Olympic 100m butterfly champion Dana Vollmer, who hasn’t competed since the 2013 World Championships and had a baby boy March 6, said she hasn’t retired and has been back in the water for one and a half months.
“I hated when I saw the rumors that I actually retired,” Vollmer said on Universal Sports at a Pro Swim Series meet in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday. “I never did retire. I always wanted to leave it open for myself, and I want to get back into shape. Now it’s one of those things that if I get back in shape, maybe I’ll see what I can go in the pool, but lifestyle-wise, I want to be extremely active with my son and life in general.”
Vollmer, 27, said she has done a few practices with other female swimmers at the University of California.
“I miss it, I miss the thrill and I never thought that I would miss the nerves,” she said. “I want to be back in and feel that thrill.”
Vollmer won the 2012 Olympic 100m butterfly and three Olympic relay golds across two Games. In the 100m fly, Vollmer broke the world record in the 2012 Olympic final.
She last competed at the 2013 World Championships, taking bronze in the 100m fly and gold as part of the medley relay.
Vollmer first competed at the Olympics in 2004, when she was 16, and finished sixth in the 200m freestyle and won gold as part of the U.S. 4x200m free relay team. She failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympics.
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, who formerly held the 100m fly world record, has been the world’s fastest woman in the event the last three years.
The top Americans in the 100m fly are Kelsi Worrell, Kendyl Stewart, Katie McLaughlin and Claire Donahue. The top two at the 2016 U.S. Olympic trials will earn berths for the Rio Olympics.
