PARIS, France — After finishing fourth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Carmel swimmer Drew Kibler took home a silver medal in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay on Tuesday.
The following day, he reflected on his performance with 13News anchor Anne Marie Tiernon.
Here is the full transcript of the interview:
Anne Marie Tiernon: Well look who we have here, Carmel's own Drew Kibler. Congratulations!
Drew Kibler: Thank you so much. It's good to be here.
Tiernon: How is it to have that that [silver medal]?
Kibler: I've wanted this for a long time so it feels really, really good. I'm very, very proud. I couldn't have done without all the other guys. But yeah, I'm so happy to have around my neck.
Tiernon: Well, there's one thing about making Team USA, but then you get here the Games and you're like, 'Oh, but the next step is that we really need to get that place on the podium,' so you feel like then you have that success and not just that desire, like, 'I got work four more years.'
Kibler: Yes, exactly. And that's and that's a little bit of what we felt and like I said, it was major accomplishment to make that team and to get Jake Mitchell on that team. But yeah, we want that medal and I'm really honored to be the first and hopefully of many we have more Carmel Swim Club athletes competing still, with Alex Shackell and I'm rooting her on for two medal chances coming up, but I'm really honored to have this.
Tiernon: They have a watch party in Carmel. Have you been feeling this big community support for your effort here in Paris?
Kibler: Oh my gosh, yes. And I trained in Carmel all of last year, too, before switching the training a little bit to (Arizona State University), but like yeah, training there was amazing because everybody was extremely excited about it, super supportive and everywhere I went, all the kids of all ages were just like so excited for me, just rooting me on. Made me kind of feel like that feeling that every talks about if there's something for something bigger than yourself and it can be a little abstract at times, but Carmel made it really in front of me, really in my face and it was really special.
Tiernon: This is a team effort and it included more than one Hoosier.
Kibler: Yes, it did. Yeah. Because it takes a whole team, obviously, in the final to swim the time in the final in order to win the medal, but it also takes our prelim swimmers to make sure that guys that have a heavier swim load, get to take the morning off and get to recover and prepare like some of our final swimmers were swimming just the night before. So yeah, three Hoosiers were part of this medal.
Tiernon: So we've had Blake (Pieroni) and we've been following Blake for some time. And then also, you know, if you went to Notre Dame, we're going to claim you as a Hoosier.
Kibler: Yeah, it's been really cool.
Tiernon: Yeah, so tell me a little bit about what this means for that Carmel swim program. We know that Carmel swimming is dominant, but this has been something that's been elusive until now.
Kibler: Yeah, having Olympians is really special. But after the last Olympics in Tokyo, I had a lot of people ask me if I won a medal and I would have to say no. So it's a statement that stands above all the rest when it comes to Olympic achievements, obviously. And being an Olympian is special, but having a medal is everything. I remember I was walking, I was with Chris Plumb of Carmel Swim Club yesterday on the bus, going to the pool and I was just talking to him about our journey and years ago, asking him what his goals are as a coach. And really it was a really cool moment where it kind of all culminated together.
Tiernon: We talked with your mom, Tracy, last night. I mean, it is really a family affair isn't it?
Kibler: Oh, yeah, of course. It's a hard sport. And it's ... it's hard to get through the years of preparation that lead to this moment and I could not have done it without her and my dad and sister that were supportive, but also just, like, let me be me and let me do it in my own way and have fun with it. And that's really the most important thing. It sounds a little corny, but it's really the most important thing about getting through all of this is being able to enjoy this thing that we committed to at a very young age. So yeah, really thankful for my family.
Tiernon: Was it worth it?
Kibler: Of course, it's worth it. Of course it's worth it!
Tiernon: You got that medal! All right, congratulations. Thank you so much.