MILWAUKEE — Recently turning 14, Maggie Dickinson is carrying on the family tradition.
"Swimming, it's just, it's always been a part of my life," Maggie Dickinson says. "My dad, my mom swam. Both my sisters swim. It's like been a part of my family."
Dickinson is ranked 14th nationally in the 100-meter backstroke.
"It doesn't sink in," Dickinson says. "It's not really something that I think about all the time. But it's almost like, it's a part of me, but I'm not going around telling people that."
Now the Whitefish Bay teen is very close to making the cut for the Olympic Trials.
"I think it's every little kid's dream, to be in the Olympics," Dickinson says. "Like it's obviously an amazing goal. And that's like something I haven't thought too much about yet. But I'm starting to think about more with Olympic trials coming up. And me being close to an Olympic trials cut, getting trials cut now would obviously be amazing. But again the next trials are going to be when I'm 18. So obviously I'd be in a much better position, when 18. But getting it I think now, honestly, it would be crazy."
Which means this kid is on deck, with some of USA Swim's best.
"I went to US Open," Dickinson says. "And I met like a lot of Olympians. So Regan Smith is one person I really look up to. She's a backstroker, obviously she's amazing. I got to meet her and I took pictures with her and stuff like that."
And while she has plenty of time, she dreams of podiums, anthems, and medals.
"Like, once or twice, obviously, everyone thinks of that," Dickinson says. "But I don't know if that will ever be a reality. I really hope it will be."
Maggie Dickinson says in her training in and out of the pool, it takes a lot of work. But she tries to make time for friends and be a normal teen, making it all as she says, swimming schedules with fun in mind, and a normal part of their lives.
