, “[but] comparing the [Virginia] team to all the other ones, it was just the one that I meshed with the most. I was really excited to be able to have the opportunity to spend four years here.”
Smith has been an outstanding success at her father’s alma mater — where he was on the track and field team from 1982-86 — winning the NCAA titles for the 500 and 1,650 frees in 2015 and 2016. Her four individual NCAA championships are the most held by a single Virginia athlete ever.
Today, four years later, as she prepares for her second Trials, the word “Olympics” no longer scares her.
“When I hear it, and my coach talks about it, it’s like kind of a more real thing and ... I’ve stopped being scared about it, and I’ve started getting excited,” she said.
Swimming in the 200, 400 and 800 frees, Smith feels positive about her shot to make it to Rio.
“I am not sure which one I have the best chance in, but I am going to give it all I’ve got,” she said with a pure confidence.
And what will happen with her career after this summer?
“I haven’t really started thinking about the college season yet,” Smith said. “But my coach and I always talk about how it is just a step-by-step process.”
She mentioned the fact that Katie Ledecky will be making her debut on the college stage for Stanford next season, saying that it is “probably going to be pretty challenging to keep up with her.”
She ended by saying that despite the arrival of some stiff competition, she is “not going to put it out of my mind that I cannot do well.”
“I am excited for a challenge,” Smith said.
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