The ceremony took place at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, and the Golden Goggle awards benefit the USA Swimming Foundation. On being a part of the 2018 Golden Goggle awards, Sumrall said, “Wow, there are a lot of people. It is very interesting.”
This year, Sumrall bounced back in a big way, where she won the gold medal in the women’s 200 meter breaststroke at the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo.
Although she may have missed the 2016 Summer Olympic Team, Sumrall took time away from the sport prior to resurfacing with Chattahoochee Gold Swim Club earlier in 2018.
Thanks to the support of the age-group swimmers that she coaches, she won the 200 meter breaststroke title at the Phillips 66 National Championships this summer, and at the 2018 Pan Pacifics in Tokyo, she matched her career-best time in the 200 meter breaststroke, which was enough to win the gold in her first major international competition.
On her daily motivations, “I am a swim coach, as well as a swimmer right now. Just being able to come back and share some of my wisdom with the kids that I am working with, that really helps me as a swimmer as well. That’s really nice.”
For young swimmers, her advice was appropriate: “Listen to your coach.” “While they may hate that advice, I remind them that I was in their shoes. You just need to keep trucking through,” she said.
Sumrall defined the word success as “Managing my expectations and emotions at this point.”
To learn more about USA Swimming, visit their official website.
