{"id":485621,"date":"2021-08-22T11:44:48","date_gmt":"2021-08-22T18:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=485621"},"modified":"2021-08-22T21:26:39","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T04:26:39","slug":"amy-bilquist-retires-from-competitive-swimming-leaves-legacy-of-elegant-resilience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/amy-bilquist-retires-from-competitive-swimming-leaves-legacy-of-elegant-resilience\/","title":{"rendered":"Amy Bilquist Retires From Competitive Swimming, Leaves Legacy of Elegant Resilience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amy Bilquist<\/strong> wanted to give her dreams one last shot.<\/p>\n

Despite a pain so severe that it numbed her arm, coming on the heels of a separate shoulder surgery, Bilquist decided to swim at the Olympic trials, even though she couldn\u2019t feel her left arm in the water.<\/p>\n

Stunningly, despite all of those setbacks, she finished ninth in the 100 backstroke at trials, just one spot from making the final. It has been a long road since finishing third at the 2016 trials, one filled with huge obstacles Bilquist constantly had to overcome.<\/p>\n

That is the legacy she leaves as she retires from competitive swimming \u2014 a legacy of elegant resilience that few elite athletes have matched during the past decade.<\/p>\n

Amy Bilquist has won a U.S. national championship with a broken hand, won International Swimming League (ISL) races with a shoulder in need of repair, and won NCAA relay titles for Cal with fractures in her feet and legs, on top of other injuries.<\/p>\n

It has been a long road full of these setbacks, each that could have easily made her want to quit or not allow her to get back to the same level in the sport. But each time, Bilquist rose up to not just overcome those obstacles, but become who she wanted to be along the way \u2014 a tremendous legacy to leave in the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really think about it as a legacy because it is my life, but I would just love if anyone could learn from me that you are dealt certain cards and there is a way to play them \u2014\u00a0learning how to play them in a way that makes you better. How are you working on yourself to come back better?\u201d Amy Bilquist told Swimming World<\/em>. \u201cThe legacy I would like to leave is to not just overcome but become. Be better. Become who you want to be and overcome everything you have to overcome to become that person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bilquist announced her retirement from competitive swimming after her latest surgery to correct her painful arm-numbing injury.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Amy Bilquist (@amybilquist)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n