Amanda Beard: The Complete Interview (cont.)

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Outside Magazine, May 2007

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Amanda Beard: The Complete Interview (cont.)


	Amanda Beard (Photo by Steven Lippman)

Did you feel like you were growing up in front of everyone?
It's kind of fun, in a way. But there's definitely a time period where people didn't see me very much. People had the image of me with the teddy bear—this skinny, big-toothed little girl—and then all of sudden I'm on the cover of a magazine wearing a bikini. And they're like, 'Wait a second.' But it was over eight years. To me, I was very slow growing up, slow maturing. It wasn't like, Man, all of sudden…

To other people, it was like, 'Whoa, I thought she was a little girl.'

When you get approached on the street, do fans ask you about swimming or modeling?
Most people ask me about modeling now. It's different, because I'm not used to answering questions like that. I can answer any swimming question someone throws at me. And now I'm like, Modeling? What? Who are you talking about? What's going on?

In Beijing, will your pre-race ritual still be listening to the Grateful Dead and drinking Red Bull?
Oh, definitely. I'm not changing that. That's my thing. I always drink two Red Bulls before I race and I always have either the Grateful Dead or reggae—Bob Marley or something like that. Something kind of relaxing, something that puts me in a good mood, zones me out.



	Amanda Beard (Photo by Steven Lippman)

How did the music start?
My family is all Deadheads. I feel like if you're raised in a family that likes Grateful Dead, you like Grateful Dead as well. That's kind of how it started. My sister and everyone in my family is into it. My dog is actually named Jerry after Jerry Garcia.

Some people like rap and hip-hop and stuff like that to pump them up. Red Bull will pump me up enough. I just want to clear my head. I have enough butterflies, enough stuff going on, that I don't need to be excited. I just want to have my own space and kind of relax and do my thing.

CURTIS: Red Bull isn't on the Olympics list of banned substances is it?
I think I'd have to retire if it was.

Is Beijing going to be your last Olympics or are you going to come back for a fifth?
You know what, I have no idea. Because every time I say this is going to be my last Olympics, I stick around for another four years. My thought process right now is, I'm going to keep swimming till I just can't do it anymore or I've decided to do something else. I still love it, and so far I've been pretty good at it. I'll stick with it. Hopefully, I won't break something or anything like that and maybe I will be around in 2012.

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