Get to know Charlotte’s 6 Olympic swimmers
When the 2016 Olympic Games start in Rio, Charlotteans will have the opportunity to not just cheer on our fellow Americans and North Carolinians – but also our fellow Queen City residents.
Six Charlotte SwimMAC Elite swimmers qualified to compete for Team USA in August and we wanted to get to know them a little better. After a press conference yesterday, they shared their thoughts on Charlotte, food and pre-race rituals.
Katie Meili
Originally from: Colleyville, Texas.
Age: 25.
Moved to Charlotte: 3 years ago after graduating from Columbia University.
What was your first impression of Charlotte?
“When I first got here it was a little bit of a culture shock because I was used to fast-paced Yankees,” Meili said. “I missed being able to walk everywhere. I missed all the different options. …
“After being here three years now, I love Charlotte. It’s part of my identity now. I call it my hometown.”
What’s the one Charlotte thing you’ll miss the most while in Rio?
“It sounds stupid, but just driving around Charlotte and seeing all the beautiful homes and the trees – and just the way that the city was laid out, it feels comfortable and homey.”
Do you have any pre-race rituals?
“I used to be superstitious when I was younger. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that they’re kind of all pointless because I had good swims with superstitions and bad swims.”
Kathleen Baker
Originally from: Winston-Salem.
Age: 19.
Moved to Charlotte: When she was 14. She attends the University of California.
What was your first impression of Charlotte?
“I thought it was this huge city and there was so much going on, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten to experience more,” Baker said.
Baker says, among other things, she loves to do Food Truck Fridays with her friends and go Uptown for dinner.
What’s the one Charlotte thing you’ll miss the most while in Rio?
“Probably Lake Norman, that’s sort of where I’ve grown up. I love the lake, and I love the food – that’s something that I always miss.”
Do you have any pre-race rituals?
“I always get my nails done, and I always get them done in some type of sparkle.”
Ryan Lochte
Originally from: Daytona Beach, Fla.
Age: 31.
Moved to Charlotte: 3 years ago.
What was your first impression of Charlotte?
“I honestly didn’t know what to expect. … Being that I never grew up in a city, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, look at all those skyscrapers. This place is huge.’”
What’s the one Charlotte thing you’ll miss the most while in Rio?
Lochte says he will most miss the food. His favorite local places are Soul Gastrolounge and Fahrenheit.
Do you have any pre-race rituals?
Lochte said his big ritual is to have pizza and wings every Friday after practice.
Cammile Adams
Originally from: Cypress, Texas.
Age: 24.
Came to Charlotte: As a college student during the summers of 2013 and 2014, and moved here permanently 18 months ago after graduating from Texas A&M.
What was your first impression of Charlotte?
Adams said she loved Charlotte when she first arrived.
What’s the one Charlotte thing you’ll miss the most while in Rio?
Famous Toastery– a Dilworth restaurant frequented by the SwimMAC swimmers.
Do you have any pre-race rituals?
Adams’ pre-race ritual is throwing water on her face and then spitting it back into the lane, she said.
Anthony Ervin
Originally from: Valencia, Calif.
Age: 35.
Moved to Charlotte: 3 months ago. (His parents have lived in Charlotte for 12 years.)
What was your first impression of Charlotte?
Ervin says he had visited Charlotte many times over the past 12 years, since his parents lived here. He had always found SwimMAC Elite Coach David Marsh very welcoming in his visits to the city.
What’s the one Charlotte thing you’ll miss the most while in Rio?
“My family, I mean, come on,” Ervin said. (Ervin’s older brother is coming to Rio, he said.)
“The ability to sit and have meals with my parents, with my brother and his wife, my new nephew – that’s really what holds me together through this time,” he said.
Do you have any pre-race rituals?
Feigen says that the entire week or even season before an event becomes an “idiosyncratic development” and that it would take too long to describe it.
But, he says, he does have a message to aspiring athletes.
“I get very nervous. It becomes an all-consuming task to stay calm, to keep myself open, don’t let myself get closed in,” he said. “When you feel the pressures, you heap them upon yourself … and it can make you close down and shrivel up. Despite that, stay open and stay calm.”
Jimmy Feigen
Originally from: San Antonio, Texas.
Age: 26.
Moved to Charlotte: September 2015.
What was your first impression of Charlotte?
“I was moving from a place I really loved, Austin, Texas. … I was honestly pretty pessimistic about it,” he said.
But once he got here, he changed his outlook.
“It was pretty great. It was fun. It was vibrant,” Feigen said.
What’s the one Charlotte thing you’ll miss the most while in Rio?
Once again, Famous Toastery. Feigen says they have a strawberry and cream cheese-stuffed french toast that he loves.
Do you have any pre-race rituals?
“I kind of Russell Crowe it,” Feigen said.
When he was 9, he and some friends snuck into “The Gladiator.” During the movie, he saw Russell Crowe pick up sand and rub it in hands.
The next race, he did the same thing with the pool water.
“I started that when I was 10 years old, and I still do it at 26,” Feigen said.
Feature photo: Photo 1: Mark Hames/Charlotte Observer Photo 2: Media handout Photo 3: Robert Lahser, Charlotte Observer Photo 4: Getty Images Photo 5: Getty Images Photo 6: Getty Images
This story was originally published July 8, 2016 at 12:16 AM with the headline "Get to know Charlotte’s 6 Olympic swimmers."