Tracie Ruiz<\/strong> became the first synchronized swimming duet to win Olympic gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Here she discusses her discovery of the sport, her friendship with her fellow Olympic gold medalist, the legacy of the Olympics and her life today.<\/p>\nWhere did you grow up and how did you get started in synchro? Did you play other sports as well? What was it about synchro that kept you in the sport?<\/h3>\n
I grew up in Seattle, Washington. My mother was a diver and a swimmer, so she had me in the water early on. I learned how to swim at Green Lake and to this day remember how the June air felt so chilly first thing in the morning. But I absolutely loved being in the water! I started on the swim team at the Washington Athletic Club when I was about 8 or 9. I couldn\u2019t stand swim meets \u2013 the gun going \u201cbang\u201d just made me crazy for some reason. One day after swim practice I was headed to the locker room and heard music playing from the pool area. I leaned over the balcony and saw these two pretty women standing on the side of the pool, and girls in the water doing all kinds of crazy things to the music. That was it, I was hooked. I told my mother I was going back down to the pool and that she would just have to wait to go home. I introduced myself to Diane Smith and said, \u201cWhat is this? I want to do that!\u201d From that day on I spent no less than five to seven days a week at and in the pool practicing synchronized swimming.\u00a0I stayed with the sport\u00a0because\u00a0I\u00a0loved the combination of music, creativity and\u00a0athleticism.<\/p>\n
What was it like in the synchro of your youth? What was the process to join the national team?<\/h3>\n
Of course our coaches, Charlotte Davis and Gail Brennan, and her sister Diane Smith, experienced the earlier days of synchronized swimming \u2013 the pre-Olympic era. Synchronized swimming was VERY different then than it is now; much the same as the evolution in figure skating. Tracie and I were on the cusp of that evolution. In the 1984 Olympic Games, the first ever for synchronized swimming, we were still doing individual stationary figures in competition. This means each team is also judged heavily on the individual performance of each member. It was a lot of pressure, and there was a huge focus on fundamental skills. Personally, I would have preferred to swim under today\u2019s dynamic, splashy format. Unfortunately, I would be about 4 inches too short!<\/p>\n
What were your first thoughts once you learned you were going to compete at the Olympics? Was that always a dream?<\/h3>\n
There was always a lot of talk swirling around about when synchronized swimming would be included in the Olympics as an official sport. The U.S. team had done demonstrations at the Olympics several times, but the rumors about\u00a0inclusion really started heating up in the early 1980s.\u00a0I was an Olympic addict\u00a0\u2013\u00a0I loved\u00a0everything about the Olympics and what it stood for.\u00a0I remember the exact moment the U.S. hockey team won the gold in 1980.\u00a0I was filled with such an incredible\u00a0sense of pride and patriotism! \u00a0That\u2019s when it crystalized for me;\u00a0I was\u00a0determined to get to L.A. and be a part of the movement.<\/p>\n
How did you train with Tracie Ruiz for the Olympics — how many days a week? What other major titles\/championships did the two of you win together in your career?<\/h3>\n
I met Tracie Ruiz when we were 9. My family moved from the downtown Seattle area to Bothell, and our teams merged. We started swimming and competing together at the age of 10. We were both extremely competitive but always united in our goals and mission. Pretty much, winning was the thing. We pushed each other every day. We trained almost daily\u00a0throughout our entire career, sometimes at\u00a04 a.m.\u00a0and sometimes at\u00a09 p.m.\u00a0at night. Basically, we trained when other people didn\u2019t need the pool\u00a0\u2013\u00a0it helped keep costs down. Because synchronized swimming is such an incredibly difficult sport (think gymnastics in the water, without the ground and no air), the training is always multi-faceted. Daily, we basically did a regular swim workout plus a mix of routine choreography and rehearsal, figures practice,\u00a0weight training, running,\u00a0dance and so on. In the four years before the Games (and probably a few before) we trained an average of 8-10 hours a day.<\/p>\n
We had a great group of athletes on our team at the Seattle Aqua Club, and they were amazing to train with. They helped us every step of the way. Tracie and\u00a0I were, and still are, the best of friends, and the\u00a0fiercest of competitors. It\u2019s what drove us forward every year. We won multiple Junior and\u00a0National Championships, as well as a silver medal at the World Championships in 1982,\u00a0a gold medal in the Pan American Games in 1983, and a gold at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
Tell me about your Olympic experience. What was the Opening Ceremony like? Did you meet other athletes? Did you get to see any other events?<\/h3>\n
Truly indescribable. Being at the Olympics with athletes from all over the world was the best part by far. You stand together,\u00a0whether at the Opening Ceremony, or in the food hall, sharing the same goals, the same Olympic ideals. You don\u2019t have to speak the same language; you know that you\u2019re connected by a unique, but common bond\u00a0\u2013\u00a0the Olympic Dream. We met so many incredible athletes, and it\u2019s magical when you see them again now and then.\u00a0I remember seeing\u00a0swimming gold medalist Rowdy Gaines at a hotel in Manhattan, Kansas. We were both thinking,\u00a0\u201cWait, what are you doing here??\u201d We literally almost jumped in the hotel pool to greet each other after so many years. One of my best memories from the Games was meeting Mary Lou Retton, who was just a kid in 1984 \u2013 the bubbliest, most sincere person you\u2019d want to know. If she saw that you were steely eyed and headed out the door for competition, she\u2019d yell out well wishes \u201cGood luck! Go get\u00a0\u2018em!! Go USA!!\u201d<\/p>\n
Were you nervous before your first Olympic competition? What was Coach Davis like? Were you and Tracie the favorites?<\/h3>\n
We were, of course, nervous, but\u00a0I\u00a0would say more focused and definitely prepared. You\u2019re just in the ZONE\u00a0\u2013\u00a0especially if you have a coach like Charlotte Davis. If you\u2019re crying on the way to training because you\u2019re scared of how hard it\u2019s going\u00a0to be, you can pretty much count on being prepared. We were equal favorites with the Canadians. It was a tough and close competition.\u00a0I had always been the weak link because of the figures, but again, Coach Davis had me prepared. She told me\u00a0I would have to “perform a 10 to get a 9,\u201d and that\u2019s basically what\u00a0I did. Main key to my success: listening to my coach.<\/p>\n
What were your thoughts after learning you won gold? What is it like to stand on the podium and hear the National Anthem at the Olympics?<\/h3>\n
The first thing\u00a0I tell people about being in the Olympics is that it was such a blessing; a\u00a0combination of good timing, hard work (extremely hard work) and luck of the draw. But up on the podium,\u00a0I took it all in and just enjoyed every second. It\u2019s an experience that is beyond compare. And\u00a0I hadn\u2019t known that my dad, who was very ill at the time, had been flown in just for the finals. He was there waving at us on the podium from the stands. The staff had been prepped and helped direct my attention to where he was\u00a0standing. That\u2019s probably the memory that stands out the most.<\/p>\n
When did you retire from synchro? Did you get into coaching or stay involved in the sport?<\/h3>\n
I\u00a0retired from the sport in 1984.\u00a0I became involved in promoting the sport through speaking engagements and sportscasting. Tracie competed as a soloist in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and\u00a0I did color commentary for NBC.\u00a0I also started a company shortly after the Olympics, so\u00a0I didn\u2019t have the capacity to coach.\u00a0I also knew that\u00a0I didn\u2019t have what Charlotte had as a coach, and\u00a0I wasn\u2019t prepared to live up to that standard.<\/p>\n
You were named to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1995. How did you learn about that? What are your thoughts to be so honored?<\/h3>\n
Of course\u00a0I was so surprised, and completely honored. Charlotte came with me to the ceremony and we had a blast! Often\u00a0I don\u2019t feel deserving of these honors, but\u00a0I try to think back on all the hard work and sacrifices, and remember that it sets an example for future generations of athletes.<\/p>\n
What did you do in your post-synchro career?<\/h3>\n
I\u00a0have started several companies. However, my husband, Fred, and\u00a0I have been working in our company, Merrill Companies, together for over 20 years. It\u2019s a commercial real estate firm focused on creating places where people do more than shop and eat; you\u00a0\u201cexperience.\u201d We work together in very much the same way athletic teammates do. Fred was a Big 8 track & field champion for Kansas State. He also played football for the Wildcats. So we work together as if we are on a team, each lending our specific talents to whatever the project demands. Our most recent endeavor is Prairiefire in Kansas City, although we have built projects with our partners in Phoenix, Scottsdale and Washington, D.C.\u00a0as well. \u00a0Prairiefire is made up of boutique shops, restaurants, the Museum at Prairiefire, a natural history museum affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History in New York, living, offices, walking trails and an art gallery. Learn more about it at\u00a0www.visitprairiefire.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Where do you keep your gold medal?<\/h3>\n
I\u2019m not telling\u00a0\u2013\u00a0other people\u2019s medals get stolen ALL the time. Let\u2019s just say it\u2019s locked away, but\u00a0I do bring it out to share with school kids or friends who want to see it. \u00a0Thieves think they are getting a big pile of gold. It\u2019s so sad, because you can never get back the Olympic medal that was handed to you on the podium, even if they replace it. That being said,\u00a0I have let people handle my medal a lot so it\u2019s a little worn around the edges. It doesn\u2019t bother me\u00a0because\u00a0I\u2019m so grateful that\u00a0I\u2019ve been able to share the Olympic dream and my story with so many people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Dax Lowery, Swimming World contributor Candy Merrill (then known as Candy Costie) helped make Olympic history when she and Tracie Ruiz became the first synchronized swimming duet to win<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4874,"featured_media":260721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[41652,41654],"class_list":["post-260541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-synchronized-swimming","tag-1984-olympics","tag-candy-costie"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n
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