Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Dakota Luther Discovers New Meaning for Swimming, Life During Past Year
Looking back on 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Swimming, Dakota Luther is thankful for the experience and lessons it taught her.
Initially, she finished 16th and made the semifinals of the 200-meter butterfly when pre-race favorite Cammile Adams was disqualified for swimming on her back instead of her stomach after the third turn.
But when meet officials overturned that disqualification, Luther moved back into the 17th position (first alternate) and out of the semifinals and the event.
Having that taken away was a big eye-opener as far as seeing what she wanted to do in the future and how much she still wanted to get out of swimming.
“Without that heartbreak that I felt, I definitely wouldn’t be in the position that I am today,” she said. “I enjoyed the opportunity to just be able to watch the best of the best go about their routines and learn from them. I liked to watch how they warmed up, when they did everything and how they even held themselves.”
Since that meet, Luther has channeled that disappointment into a young but stellar swimming career, including making the 2017 World Championship team, 2019 World University Games squad and being named to three U.S. National Teams.
Her most recent international showing – two gold medals (200 fly, 4x100 medley relay) and one silver medal (100 fly) at 2019 WUGs – set Luther up well heading into the 2020 Olympic year.
She made it through Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championships before swimming, and the rest of the world, shut down in March due to the COVID pandemic.
Even though she admits last year was a “bit of a blur,” Luther said at first she was pretty upset about the subsequent cancellation of NCAA Championships along with the postponement of Olympic Trials and Olympics and just the complete change in her plans and life in general.
But time away from classes, heavy training and competition gave her a new perspective about swimming and life.
After spending some time at home, which she realized was much needed, Luther was able to be around her family and decompress from school and swimming.
“I didn’t have to take much time out of the water like many others, but it allowed me to really figure out what I wanted to accomplish with the swimming that I have left as well as to appreciate the friends and opportunities it has presented me with,” she said.
“The last four years had been building up to that moment, and I was in a much different position than I was at Trials last time (2016) at 16 years old. However, I realized that it would have taken a near-perfect swim with some luck at that time for me to in fact make the Olympic team. With that in mind, I think it was ideal for me to have another year to train and get stronger so that I can have a better shot this summer.”
With a mom who competed in two Olympics and won three medals at the 1996 Atlanta Games, Luther said she grew up knowing who her mom, Whitney Hedgepeth, was and what she accomplished. She found motivation in wanting to do the same some day.
In fact, there was a short period when she was 10 that Luther was coached by her mom.
That experience proved to be a turning point in her swimming career – and from that moment forward (for the most part), her mom stayed on the sidelines.
Still, as has always been the case, she remains Luther’s greatest cheerleader and inspiration.
“My mom has been my greatest mentor and is my best friend,” said Luther, a sports communications major at Georgia who dreams of one day working for a Major League Baseball team. “I talk to her about anything and everything, and a lot of the time it is swimming. She did it all in the pool, and it is nice to learn from someone who has been through most of what I am going through.
“She evolved with the sport, which is something I am learning is a challenge in itself as I find myself not a teenager anymore. I think the biggest advice that she has ever given me is to dream big. I was a kid with very little confidence, and she believed in me and motivated me to get to where I wanted to be.”
And along with that confidence, Luther’s mom motivated her daughter’s innate desire to one day equal what she accomplished and become the second Olympian in the family.
It’s one of the biggest drivers as she looks toward the next four months and prepares for what could be the biggest meet of her life – especially after the abbreviated year of competition she and everyone else experienced in 2020.
She said she is currently swimming long course about 5-out-of-9 practices right now, but that will increase once the college season is over.
She added that she would like to get in a few long-course races before Trials, but a lot of her plan will come from how SECs and NCAAs go.
“The Olympics are a big reason I keep coming to practice and doing my best,” said Luther, who got a kitten named Lucky during the quarantine last spring/summer. “That is my dream in life. A lot of people want to be doctors or lawyers, and so on, mine is to be an Olympian.”
