When we recall Torri Huske’s sensational display in the 2022 World Championship, it is not surprising that she became the winningest American swimmer at the Paris Olympics. But a year before, Huske’s form plummeted so terribly that her Olympic win is one of the iconic redemption sagas we have seen lately. The three-time Olympic gold medalist recently laid bare her feelings about the Olympic win after giving up on races 367 days before the 2024 Summer Games.

Besides rising from the ashes this season, Torri Huske wrote a phoenix’s tale on the pool as well. Similar to Tokyo, Huske came agonizingly close to snapping her lead in Paris. However, what happened in the final moment is history, and here’s how Huske cherishes the Olympic win.

Torri Huske puts into words her surreal winning moment at the Paris Olympics

In Tokyo, Torri Huske was leading the butterfly race with 15 meters remaining ahead. But she spectacularly failed to match the closing speeds of Maggie Mac Neil, Zhang Zufei, and Emma McKeon and left Japan without a medal. Likewise, in this year’s Summer Games, Gretchen Walsh, Mac Neil, and Zufei were ahead of Huske in the butterfly race. But the 21-year-old was quite determined to make sure history would repeat. “I saw the one light on the block, which meant I had won, and it was just a really surreal moment,” said Huske, recalling her gold medal win, as compiled by Swimming World Magazine.

Perhaps after her big missteps in the 2023 World Championship, the Summer Games success was the only milestone she ever craved for. “I feel like I’ve just been wanting this for so long. I’ve never wanted anything so bad in my life. I believed I could do it, but it was just the fact that I’ve been wanting this moment for so long and thinking about it, and finally happening was just so surreal,” Huske added.

Meanwhile, the three-time Olympic gold winner recalled how things went wrong for her just a year before this year’s Paris Summer Games.

Huske details her 2023 campaign riddled with mistakes

Torri Huske and Team USA had an abysmal campaign at the butterfly leg. The 21-year-old finished 2.5 seconds behind her then-American record in the individual event. Meanwhile, the US team lost to Australia with a deficit of three seconds. Revisiting this tournament, Huske revealed that the experience was nothing but traumatic.

“I almost false-started. I kind of just fell in, and then I freaked out and completely abandoned my race plan because I just wasn’t thinking, and I was freaking out in the beginning,” said Torri Huske. She added, “I just spun it up and then died incredibly hard. So that was definitely a little traumatic.” Now, however, nobody would care to think about Huske’s show in 2023. She won three gold medals and two silvers for America, becoming the most decorated US swimmer in this year’s summer games. What are your thoughts on Huske’s sensational redemption arc? Tell us in the comments.