The Morning Swim Show, August 22, 2012: Chloe Sutton’s Focus Now Squarely on 400 Freestyle

PHOENIX, Arizona, August 22. THOUGH she didn't get the result she desired, Chloe Sutton talks about the positive experience she had at the Olympics on today's edition of The Morning Swim Show.

Sutton, who swam the 400 free in London, said that event will be her focus going forward, and discussed how that will affect her training at the Mission Viejo Nadadores. She said she does not miss open water swimming, which is what brought her to notoriety, and instead is looking forward to her dynamic working relationship with Bill Rose for a return to the Olympics. Be sure to visit SwimmingWorld.TV for more video interviews.

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Morning Swim Show Transcripts
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Jeff Commings: This is the Morning Swim Show for Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012. I am your host Jeff Commings. Today in the FINIS Monitor we have 2 time Olympian Chloe Sutton, who is one of those rare swimmers to make the Olympic team in the pool and open water. Chloe joins us right now from her home in Mission Viejo, California. Chloe, good to see you again.

Chloe Sutton: Hi.

Jeff: How are you doing?

Chloe: Thank you so much, it is great to be on again.

Jeff: Yeah, I am sure it is also great to be back home after a long time away.

Chloe: Definitely, definitely. I mean, everything in the past couple of months have been absolutely amazing, but it's always nice to come home and just relax a little bit.

Jeff: And imagine, you are taking a little break from the pool?

Chloe: Yeah, I am taking all the break I think about a month and it is driving me crazy honestly, but I feel like I really need this break so it is good for me.

Jeff: Is this, was this break decided on by you or by Coach Rose?

Chloe: I mean, kind of a joint decision, Coach Rose is at junior nationals and a bunch of open water races right now and he knows that I needed a break too so he told me to just relax, make sure I cross train a little bit so I have been hiking and running and trying to stay in shape.

Jeff: Yeah, you are not the type of person I would imagine who could just sit still.

Chloe: Absolutely not I have to keep very active so you know, it is the mental break that I really needed.

Jeff: Right, right. So you swam the 400 free in London. Didn't really get the result you wanted. I am sure you wanted to make that Olympic final, but overall what did you learn from your time in London?

Chloe: I mean every– you know this is my second Olympics so I won't say every Olympics, but you know you go through the whole process and you come out almost a different person, you know you mature throughout the whole process and I learned an infinite amount of things about myself and new things about just the world and life in general. It is the whole thing. It is just such a great process. I think the thing that I wanted the most is that I am really need to work on being more aggressive and you know not to just swim prelims and expect to make finals, so I know the things I could get changed and I am really excited to be sit down with Coach Rose and discuss everything and make the changes that I need to make.

Jeff: And I am sure it is full steam ahead to 2016?

Chloe: Absolutely, you know coming out guns blazing and I am going to get back in the water in the middle of September and just attack it and I will be ready for Barcelona and think I am going to short course worlds in December and in the end just going to start back up and not stop until we get to Rio.

Jeff: Yeah, how does your performance in London motivate you for what is to come in these next four years?

Chloe: You know I don't know if it was my performance in general that motivated me, it was watching everybody else afterwards. You know I only swam on day two and then I was able to sit in the stand and really be a part of the cheering section of Team U.S.A and I was just so inspired watching everybody do so amazing. You know part of me is just so wishing that I could be up there you know winning a medal or swimming as amazing as most of our team did and you know and then the other part of me was just so happy for everybody that swam. So yeah, just being able to be a part of it and watch everybody and see the emotions that people go through and want that for myself so that is the most inspiring thing for me.

Jeff: Do you think anything drastic is going to change for you in or out of the pool?