“I think, out of the water, the thing that keeps me going the most is school, and my friends are me. I am surrounded by some extremely high achieving people, and it is hard not to want to do better when I am around them.”
Initially, she finished 16th and made the semifinals of the 200-meter butterfly when pre-race favorite Cammile Adams was disqualified for swimming on her back instead of her stomach after the third turn.
But when meet officials overturned that disqualification, Luther moved back into the 17th position (first alternate) and out of the semifinals and the event.
Having that taken away was a big eye-opener as far as seeing what she wanted to do in the future and how much she still wanted to get out of swimming.
“Without that heartbreak that I felt, I definitely wouldn’t be in the position that I am today,” she said. “I enjoyed the opportunity to just be able to watch the best of the best go about their routines and learn from them. I liked to watch how they warmed up, when they did everything and how they even held themselves.”
Since that meet, Luther has channeled that disappointment into a young but stellar swimming career, including making the 2017 World Championship team, 2019 World University Games squad and being named to three U.S. National Teams.
Her most recent international showing – two gold medals (200 fly, 4x100 medley relay) and one silver medal (100 fly) at 2019 WUGs – set Luther up well heading into the 2020 Olympic year.
She made it through Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championships before swimming, and the rest of the world, shut down in March due to the COVID pandemic.
Even though she admits last year was a “bit of a blur,” Luther said at first she was pretty upset about the subsequent cancellation of NCAA Championships along with the postponement of Olympic Trials and Olympics and just the complete change in her plans and life in general.
But time away from classes, heavy training and competition gave her a new perspective about swimming and life.
After spending some time at home, which she realized was much needed, Luther was able to be around her family and decompress from school and swimming.
“I didn’t have to take much time out of the water like many others, but it allowed me to really figure out what I wanted to accomplish with the swimming that I have left as well as to appreciate the friends and opportunities it has presented me with,” she said.
“The last four years had been building up to that moment, and I was in a much different position than I was at Trials last time (2016) at 16 years old. However, I realized that it would have taken a near-perfect swim with some luck at that time for me to in fact make the Olympic team. With that in mind, I think it was ideal for me to have another year to train and get stronger so that I can have a better shot this summer.”
With a mom who competed in two Olympics and won three medals at the 1996 Atlanta Games, Luther said she grew up knowing who her mom, Whitney Hedgepeth, was and what she accomplished. She found motivation in wanting to do the same some day.
In fact, there was a short period when she was 10 that Luther was coached by her mom.
That experience proved to be a turning point in her swimming career – and from that moment forward (for the most part), her mom stayed on the sidelines.
Still, as has always been the case, she remains Luther’s greatest cheerleader and inspiration.
“My mom has been my greatest mentor and is my best friend,” said Luther, a sports communications major at Georgia who dreams of one day working for a Major League Baseball team. “I talk to her about anything and everything, and a lot of the time it is swimming. She did it all in the pool, and it is nice to learn from someone who has been through most of what I am going through.
“She evolved with the sport, which is something I am learning is a challenge in itself as I find myself not a teenager anymore. I think the biggest advice that she has ever given me is to dream big. I was a kid with very little confidence, and she believed in me and motivated me to get to where I wanted to be.”
And along with that confidence, Luther’s mom motivated her daughter’s innate desire to one day equal what she accomplished and become the second Olympian in the family.
It’s one of the biggest drivers as she looks toward the next four months and prepares for what could be the biggest meet of her life – especially after the abbreviated year of competition she and everyone else experienced in 2020.
She said she is currently swimming long course about 5-out-of-9 practices right now, but that will increase once the college season is over.
She added that she would like to get in a few long-course races before Trials, but a lot of her plan will come from how SECs and NCAAs go.
“The Olympics are a big reason I keep coming to practice and doing my best,” said Luther, who got a kitten named Lucky during the quarantine last spring/summer. “That is my dream in life. A lot of people want to be doctors or lawyers, and so on, mine is to be an Olympian.”
“I think, out of the water, the thing that keeps me going the most is school, and my friends are me. I am surrounded by some extremely high achieving people, and it is hard not to want to do better when I am around them.”