Four-Time Olympian Allison Schmitt Working Towards Maintaining Participation Of Female Athletes In Sports

From winning ten Olympic medals for the U.S.A. to being one of the first few athletes to speak freely about her mental health struggles, Allison Schmitt has set an unprecedented record in sports history. Schmitt, who holds expertise in freestyle techniques, is also one of eight American Swimmers who participated in four Olympics: Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

Following her more than decade-long successful career, Schmitt spoke to me about her life after swimming and the legacy she hopes to leave behind for future female athletes.

Life After Retirement

Although Allison Schmitt has not officially announced her retirement from swimming, she has not participated in any swimming events since the Tokyo Olympics. The swimmer is currently pursuing her other dream of helping the future generation after finishing her master’s degree in social work from Arizona State University in 2023.

Following this big transition in her life, Schmitt went through a grieving period of leaving a full-time swimming career behind and hopes to use the values she instilled through the sport in her future goals of encouraging the next generation.

“There’s definitely a period that’s void from sport to your next career. I think so often elite athletes and professional athletes are caught up in their sport that this is their world. And at that time, it was their world. But the time when that world stops, and I’m in my 30s, is a huge grieving period. So to be able to honor that period, but also, I never had doubt that I wouldn’t be successful outside the pool as well.

I know that can sound conceited, but it’s more because I really believe in the values that sport instilled in me. I am valid. I’m grateful for the opportunity that my parents gave me to be in sports, for what my parents taught me, as well as for the sport that my coaches and teammates taught me. And so I have a huge passion for continuing education and empowerment within sports. I did get my master’s in social work because I am passionate about mental health and everything that entails. And to be able to bring that education, that science background mixed with my experience, and hopefully empower, encourage, and inspire the next generation, and hopefully fill that void up a little bit longer because that grieving period between the careers is definitely going to be different for every person. But if we can have the resources and tools to be successful at that time, it will help with the transition a little bit better,” Schmitt said.

Legacy Of Allison Schmitt

Following her successful career as a full-time swimmer, Schmitt spoke to me about the impact of swimming on her life and the legacy she wants to leave for future athletes. As per the 34-year-old swimmer, the sport has taught many invaluable lessons to both male and female athletes and she looks forward to using the opportunity provided by swimming to empower one’s own voice.

“Anything you learn from sport is invaluable. And speaking as a female athlete, I really like to speak about empowering your own voice because so often as children we lose our voices, but more so as athletes, and more so as female athletes, we lose our voices. So to empower young girls to use their voice and not lose that in sport but get the good out of sport, because for me, I’ve had a lot of great opportunities because of sport, and I’m grateful for my time in sport and my involvement in sport as I continue past swimming.

So the legacy. So I guess inspire, empower, and educate, I guess those three words, but I just would love to be if I could help one person come out of the darkness or inspire one person to reach their goals or passions. So to be able to really identify your goals and identify your passions, and go full force towards them, I hope that I can inspire others to do that because we’re not cookie cutters. We all have our own reasons.”

Keeping Females In Sports

Schmitt believes there is both good and bad in each sport; however, it still comes with much love and passion. She stated that the discipline and love that come with pursuing any sport can help keep women in sports for longer.

Interestingly, girls who play high school or college-level sports have a high rate of success. Studies have shown that girls who play sports are more likely to graduate from college, find a job, and be employed in male-dominated industries, yet, by age 14, girls are quitting sports at twice the rate of boys.

“We dedicate our time to rigorous training for the end result. And there’s so many highs and lows throughout the journey, but what you really do it for are the friendships you make and the common dreams that you have with your teammates.

I think that’s huge to keep females in sport, especially because there is a fact that by age 14, girls are quitting sports at two times the rate of boys. And that really takes the dreaming aspect out of a child. So to be able to be inspired by athletes and to continue a career in athletics is huge. There are more reasons than just being successful in athletics, but the invaluable lessons it teaches you about discipline, hard work, time management, and that list could go on and on.”

Mental Health Struggles

In 2015, Schmitt started to publicly speak about her mental health struggles. She was affected by the suicide of her cousin, April Bocian, a promising basketball player. Schmitt believed 17-year-old April’s story wasn’t over and was motivated to share her story to humanize athletes and encourage people to believe they are not alone.

“At the end of the day, everyone’s human. Everyone has feelings. Everyone has emotions. And being validated in those moments. Yes, I know we’re seen as superhuman, as super, as people on TV that have that smiling face that is winning gold medals. But those are snapshots of your life. You don’t see the whole thing. On social media, on Instagram, on Twitter, whatever, on TikTok, whatever that is, you see snippets of people’s lives, and you make comparisons to that. So for me, I understand that comparisons are a theft of any joy. And to really, I mean, I guess humanize athletes.Understand that, yes, you can have struggles, yes, you can have down times, yes, you can have a mental illness, but at the same time, you can be successful,” she said.

In the following nine years, Schmitt has taken many steps to advocate for better mental health in the sports community. In 2022, she was also a panelist at “Mental Wellness and the Student-Athlete,” an event through the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s youth sport outreach program. She is also connected to SURGE (which stands for Strength, Unity, Resilience, Growth, and Equity), a free girls sports program exclusively offered by BSN Sports that aims to empower female athletes aged 12–18 to stay in sports and lead healthy, successful lives.

“There are tools, resources, and help out there to help you be successful and vulnerable. Because vulnerability is a superpower. And if you’re able to ask for help, this is it: life is tough, and life is a bigger game than any of us have ever been a part of. So we can’t get through that alone. And we need the love and support of others. So to be able to reach out is my message to get that help.

And I really enjoy and appreciate the values of SURGE, which is why I’m connected with them and to be able to give them the free tools and resources to really tackle the hard conversations about mental health and body image. Allow those conversations to happen so that we can together be a life team, be a team together for life, and help each other out.”

Excited For Paris

At the 2024 U.S. Swimming trials, many first-time Olympians like Gretchen Walsh and Jack Alexy made the Olympic berth, reshaping the U.S.A. team on an international level. Schmitt, who also attended the trials held in Indianapolis, believes this shift in the U.S.A. team’s dynamics will increase the competition as she hopes to cheer out loud for the Olympic team.

“I think that’s great to see the sport grow, our sport grow, swimming, and the sport world grow and have those opportunities. So I think that it’s great to see the rest of the world stepping up, being on the podiums, and hearing their national anthems.

It also challenges us as Americans, who’ve historically been so powerful at podium finishes. And we’re being challenged a little bit more, but I’m really excited. I’m biased toward Americans. I’m always going to be cheering for America, but I’m excited to see how the racing plays out in Paris. And I will be cheering loudly for the U.S., but to be able to see any person stand on that podium and hear their national anthems, it’s definitely a feeling that I don’t know if I could put into words.

I’ve seen their dreams come true of being able to represent America and the U.S. at the Olympics level, either again or for the first time. I’m getting all the feels as I’m talking to you because I think it’s just so exciting to have the opportunity to be able to go there as a spectator, as a cheerleader, and see it from a different perspective.”