Cardinal well represented on U.S. Olympic women’s swim team

Stanford will be well represented in Tokyo by members of the U.S. Olympic women’s swim team.

Brooke Forde (Image credit: Courtesy Stanford Athletics)

Competing will be alumni Brooke Forde, Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel, and incoming first-year students Torri Huske and Regan Smith.

Forde, who is from Louisville, Kentucky, graduated in June with a major in human biology. She is expected to continue at Stanford during the 2021-22 academic year to study for a master’s degree. As a high school student, Forde received multiple NCAA Division I offers, choosing Stanford after being hosted on a visit by Ledecky. At Stanford, Forde has competed on two NCAA championship teams and won four NCAA individual titles.

Ledecky, who graduated in June with a degree in psychology, is a two-time Olympian (2012, 2016) and six-time Olympic medalist (5 golds, 1 silver). Ledecky was an eight-time individual NCAA champion and two-time team NCAA champion. She was named the 2017 Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year winner. She is the world record holder in the women’s 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle. She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women’s 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events.

At Stanford, Ledecky worked in Stanford’s Mind & Body Lab, led by Alia Crum, assistant professor of psychology and her adviser.

Manuel, who graduated in 2018 with a degree in communications, competed in the 2016 Olympics and won four medals (2 golds, 2 silvers). She was the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal in swimming.

Her events are the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle. Manual qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team despite having been diagnosed in March with overtraining syndrome. At Stanford, she was the team captain in 2017-18, a 14-time NCAA champion, 21-time All American and a member of two NCAA championship teams.

Huske, an 18-year-old from Arlington, Virginia, holds the American women’s record for the 100m butterfly and is competing in her first Olympics. According to a June 2020 article in The Washington City Paper, Huske verbally committed to attend Stanford after a visit in which she met Ledecky.

“It came down to two schools,” Huske told City Paper. “I did put a lot of thought into it, dwelled on it a lot, but I kinda just realized this is where I wanted to go.”

Incoming first-year student Smith qualified to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in two individual events: the 100-meter backstroke and the 200-meter butterfly. Smith signed with Stanford in 2020, but deferred enrollment for a year after the postponement of the Olympics.

Smith, who is from Lakeville, Minnesota, is the current world record holder of the women’s 200-meter backstroke and former world record holder in the 100-meter backstroke. She has a second world record as a part of the USA women’s 4 x 100 medley relay.