Rebecca Soni was once a young, energetic student-athlete studying at The University of Southern California. After her time at USC, that student-athlete became a multi-medallist in the Olympic Games – a fully-fledged, awe-inspiring professional athlete experiencing success of mega proportions.
Rebecca, affectionately known as ‘Reb’, currently holds the following titles under her belt: Six-time Olympic medallist; Former world record holder in the 100m breaststroke and the 200m breaststroke; She was the first woman to swim the 200m breaststroke in under 2 minutes and 20 seconds; She currently holds the world record in the 4 x 100m medley relay; has won a total of 22 medals in major international competition; set the world record in the 2008 Summer Olympics when she beat out Australian favourite Liesel Jones; and was also presented with the Swimming World’s Swimmer of The Year Award in 2010 and 2011.
If all these accomplishments weren’t enough, in August 2010 she became a spokeswoman for the United Nations Foundation’s ‘Girl Up’ campaign, which focuses on improving the lives of the world’s adolescent girls. Today, Rebecca is in the midst of launching her new program and website: www.rebsoni.com/RISE.com
We had an exclusive chat with this world record holding professional swimmer!
With all the professional success you’ve seen over the years, how relevant was your time in college, and education from USC, to all of that? Do you attribute any of your success to your time at USC?
Being a “pro swimmer” may sound great, but it really doesn’t mean much without a college experience! First of all – the fastest swimmers in the world are trained in colleges. The competition between schools is fiercer that the Olympics (really!) as it’s driven by camaraderie and team-support. On top of that, swimming at USC brought me to the great coaches, teammates, and situations that set me up to train and succeed in swimming. My USC education was also a key factor. I believe that to be success at swimming, for me, I needed to also have a little distraction and focus on school. Turns out a degree from USC is a pretty helpful thing, as well!
When you look back, what feelings/memories come to mind as you remember being a student-athlete? Was it one of the best times of your life?
I really enjoyed my time at USC! It was a blast! Friends become family, coaches become mentors. I certainly had a blast!! Being a student athlete is tough, and the work load can be brutal! But I learned how to manage my time, and how to work REALLY really hard! It was a great time in my life that is for sure!
Love this interview? Well stay tuned for part two of our chat with Rebecca, coming at you soon!