The sport of swimming has taught me many things in my life, notably hard work, dedication, and sacrifice. But it has also built confidence, resilience, and, most importantly, community. After spending nearly four decades as a professional swimmer, I know firsthand how powerful the pool can be. Whether you’re chasing Olympic medals like I was, or pursuing personal fitness goals, swimming is truly a sport for everyone, and I want to see it stay that way.
Over the course of my professional swimming career, I competed in the 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2008 Olympic Games and won 12 medals.
Yet what I’m most proud of isn’t the color of the medals or how many I’ve won; it’s what I learned about myself and the road I took to become the best I could be.
Thousands of hours of hard work went into preparing for each Olympic Games, but my experience preparing for 2008 was unique.
After giving birth to my daughter in 2006, I knew that making it back to the Olympics at 41 years of age would require setting goals and making sure I surrounded myself with a team that was different than ever before.
We all had the same goal in common: winning a gold medal. Yes, I had my swimming coaches, but I also hired a strength coach, massage therapist, and two stretching coaches to ensure that my mind and body were ready to perform.
Each coach was the best in their fields because I knew if I wanted to be the best I couldn’t do it by myself.
Our collective strength ended up being stronger than my own, and all our efforts led to me standing on the podium in Beijing winning my 10th, 11th and 12th Olympic medals.
As a result, the importance of team was truly revealed to me. Yet I learned that it was not just about building any team; it was also about carefully crafting a group of individuals to meet specific needs in a specific moment.
This is why now, as a motivational speaker and entrepreneur, I travel around the country with the goal of inspiring others to build great teams around them to achieve their goals.
My story represents what happens when you surround yourself with the right people, who support you for the right goal, at the right time.
This idea applies not only to athletes,
but to anyone who is ambitious enough to push for something more. As a businesswoman, I like to call this process building partnerships.
A great current example is happening in Los Angeles at my alma mater, Harvard-Westlake.
The school has cultivated numerous community partnerships for its proposed River Park project in Studio City. The school’s collaborations with Angel City Sports and the Special Olympics of Southern California, in particular, fill me with pride knowing that youth and adults with disabilities will have opportunities to swim.
More importantly, these partnerships help Harvard-Westlake achieve its goal of fostering an inclusive and welcoming community space for everyone to enjoy.
I firmly believe that the only way we’ll build an equitable society is if we infuse this value into every aspect of our lives.
When we choose whom to partner with, inclusivity must be top of mind. True inclusion empowers those who have been historically marginal individuals, businesses, and institutions across all sectors must challenge their existing norms and think differently, by thinking inclusively, to accomplish their objectives. Whom we choose to partner with today will dictate our success tomorrow.
Dara Torres is a five-time U.S. Olympian, earning 12 medals during her career. She is now a motivational speaker and entrepreneur.
