Dana Vollmer, a seven-time Olympic swimming medalist, is pregnant with her second child due in July, according to her social media.
Vollmer has already returned from one pregnancy to compete, and earn Olympic medals, and she could do so again. Vollmer said during and after the Rio Olympics that the plan was to have a second child with husband Andy Grant and return to competition.
In fact, Vollmer said in the fall that she talked with her swimsuit maker, Tyr, about designing a suit to accommodate a baby bump.
“I didn’t swim at all with [baby boy] Arlen, so I’m hoping to be able to train through more of the pregnancy, hopefully,” Vollmer said in November. “Last time I was on bedrest. Really hoping that doesn’t happen.”
Vollmer said then that she could even see a scenario where she competes in the early stages of pregnancy.
In the last Olympic cycle, Vollmer competed in the season after the London Olympics. Then she took 23 months off from competition -- Arlen was born March 6, 2015 -- before returning 13 months before the Rio Games.
“This time, if we get pregnant soon, then I’ll have more time than I had leading up to Rio,” Vollmer said in November. “I do feel like that I kind of ran out of time. I could have been faster in Rio. It’s part of what motivates me to continue swimming right now. I still feel like I have a faster swim in me.”
Vollmer was plenty fast in 2016.
In Rio, she took bronze in the 100m butterfly, silver as part of the 4x100m freestyle relay and gold with the 4x100m medley relay.
Vollmer will be 32 come 2020, which is older than any previous U.S. Olympic female swimmer save Dara Torres, who raced at Sydney 2000 at age 33 and Beijing 2008 at 41.
Vollmer’s pregnancy break leaves Olympic Trials champion Kelsi Worrell as the favorite for the U.S. Championships in June, where the top two qualify for the world championships in Budapest in July.
Sarah Gibson, Cassidy Bayer and Kendyl Stewart were the next-fastest Americans in the 100m butterfly last year.
