Lydia Jacoby won’t compete in this year’s Olympics. On Tuesday morning, the 20-year-old swimmer from Seward, announced on social media she would withdraw from an event that would have been her last chance to make Team USA for the Paris Olympics.
In a post shared to Instagram, Jacoby said she wouldn’t swim in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke event in order to “process and rejuvenate.” She added, “I am not defined by my results. I am more than an athlete. I will be back. And I will be better.”
The announcement came the morning after Jacoby failed to qualify for that team while swimming the women’s 100-meter breaststroke during Monday’s finals qualifiers in Indianapolis. She took home Olympic gold for that event during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“And how about the shock second for Emma Weber — besting Lydia Jacoby, the defending Olympic gold medalist doesn't make it through,” NBC announcer Jason Knapp said during Monday’s finals.
Ahead of that race, Knapp recapped the sensational moment that Jacoby won her event in Tokyo.
“Lydia Jacoby, then 17 years of age from Seward, Alaska, sent her hometown into a bit of frenzy,” he said. “Her parents — Rich and Leslie in the stands holding up the iPad to capture the moment. What a thrilling moment.”
After graduating from Seward High School, Jacoby began racing collegiately with the University of Texas at Austin. Since 2021, she’s also taken home a gold, silver and bronze medal for swimming events during World Aquatics Championships.
