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Outside Magazine, May 2007

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Amanda Beard: The Complete Interview
In Outside's May 2007 issue, Bryan Curtis spoke to 25-year-old, seven-time Olympic medalist Amanda Beard about her progression from 14-year-old podium-placer to her out-of-retirement run for a fourth Olympic Games. Here, read Curtis's complete interview with Beard.

By Bryan Curtis


	Amanda Beard (Photo by Steven Lippman)

OUTSIDE: What's it like to be back in the pool?
BEARD: Awesome. It's so nice to get back into a regular routine, where I'm waking up in the mornings, I'm working out. I'm back with the coach I had all through high school and I'm training at the USC pool. It's been fun so far. Definitely an adventure. It hasn't been easy, but hopefully it will get better over time.

How did your schedule change from the period where you were retired?
It's weird because I got used to having so much time and having all day to do things and have a life and travel and do this and that. And now I kind of have to remind myself that I can't just zip off once a week. I have to train. I have to be here. I have to work out. So I just have to just change my whole frame of mind and my thinking. It takes a while because I got so used to doing something the last two years... Basically, I had a big vacation. I was working really hard doing other things. But it was a vacation from swimming. Now, I'm getting back into it. It's very [pause] interesting. I have a lot less time. [laughs] I'm more tired now than I've been for a long time.

Why did you decide to retire when you were 22?
I didn't really decide to retire. After the Olympics, I kept getting different job opportunities to do photo shoots or do appearances and travel. I just kept prolonging it. Okay, I'll take the winter off. Okay, I'll take the spring off. Okay, I'll take the summer off. It kept adding on and on and on. I was trying to get back in the water. I'd have two weeks, I'd get in the water and I'd train, and then I'd have to be a off whole month. So it just wasn't working out.



	Amanda Beard (Photo by Steven Lippman)

So I was like, "If I want to do this, I have to commit to it, I have to make it a priority. I can't make these other things a priority." So I put it to the top of my list. I still travel and I do things a lot with my sponsors. But if there's an opportunity to go and do something kind of fun, I have to weigh out the consequences of it.

How many personal appearances were you making a year?
Wow, probably a good 50 to 60 appearances, and then you add on travel days.

So 100 days away from home?
Yeah, and that's not personal days where I'm going to see my family or go snowboarding or stuff like that.

You went from your first Olympics in 1996, where you're 14 years old and holding the teddy bear up on the podium, to posing for the cover of FHM—and winning the world's most downloaded female athlete. Didn't you hold that for a while?
Yeah, I think that was right around the Olympic time.

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BRYAN CURTIS is a columnist for Slate.com

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