It really was my brother who got me involved in swimming. I wanted to be just like him and do everything he was doing.
In the hospital, I promised myself that I ever walked again, that I would eat well and swim every day.
I moved into this neighborhood, and I was walking on this beach with my kids, and we came across a sign that said, 'Water's polluted, no swimming.' And I didn't have any answers.
I've got to get my real skills up; like, I got to get my skills up, 'cause in case of a crazy catastrophe, I might have to learn how to swim.
I was a very poor young black boy in New Orleans, just a face without a name, swimming in a sea of poverty trying to survive.
I've never understood the 'things to do before you die' idea. If I was ill, I'd be in no mood to have a swim with a dolphin.
I didn't learn to swim until I was 21 or something because I grew up in the mountains in Wyoming and all the water is glacier runoff and cold.
I used to go to the gym regularly and swim an awful lot, but that was when I was unemployed and knew leisure intimately.
I'm swimming every day and I'm even trying to get the golf swing working again - but that might take a little bit longer.
You can swim, too." he says. "Where did you learn that in District Twelve?" "We have a very big bathtub.
Being compared to Ian Thorpe, that could be one of the greatest compliments you could ever get in swimming - being compared to him and Mark Spitz.
For me, the desire exists less to get myself a degree than to just go and have the whole college experience, and throw myself into the brain pool and see if I can swim.
There's no one here in America swimming the Pacific Ocean - or the Atlantic, or the Caribbean - to leave this place. The reason why is because of the freedom. Freedom for a man to mark out his own destiny. It's not, 'Hey, you have so much.'
If I get a chance to write a comic book or do a voice in an Adult Swim show, I do it. It's much more fulfilling to me and I get to work with people who I'm a fan of.
Bliss is the ocean, a towel on the sand, the sun out, the chance to swim in waves or walk dragging a stick behind you, a good book, a cold drink.
My favorite way to unwind is to go for a walk with my husband and the dog at the end of the working day, then we go to our local health club for a swim and to sit by the pool and read for a while.
I'll paddle board, swim in the ocean, roll in the sand, soak up the sun, eat good food, be with friends and family and go fishing with my dad.
When I was younger, there was a sort of stigma attached to my stamina. My dad took me swimming one day and I just was no good at it, so my dad said, 'Your stamina's bad.'
At one point my dad called me and said, 'You have always been a great salesman. I think it's time you come home and sell swimming pools.'
Obviously, losing a parent is very difficult. I miss my dad every day, but I know he would be proud to see me continuing to swim and going for another shot at the Olympics.
My dad was my swim coach growing up, and I tried to get kicked out of practice every day. I was a little devil kid.
