US swimmer Leah Hayes: Embrace yourself

American swimmer Leah Hayes has learned to control the situation.

The 17-year-old World Cup bronze medalist was diagnosed with hair loss when she was just 7 years old.

It started gradually.

At first he lost his hair in patches on his scalp, but then he lost body hair as well. Finally, he had complete hair loss.

Instead of hiding her diagnosis, she wore wigs briefly at first, but she says that didn’t hide the fact that she didn’t have hair for her classmates, she owned it.

“I just decided it was best to deal with the situation by telling everyone what I had and just dispel all the rumors,” Hayes said in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com. So in fourth grade on veterans day I wrote a little speech and spoke to my whole class and told them about my hair loss, what it was, why I don’t have hair and what I would wear going forward.

At first it was on the hats, but then eventually, but they also went away. Her classmates’ response boosted her confidence.

I was finally able to really just embrace my hair loss, said Hayes. [My classmates] I was just so happy to be myself with them. I just remember them crying and me crying. It was a very emotional time.

Ten years after his diagnosis, teenager Hayes has a growing platform ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

It’s not lost on him.

“I really hope that I can raise awareness to help people with hair loss and other people who have autoimmune diseases or just differences, insecurities about themselves,” she said. I hope to help them embrace who they are.

Leah Hayes: “He kind of came out of nowhere.”

For Hayes, that means leaning on someone he is: a competitor.

As a youngster, Hayes tried out for his local swim team after a few lessons. He immediately caught the coach’s eye Nancy Hooperwho still works with Hayes.

Hooper says Hayes’ natural strength was evident from the start and was crucial to the early successes that fueled him.

The first time she actually made it to the regional meet, she won every event, Hooper recalled. But then Leah went to the state convention and she didn’t win there. He came up to me and said, You know, I really don’t like this as much as I did that other meeting.

I think just his passion and desire to get on the podium was there,” Hooper continued. It surprised everyone. He kind of came out of nowhere.

At the age of 10, Hayes had already set his first national age group record in the 200m freestyle. At the age of 13 in 2018, he was chosen as Sports Illustrated’s Sports Kid of the Year.

Hooper recalls a turning point in his training early on, when Hayes had asked some of the younger swimmers to coach the drills. The experience didn’t go quite as he hoped.

“He was really, really disappointed with how they didn’t listen to him,” Hooper said. He says, Wow, this is not very easy. I need to be a better listener and I need to really, really do what you ask me to do all the time.

A helping hand from his biggest fan

That drive quickly paid off, as Hayes qualified for the 2021 US Olympic Team Trials in three events.

And while she didn’t make it to the 2020 Tokyo Games, that experience helped her defy even her own expectations a year later when she landed on Team USA for the 2022 World Championships in Budapest.

Last season I was going to the WC trials not expecting to make the team at all, Hayes admitted.

He won bronze in the 200m medley.

With a world medal in hand, Hayes is feeling more confident ahead of this year’s trials and Paris 2024 next year.

He has big goals for the next 13 months. Ones he thinks about and sees literally every day thanks to his biggest fan, his grandfather.

He follows my races every day. He charts for me any time I need or want, Hayes explained. I put them on and see them every day. It definitely motivates me and pushes me on days when I don’t want to go swimming or exercise when I’m tired and worn out. I see those times and know what I’m training for.