Q and A with Felicia Lee

Felicia Lee is one of our up-and-coming National Junior Team members who will be competing in her first Olympic Trials next summer. Training under Paul Yetter at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club she's already won two National titles in the 100 fly and just finished up a very successful summer winning her first international gold at Junior Pan Pacs and traveling with the US team to Japan for their new Grand Prix event. Sports Illustrated has already recognized Felicia in their "Faces in the Crowd" section and has predicted her to be a future Olympic star. I'm not going to argue with them.



1. Going into this year which are you most excited about - your first Olympic Trials or your 16th birthday?

Haha, that's pretty tough. I would have to say I'm more excited about my first Olympic Trials since that only comes around once every four years and the opportunity to race in one of the fastest meets ever is definitely exciting. But then again I'm pretty stoked about my 16th birthday because I can have a sweet sixteen party and finally being able to drive.

2. You are probably what some would call a long shot for a spot on the 2008 Olympic team but you've often been called a precocious swimmer and you have quite a precocious coach as well. What is your attitude going into your first Olympic Trials and what goals have you set for yourself?

Going into trials, I'm just going to have fun, be confident, and swim the best that I can. Basically I want to treat trials like any other national meet. As for goals, again, I just want to swim to the best of my ability and see what happens from there.

3. You had a great summer of firsts representing the United States on your first Junior National Team and winning your first international medal in the 100 fly at Junior Pan Pacs. You also swam a new personal best of 59.46 in the 100 fly at the Japanese Grand Prix. Was this your breakout year or will everyone be looking at 2008 as the year Felicia Lee took the pool by storm?

The past year has definitely been great for me. Representing the US was an awesome experience and I hope I can do more of that in the future. As far as the breakout year, I feel that this year was a learning experience for me and I know I can improve on certain things with my stroke. So after some adjustments, I'm hoping next year will be my breakout year.

4. Much like Brendan, you don't have to look far to find inspirational training mates. How does being in the pool with swimmers such as Katie Hoff and Courtney Kalisz effect the way you train?

Being in the same pool and training with Katie and Courtney definitely affect the way I train. Having the best swimmers in the country training with you creates this competitive atmosphere in practice, and I love it. Katie and Courtney, as well as the other members of our training group, are there pushing me and motivating me to swim faster every single practice.

5. The latest trend is to ask for the top 5 hottest male/female swimmers, but I'm more interested in hearing some other superlatives.

Nicest?

Elizabeth Beisel and Katie Hoff

Funniest?

Hands down, it's gotta be Allison Schmitt.

Smartest?

Tara Kirk

Most likely to win 8 gold medals in Beijing?

Probably Michael Phelps.

ok, ok....Hottest?

Haha, Ryan Lochte.

Felicia also asked me to give a special shout out to our own Timtheswimmer. He's famous like that y'all.

Tara Kirk up next week!