Leila Vaziri: She's just getting started
May IU grad sets sights on 2008 Olympic Games
Leila Vaziri, a May graduate, has earned her Indiana University degree, claimed a world record in the backstroke and set an inspiring goal for the next year -- swim for the U.S. in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.
The Florida native is focused, energized by her recent world record-setting performances that won her a gold medal in the World Championships in Australia, and she's coming on STRONG -- undaunted by the challenge of shaving another second off of her time.
"I have a lot that I can improve on," the 21-year-old said before heading home to Coral Springs. "Just in the last year I've improved so much. Physically and mentally it's just clicking."
Strong body, broken heart
Leila comes from a close-knit family. Her brother, grandparents and mother flew half way around the world to watch her compete in the World Championships. Her father, Mansour, was not there.
Leila's father emigrated to the U.S. from Iran in 1978. With just $10 in his pocket when he arrived in New York, her father worked long hours as he studied to become an engineer. He and Leila's mother later moved to Florida, where they created a more comfortable life for their family. When Leila returned home from IU after her sophomore year, her father was diagnosed with cancer and died before the summer's end.
Leila was devastated. Her swimming career hung in the balance but she didn't care. It just didn't matter.
"At the time, I could have stopped swimming, hated school and stayed home," she said.
Her family convinced her to return to IU, where she half-heartedly made it through her classes and practices. It was a long, hard year, during which she drew on her family and friends for support. She and her mother, Lisa, had daily phone conversations during her first two years at IU. During her junior year, her mother visited Bloomington more often and Leila, who was homesick, traveled home more often. She spoke with her family "constantly."
"This is hard, tomorrow will be a better day. That was what Mom would say," Leila said. "That's pretty much all you could say."
Leila said she did not ignore her feelings. She took some time off from swimming, only to return her senior year with a new focus and drive. Mental strength, she says, is more important now than physical strength.
"The training, it doesn't matter how much you do or if you do more than anyone else. It's how you do it," Leila says. "It's quality over quantity."
"A perfect little situation"
Leila will be swimming in familiar waters during the next year, training at the Coral Springs Swim Club, where she began swimming at 8 and training for competition at 13. Now a major player on the national swim scene, Leila will be training with the club's national swim team, along with Olympic medalists and Olympic hopefuls from around the world.
"The club's national team is very good," Leila said. "I think it's a perfect little situation that I'm in."
Leila majored in communication and culture, with a minor in business. She might take a class or work so her training isn't all-consuming. But she is shooting for the Olympics, after all, so Leila said she is "totally OK with not having a life for the next year."
"There are definitely things I'd like to do, travel, visit friends in other countries," she said. "But that's something I'll do later on."
Leila is the first female IU swimmer to break a world record or win a world championship. Olympic trials for the U.S. swim team are held just a month or so before the Olympic Games next summer. The trials are intense, Leila said. She needs to cut another second off of her time to feel comfortable about making the team.
"You hold a world record, it doesn't matter," she said. "You have to get first or second in your event. The third place finisher might be the third fastest person in the world."
Cutting one second is an achievable goal, however. Leila looks back at how much she improved during the last year -- her time improved by three seconds. Everything is just "clicking," she says. She received a lot of positive feedback in Australia.
"It was so good for me to hear from national level swimmers and coaches, 'This is just the beginning, you're just getting started.'"
