Olympian Torri Huske Listened To Taylor Swift Before Winning Gold

Most college students use their time off from school to go to the beach or on a road trip with friends, but Torri Huske spent her summer vacay winning major accolades at the Olympics. The 21-year-old swimmer from Arlington, Virginia, is going home from the 2024 Paris Games with not one, but *five* medals to add to her collection: two silver and three gold.

The Stanford University student made her Olympic debut in 2021 at the Tokyo Games, earning a silver in the women’s 4 x 100m medley relay. This time around, Huske and her teammates won gold in the same event — and broke a world record in the process. She tells Elite Daily her experience at the 2024 Summer Games can be summed up in just one word: “unreal.”

Making it to the Olympics didn’t come without a few sacrifices, though. Huske would be a college senior this fall, but opted for a gap year to prepare for all the competitions leading up to Paris. Now, the rising junior has at least two years to go before graduating, and notes that she may extend her time at Stanford even more if she wants to get ready for the 2028 Games.

For now, it’s too early to call, as Huske prefers to take things day by day. Even when it comes to an event like her final Olympic meet, she waits till the night before to shave. The Gillette Venus partner says eliminating any drag in the pool is important when “every hundredth counts,” and doing it right before finals guarantees she performs her best when it really counts.

Below, Huske shares her pre-game ritual (psst, it includes Taylor Swift!), how her college friends reacted after she won, plus the Stanford dining hall dish that’s just as good as the viral Olympics chocolate muffin.

Elite Daily: Whether you’re at a school competition or at the Olympics, what do you do to get ready before a meet?

Torri Huske: I always have oatmeal for breakfast, but I do that pretty much every day, regardless. Whenever I'm doing my dynamic stretching, I'm listening to Reputation by Taylor Swift. That album helps me get pumped up.

ED: Have you been clowning for Reputation (Taylor’s Version) like some other Swifties, and hoping Taylor will announce the album’s release soon?

TH: Yeah, I'm hoping that she can announce it when I see her on the Eras Tour, because I think it's coming soon. We'll see.

ED: What's your favorite song on Reputation?

TH: Probably “King of My Heart.”

ED: Obviously we could talk about Taylor forever, but back to college! Why did you choose Stanford University?

TH: I went to visit a couple of different schools, but once I met the girls on the Stanford swim team, I realized it had everything I was looking for. Stanford has great academics, but also the swim team had just won the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) championships for the fourth time in a row when I was touring, and coach Greg Meehan is super renowned in the community. I knew he could get me to where I wanted to be.

I wanted to be on a team that pushes me to be better and is also very positive.

The moment I realized I wanted to go there is when the team was doing this circuit in the weight room. If you mess up, you have to go backwards and start over. You could tell they were struggling, but they were really uplifting and vocal about supporting each other as well. That’s when I knew I wanted to be on a team that pushes me to be better and is also very positive.

ED: What are you currently studying in school?

TH: I'm going to be a design major, which is a mix of sustainability and engineering with a focus on human research.

ED: Have any of your friends from Stanford reached out since winning at the Olympics?

TH: A ton of my friends have reached out, pretty much everyone on the swim team. I felt a lot of support. I had over 200 messages.

ED: Are a lot of your friends at Stanford swimmers as well?

TH: Yeah, the majority of my friends are Stanford swimmers just because we practice together so much. Plus, we eat dinner together and we live together. They're my main support system.

ED: When did you start preparing for the Olympics?

TH: I don't really think there was a moment where I necessarily started prepping. My training has been really consistent, and it's never something you amp up just because they're like, “Oh, I'm a year out from the Games.” At that point, it's too late. It's all about consistent growth throughout the years.

ED: What is your typical workout schedule while in school?

TH: Practice is normally at 6:15 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It ends at 8 a.m. and then we lift right afterwards. That ends at 9 a.m., and then we also have afternoon practices Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for about an hour and a half.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have a two-hour practice, and then we also swim on Saturdays. Sunday is our day off.

ED: What's your secret to being able to manage both classes and practice?

TH: You have to get really good at time management. Going back into school after not doing anything for a year is going to be a hard adjustment for me. At the end of the day, if you have to get something done, you always get it done.

ED: Walk me through a normal day on campus for you.

TH: Usually, I go to morning practice and then straight to breakfast afterwards. Then, I either have a class or take a nap. If it’s a nap, I usually have a class or something after, then lunch, practice, and dinner with the team. After dinner, I do my homework and go to bed.

ED: You tried the Olympic chocolate muffin. Is there anything at Stanford's dining hall that is just as good?

TH: There's actually something really similar. There's this dining hall, Ricker — it's the far one on the campus that usually sucks. People don't like it because it's the allergy-friendly dining hall, so it has less options, but every Thursday, it has a special chocolate cake called DBC (Death By Chocolate).

The women's team sometimes makes the long trek and bikes there to eat it. It's really good. It's not undercooked, but it's not quite brownie consistency. It's a little bit fudgier, so you put it with some ice cream and it's really good.

ED: Are you involved in any clubs or on-campus activities?

TH: I should try to get involved in more clubs. I want to join SAS (Student Athletes for Sustainability) next year. I tried doing that freshman year, but then I just got really overwhelmed with school and ended up not going to the meetings. I've also been going to Cardinal Pride. Outside of official clubs, I like to read a lot and do art.

ED: What's on your TBR (to be read) list right now?

TH: I have so many books on my TBR. I can't even name them all, but during the Olympics, I read The Reappearance of Rachel Price and A Deadly Education. There's not a specific genre that I really like. I have favorites, but the thing that got me back into reading again a few years ago was actually Sarah J. Maas’ books.

For anyone looking to get into reading, try the Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Crescent City series. You must read those, especially if you're getting back into fantasy. Those are the original, can't-be-beat sort of series. That's what got me back into the habit.

ED: What are you most looking forward to next semester?

TH: Seeing my friends again on campus and being reunited with the team is going to be super fun.

ED: Do you have your sights set on the 2028 Games?

TH: A lot can change in four years, but also I have thought this through a little bit. I have two more years of school. If I decided to apply for a co-term — enrolling in undergraduate and graduate programs simultaneously — I would continue another year at Stanford. That would take me three years.

Then, I would have one year where it's basically a gap year except I'm not gapping anything. It would kind of be like this year where I just focused on swimming. Then, it would make a lot of sense that I would come back to the Games in 2028.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.