She has set records in the pool, swimming the 50 meter freestyle in just seconds. These days, former Cal Bear Abbey Weitzeil is spending long hours practicing at her alma mater with her gaze set on Paris.
“It’s just a lifestyle,” Weitzeil said. “It really is.”
Weitzeil made her Olympic debut in Rio in 2016 where she earned gold in the 4x100m Medley Relay and silver in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay.
In Tokyo, she brought home silver in the 4x100m Medley Relay and bronze in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay.
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Swimming into her third Olympic games, 27-year-old Weitzeil will be the veteran female swimmer on Team USA.
“It's an honor to still be around and be on the team,” said Weitzeil.
Weitzeil graduated from Cal in 2020, but the campus pool is still her training ground. From the pool deck, UC Berkeley and former Team USA coach Dave Durden is pushing her to be her best.
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“The level of excellence and the level of expectation of excellence here is what makes us so good. You have a coaching staff that expects you to be excellent in any aspect of your life,” said Weitzeil.
Weitzeil’s fiancé Michael Jensen is a former Cal swimmer, so she says he gets the grind.
“He understands what my daily life is,” said Weitzeil. “He understands the tiredness. He understands how, you know, my recovery is so important.”
The two are getting married in Napa in fall 2024.
“The next few months are full of a lot of swimming, a lot of recovery, a lot of wedding planning,” said Weitzeil. “But also just kind of getting my head in that. Living around the excitement of the Olympic year.”
