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go forward. I think you can be the best
female swimmer on the planet.”
His hunch soon proved true. Hoff
won both the 200-meter and 400-meter
individual medleys at the 2005 and 2007
World Swimming Championships, and
in December 2007 she smashed four
American records within a 29-hour period
(“Nobody does that,” Ye er says). She also
broke the world record in the 400-meter
individual medley twice. By the time she
shipped out for the Beijing 2008 Olympic
Games, shehadbeendubbed the “Phemale
Phelps,” a reference toherNorthBaltimore
Aquatic Club teammate Michael Phelps.
Hoffwon a silver and two bronzeOlym-
picMedals in Beijing, but it wasn’t enough
tomakeher Superwoman toPhelps’ Super-
man. The five-event schedule drained her.
And then therewas thepsychological sting
of missing gold by a mere .07 of a second
in the 400-meter freestyle. Some say she’d
have won if she’d touched the finish pad
with her fingertips instead of her palm.
Looking for a fresh start, Hoff switched
to Bob Bowman, Phelps’ famously tough
coach; unfortunately, Hoff says today, “it
wasn’t a good match.” Things only got
worse as she came down with respiratory
problems. Her confidence seeped away. In
2009 she failed to even
qualify for the World
Swimming Champion-
ships, a devastating blow.
Swimming ceased togiveher
any joy. “I just didn’t want to be
in the pool,” she says. “They were the
dark days of despair.”
Shewanted to quit, and shemight have,
had it not been for a key piece of advice.
Hermother, Jeanne, didn’t thinkshe should
leave the sport on such a low note. “Don’t
let this beat you,” she told Katie.
JEANNE RUARK HOFF
knows all about
the ups and downs of sports. An elite
athlete herself, she played basketball at
Stanford University from 1978 to 1983,
setting a school record with a career
average of 17.6 points per game. But while
supportive of her daughter’s swimming,
she never pushed
her. “She wasn’t a
swim mom,” as
KatieHoffputs it.
Indeed, all the
drive to compete and win came from
within Katie, whom Jeanne decided
to home-school after watching her
super-active daughter squirm through
ARMS RACE
Katie
Hoff, training for
the London Games,
shows off the guns
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68
culture
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The Fan
STEVE PYKE/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES