Kate Ziegler

By Devin Cooper

Gliding through the water in the last lap of the women’s 800-meter freestyle at the 2008 summer Olympic games in Beijing at 19 years old, that’s surreal. Shattering your hero’s world record in the 1500-meter freestyle and setting an out of this world new record time at the 2007 World Championships, now that’s a dream come true. Accomplishing all of this while maintaining a 3.98 grade point average, now that’s unbelievable.
That is the life of now 21 yr old Kate Ziegler of Great Falls Virginia. The accomplished George Mason University student has her sights set on a degree in Communication, more specifically interpersonal communication. “School is very important to me,” explains Ziegler, “but I need to focus as much energy as possible on swimming, because of the small window of opportunity, you have to do it when you’re young.”
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday find Ziegler practicing with the GMU swim team. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday she is awake at 4:45 in the morning (a time when most kids her age are still up from the night before) practicing with her club team; the fish. After practice she tries to catch a quick nap and then it’s off to class for 4 hours, followed by a bite to eat if she’s lucky and more practice in the afternoon for 2 and a half hours. At the end of the day you might expect to find her in front of the T.V. relaxing, but not Ziegler, she hits the books.
Balancing school and a career in professional swimming, as you could imagine, is not a piece of cake. Ziegler tells of a story in which she needed to fly out to California for something swim related. Upon her arrival home from the trip she headed straight from the airport to class. When she entered the classroom she noticed that there were actually students in it, an alarming surprise. In fact, the class was packed, and all of the students had their materials out and were frantically flipping through page after page; they were cramming. It was exam day. At that moment Kate, of course completely caught off guard, wondered if it was becoming too much, the balancing act between school and her career. But, instead of letting the situation get to her, she passed the exam with more than a proficient grade and aced the course.
Ziegler plans to be ready to compete in the 2012 games in London, and explains that one of the reasons she practices so rigorously is because those who’ve competed in previous games aren’t just guaranteed a spot on the U.S. team. “The U.S. team is the best, and it is a very hard team to make,” said Ziegler. She is confident that she will have what it takes by the time the 2012 trials roll around.
What does she do when she’s not living in the water or face down in a book? She enjoys slaving over a hot stove. “Cooking is a passion of mine, I LOVE food,” proclaims Ziegler. If she’s lucky enough to get a moment to watch T.V., she always watches the Foodnetwork, looking for recipes and dishes to try out. Her favorite style of food is Thai food, and she actually took a Thai cooking class just to learn how to prepare it.
A college student, a professional athlete, and a Thai food enthusiast, Ziegler is the model of work ethic, determination, and making your dreams come true. At 21 years old we should expect to see a lot more from this determined young woman, and chances are she’s going to deliver.