{"id":482120,"date":"2021-07-22T07:37:05","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T14:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=482120"},"modified":"2021-07-22T07:37:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T14:37:05","slug":"overcoming-tragedy-olympic-journey-of-erica-sullivan-brings-her-home-to-tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/overcoming-tragedy-olympic-journey-of-erica-sullivan-brings-her-home-to-tokyo\/","title":{"rendered":"Overcoming Tragedy, Olympic Journey of Erica Sullivan Brings Her Home to Tokyo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overcoming Tragedy, Olympic Journey of Erica Sullivan Brings Her Home to Tokyo<\/strong><\/p>\n

The dimensions to Erica Sullivan\u2019s<\/strong> rise as an Olympian are myriad, the kind of journey that makes it impossible to encapsulate from just one or two angles.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s experienced profound loss and tremendous personal discovery<\/a> in the last four years. She\u2019s overcome adversity on a path that has changed trajectory, all while blazing a unique trail for an American swimmer.<\/p>\n

But most of all, for the Japanese-American swimmer, her complex journey has come full circle by not just with making the Olympics, but doing so in Tokyo. It\u2019s a land she visited often as a child, with deep connections to her mother\u2019s family. Her grandfather, who died in 2018 after battling prostate cancer, worked as an architect on some of the Tokyo venues.<\/p>\n

Sullivan wears her struggles and her uniqueness proudly. When she qualified for the Games in the 1,500 freestyle at Trials, she was frank about what she\u2019s had to conquer to get there.<\/p>\n

\"katie-ledecky-erica-sullivan-\"

Erica Sullivan, right, and Katie Ledecky; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of the mental health barriers that I got through, with my dad dying in 2017 and really hitting a rock bottom in 2018 from the stress of losing a parent at age 16 and having to get over the anxiety, the panic attacks, the depression, the PTSD, all that,\u201d Sullivan said from the mixed zone in Omaha<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m so happy that I was able to overcome those.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sullivan\u2019s forthcoming nature is hard won. She was born in the United States, her parents settling in Nevada. Her father, John<\/strong>, swam at the University of Wisconsin and worked as an electrical engineer. He met Maco<\/strong>, who worked as a translator, on the job.<\/p>\n

Sullivan\u2019s family roots run deep in Japan. They would travel annually to the family\u2019s home in Ofuna, an hour outside of Tokyo. Sullivan has a large family there, and visits involved praying at the family\u2019s ancestral shrine. Her goal for the last decade \u2013 Sullivan turns 21 just after the Games close \u2013 has been to make it to Tokyo for a country she so loves for the Olympic stage.<\/p>\n

Part of that involved Maco\u2019s father\u2019s hand in the Games, and she felt his legacy upon qualifying.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so glad that even though he\u2019s gone, he\u2019s there in spirit,\u201d Sullivan said, \u201cand I\u2019m sure he\u2019s really proud of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same is true for her father. John swam at Wisconsin. He was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2017 and died three months later, just before 16-year-old Erica made the national team for the first time. It\u2019s a testament to John\u2019s connection to the program that a number of his former college teammates were in Omaha to support Erica at Trials.<\/p>\n

\u201cErica definitely has the heart of a champion,\u201d roommate Regan Smith<\/strong> said. \u201cI\u2019ve had the privilege of being on multiple trips with her and room with her, and it\u2019s just really cool to see the swimmer and the woman she\u2019s become. I\u2019m extremely proud of her. She\u2019s been kicking butt and been on a continuous path upwards, and I\u2019m just extremely proud of her. The hard work that she\u2019s put in for so many years, it\u2019s really paying off in a big way. It\u2019s incredible to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pain Sullivan dealt with after her father\u2019s passing converged with the pandemic to alter her college plans. She was originally set to attend USC, but after a planned gap year and then the craziness of the COVID-19 pandemic, she deferred for another year. She\u2019ll start at the University of Texas in the fall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, she\u2019s fashioned herself as the self-styled grandmother of the Sandpipers of Nevada program<\/a>, one that is also sending Bella Sims<\/strong> (800 free relay) and Katie Grimes<\/strong> (800 free) to the Games, both in their teens.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know they\u2019re building off their Trials and working really well and everyone\u2019s fitting in really well with the team,\u201d Katie Ledecky<\/strong> said at a pre-Olympics press conference. \u201cI\u2019m really excited to be in the ready room with all three of those girls at some point. It\u2019s fun to have so many young swimmers here, and it brings a lot of life to this team. I just can\u2019t wait to see what they can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those obstacles alone make Sullivan\u2019s story outstanding. But there\u2019s so much more. Sullivan is, according to OutSports<\/a>,<\/em> one of only seven out gay swimmers in the Games. It\u2019s a title she wears proudly (and with the kind of Gen Z energy that makes her Twitter account a must-follow<\/a>).<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also learned to embrace her Asian heritage. She has memories of being bullied for bringing bento boxes with rice wrapped in seaweed to elementary school. Despite being fluent in Japanese and speaking English with an accent, she admits she \u201csuppressed that Asian side of myself,\u201d for many years. It wasn\u2019t until she got through high school that she grew more curious about embracing the culture. As antagonism and outright violence toward Asian Americans has escalated in the U.S. in the last year, Sullivan has been forced into uncomfortable conversations with her mother about safety. But even as she admits her complexion often passes for white, she\u2019s acutely aware of her heritage and wants to represent it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until I got out of high school and I really started to crave my Asian heritage and culture, and I really honed into it,\u201d she said. \u201cLuckily I found a community through anime watchers, and I found my own little network that I grew to love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sullivan has also found a supportive network in the pool. And it\u2019s taking her to new heights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Overcoming Tragedy, Olympic Journey of Erica Sullivan Brings Her Home to Tokyo The dimensions to Erica Sullivan\u2019s rise as an Olympian are myriad, the kind of journey that makes it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8367,"featured_media":477824,"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":[3,7],"tags":[61651,126572,52093,127681,25031,45350,43159,61109,7419],"class_list":["post-482120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-usa","tag-2020-tokyo-olympics","tag-bella-sims","tag-erica-sullivan","tag-katie-grimes","tag-katie-ledecky","tag-regan-smith","tag-sandpipers-of-nevada","tag-tokyo-olympic-games","tag-tokyo-olympics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nOvercoming Tragedy, Olympic Journey of Erica Sullivan Brings Her Home<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The dimensions of Erica Sullivan as a rising Olympian are myriad, the kind of journey that makes it impossible to encapsulate.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/overcoming-tragedy-olympic-journey-of-erica-sullivan-brings-her-home-to-tokyo\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Overcoming Tragedy, Olympic Journey of Erica Sullivan Brings Her Home to Tokyo\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The dimensions of Erica Sullivan as a rising Olympian are myriad, the kind of journey that makes it impossible to encapsulate.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/overcoming-tragedy-olympic-journey-of-erica-sullivan-brings-her-home-to-tokyo\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-22T14:37:05+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/erica-sullivan-o-trials-2021-6295.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew De George - 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