From the Eyes of a Parent: The Journey of Olympic Champion Torri Huske

Torri Huske, a two-time Olympian, kick-started Team USA’s quest for gold at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games by winning the 100-meter butterfly race on July 28, 2024. Torri, who narrowly missed out on the podium in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games by a single one-hundredth of a second, edged out some of the world’s best swimmers and claimed her first gold medal in Paris.

“It was a surreal moment,” Torri said in a room full of Carderock employees and their children in West Bethesda, Maryland, on Aug. 26, 2024. “I feel like it’s one of those things where you’ve wanted it for so long; it’s not really a surprise, but you just can’t believe it finally happened.”

However, up in the stands of the Paris La Defense Arena, her mother – Ying – could barely watch.

“You always hope that your kid can perform to their potential,” Ying said. “But you are also worried and afraid that she would be disappointed or not happy because she didn’t meet her own expectations for some reason. At these games, Torri was not just representing herself; she was representing the United States. We were hoping that she could represent the country well and make Team USA shine. We were over the moon to see her perform so exceptionally well. She swam her heart out.”

Ying emigrated from China to the U.S. in search for a better future and new opportunities. As a first-generation migrant, she had to overcome a language barrier and financial difficulties until she finally found her niche in this country. She attended graduate school at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. After she graduated, she took a job in the Washington, D.C., area and settled in northern Virginia. In her spare time, and whenever she wanted to exercise, she went to the pool.

“I never swam competitively, but swimming has been a thing to keep me in shape,” Ying said. “I swam even when I was pregnant with Torri – up until two days before I gave birth.”

She was keen on having her daughter learn how to swim, although not competitively. Instead, Ying was focused on teaching Torri how to be comfortable with the water when she was a young kid so she could enjoy water sports and the ocean as she grew up.

“I always tried to take her to the pool when she was young to try to get her familiar with it,” she said. “I asked her quite a few times – when we were at the community pool – if she would like to take swimming classes and many times she said no; but eventually one day – when Torri was around 5 – she said yes.”

In that moment, a future Olympian was born. Ying enrolled her daughter in the Arlington Aquatic Center in Virginia, where Torri learned a variety of swimming strokes for the first time. Nowadays, she trains with her college coaches, but when she returns home to the Washington metropolitan area, she always goes back to the place where it all started.

“Every time summer or winter break occurs, she comes home and trains with AAC,” Ying said. “She’s been with them her whole life up until she moved to college.”

Torri is currently attending Stanford University in California. She took this past year off school to prepare for the Paris games and emerged from the iconic sporting competition with three gold medals and two silver medals. Now, she will return to school to finish her bachelor’s degree in product design.

“For me, I get goosebumps all over,” Ying said. “When I think about my daughter competing at this level – I am so happy. This country has openly accepted us and seeing Torri be able to represent the U.S. makes me feel so proud, it is just an incredible feeling all around.”

Ying shared the challenges Torri encountered as not only a student-athlete, but an Olympian too.

“In 2023, her course load was so heavy,” Ying said. “She was basically working and studying 50 hours a week, and that doesn’t include the 20 hours a week she had to commit to training. She was always tired, but she performed really well in school. Unfortunately, though, she did not do her best at the 2023 World Championship. It was a tough year. That was one of the reasons Torri took a year off from school leading to the Paris Olympic Games, so she could focus on training and resting. Her decision has paid off. Kids like Torri have to go through the rigorous academic courses and athletic training and that is a lot to balance. Luckily, Torri tells me her friends and teammates are driven and hardworking people, and that they inspire, motivate and lift her up. That’s why she thanks them so much in her interviews.”

While Torri was racing during the 100-meter butterfly race, her mother pointed something out that may have been missed.

“Torri has a huge determination to win,” Ying said. “After the Tokyo Games, she made it her personal goal to go for gold at the next games in Paris. I am not sure if anyone noticed this, but in the last five meters or so – usually when you do butterfly you take a breath per stroke, maybe one per two strokes. But Torri did not breathe for five strokes and that’s how she got her hand to the wall first.”

Both Torri and Ying thanked everyone at the Carderock Division for their overwhelming support.

“Even when I’m thousands of miles away, I can feel your support and your love and I really appreciate it,” Torri said to a full house of Carderock employees at the Raye Montague Center.

Ying added, “After I arrived back at work, I was surprised to hear that so many of you had been watching her and cheering her on. Your support and positive energy helped make a difference. I received so many congratulatory emails with kind words regarding her success. I cannot tell you how much each of these have meant to my family and me. I especially want to thank the leadership and my coworkers here at Carderock and at Naval Sea Systems Command for all their support throughout the years of this journey. As they say, ‘It takes a village.’ Torri would not have had the success she has had without your support. I am proud to be a part of the Navy team, NAVSEA and Carderock and even more proud to be an American.”

Since the Paris Games concluded last month, Torri has become a swimming icon and inspiration. She departed the states as an Olympic hopeful, but returned as a local and national hero. The next summer Olympic Games will be held in Los Angeles in 2028. Torri will be aiming to compete on home turf with the support of a roaring nation behind her.