Chloe: Yeah, I am going to make some I guess you could say drastic changes. Just kind of focusing on being more of a pool swimmer. You know I still kind of trained like a long distance swimmer so now I am going to be able to focus more on sprint work, speed based type of stuff trying to get that going out speed in my races. I know I can't negative split my races anymore because it is not going to work. That worked so well when I was open water swimmer but you know I can't just wait till the end. So we are getting speed I couldn't even change my dry land, a bit. I am going to change my body shape. I want to really lean up and kind of start going gluten free right now to see how that works and just I think most of this time in the next couple of years that is going to be playing with things and what works and what doesn't, and just you know experiencing with my training and figuring out a way to be faster.

Jeff: Now you, after the 2008 Olympics where you swam in the first open water Olympic race you decided in 2010 that you are going to focus only on pool swimming. Looking back do you wish you had at least stayed with the open water training and maybe even competing in it?

Chloe: No. I don't regret my decision at all. I knew at the time what I needed to do and what I wanted to do and so I am very happy with my decision. I still love open water you know I have so many friends at the open water and I support them in that and I mean I still follow the sport really closely, but I don't have any– want to compete anymore and I am happy with what I am doing.

Jeff: I imagine when you got back from London there was a lot of support from that Mission Viejo family, which has a lot of history with putting people on the Olympic team. Tell me what that support has been like for you since the trials?

Chloe: Yeah, my whole swim team is so supportive. Everybody is you know a part of this journey with me and I love the whole community and how much they put into me being able to get to this place and then of course my family. You know this is, they actually got to go to London with me, which was their first time out of the country. Their first traveling with me to a swim meet and the support that they have shown throughout the whole process and their confidence in me for the years to come has meant a lot.

Jeff: I know you have said in the past with interviews and what not that you know you probably wouldn't be where you are without the work that you put in with Coach Rose. Tell me what that dynamic is like between the two of you.

Chloe: I could go on forever about Coach Rose, but I think simplest way to put it is that we understand each other, and he knows how hard I am on myself, so he is able to keep me happy, keep me light, but still keep me motivated at the same time. You know it is just so obvious how smart he is with talking to me and because I'm a teenage girl, I guess I am 20 now, I can't call myself a teenager anymore but he has gotten to just managing my — I guess emotions and my passion. You know he is good at making sure that it is a productive source of energy for me instead of something that makes me waste energy because I am so passionate about my swimming and you know I get so into it and sometimes I just have these blinders on, and he helps me just you know just relax a little bit and open myself up and make sure that I am not you know burying myself into my swimming so he is just, he is a great person. He is you know just such a friend to me and being a coach also he has got the best, he has got my best interest and I just love working with him.

Jeff: You have been on the national scene for pretty much the last 5 years, mostly in open water, and you made in the transition into the pool. What are your thoughts on how your career has gone so far?

Chloe: I honestly thought I would be a lot farther along at this point. I was really hoping to come home with a medal of some kind you know. I was hoping in 2008, and I was planning on it this time and you know these things don't work out and you know, but then you will look at so many people like Dana Vollmer who you know who really broke out this year and I still have hope that you know I have a lot more in me and maybe once I change some things and figure out my training and you know my diet and a lot of other things a little bit more, hopefully I have that as well in me someday but right now I am just enjoying the ride. I mean I got to go to the Olympics games I am so grateful for that. The experiences that I have been able to have being part of such you know something so huge as the London Olympics and you know the 2012 Olympic Swim team and you know you can see you just you know the whole team is just so amazing. I am just so lucky to be a part of that so I am grateful for that.

Jeff: And plus just like you said you are 20 years old. You have got a long history, long swimming career ahead of you so —

Chloe: Thank you.

Jeff: There is a lot more time to reach those goals.

Chloe: Thank you so much.

Jeff: Yeah, it is great to see you again Chloe. Enjoy the rest of your vacation and I am sure when you get back in the pool you and coach Rose will be grinding it out like you guys do at Mission Viejo.

Chloe: We plan on that, thank you so much. See you later.

Jeff: All right see you later Chloe. All right so that is Chloe Sutton talking about her experiences in London and that is going to do it for today's Morning Swim Show. As always we invite you to comment and join us on Facebook and Twitter. Our Twitter handle is @swimmingworld. I am Jeff Commings. Thanks for watching.

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