Abbey Weitzeil is heading to her third Olympic Games with a renewed mindset and excitement, thanks to a break she took for her mental and physical health.
The Santa Clarita native, who took a four-month hiatus from the sport, said after winning two medals at the Tokyo Olympics, she wasn’t excited about training for the following year.
“I wasn’t prepared mentally to do it. I missed life. I started to feel like I wanted to experience life that year,” the Saugus High School graduate, who had set national records while being on her high school team, described her mental state in 2021.
Weitzeil said the break was one of the best things that happened in her career.
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“I took the whole summer off. I missed [swimming.] I couldn’t wait to get back,” four-time Olympic medalist said.
She also said, while continuing with talk therapy regularly, she also tries to be selective how she uses social media.
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“I think of it as a photo album of my life,” Weitzeil said. “I don’t follow things. I don’t see things I don’t want to see.”
