Team USA speaks to SELF about the countries and athletes they're most excited to compete against at the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I'm excited to play Argentina because we lost to them in Pan Ams and that would have been
00:07our first chance to qualify.
00:09And so I kind of want a little bit of revenge and be open against them.
00:12So that would be fun.
00:13Me, myself and that.
00:15I'm excited to just compete against myself.
00:17I mean, I'm excited to compete against the world.
00:20That's the coolest part about, you know, the Olympics, but it's an individual sport.
00:23So I try to just keep my focus on me and keep my focus on what the goal is.
00:28Yeah, I don't even think like that.
00:30Not looking forward to competing with anyone.
00:33It's Jamal and Jamal in the pool.
00:35You know, all the Jamals are coming together for the best swim that Jamal will ever have
00:39in his life up until that present moment.
00:41Best of luck to everyone else, though.
00:43You will need it.
00:44We have two girls in my class that, India and Thailand, they put up really big totals
00:50earlier in the qualifications and we haven't really seen them compete to that level since.
00:55So I kind of have no idea what they're capable of.
00:57I know what I'm capable of, which is what I'll focus on, but I'm interested to see like
01:02how the competition plays out.
01:04I have a lot of really, really good friends who I've competed against a lot.
01:07Very talented women, really, really experienced.
01:10So regardless of what happens, I know it's going to be really close, but I'm really proud
01:15of them, too.
01:16One of my very good friends is competing for Canada, another good friend competing for
01:19France on her own turf, Chile.
01:24And then, obviously, there's a couple of countries like Russia and China that have
01:27been big rivals for me that I'm really excited to go against.
01:31I love our 100 Brushstroke group from all around the world.
01:34Tatiana is like the sweetest person ever.
01:36She's from South Africa.
01:37Ruta is absolutely amazing.
01:39She's from Lithuania.
01:40Obviously, our USA contenders are incredible, Lily and all those girls.
01:45So I'm just excited to be there and race with those women.
01:47I'm wondering if they're going to watch this.
01:50Team Canada.
01:53Man, I just really want to play against them.
01:56I'm most looking forward to competing against, and I don't know if he'll be playing yet,
02:00but Mbave.
02:01I know he's said it a lot.
02:02I really like to compete with world number one.
02:07Actually, she's from Korea.
02:09Her name is Ahn Se-young because she's really young and she's really talented.
02:17So I can't wait to compete with her in the Olympics.
02:21Well, I just love competing against my own teammates.
02:23I feel like it's always fun, especially some of the older guys I've been playing with for
02:29the longest time.
02:31So like the Treyvon Jennifer, the Steve Searles, like some of those guys.
02:35I just love competing against them.
02:36We always joke in practice, you know, about like, you can't guard me or things of that
02:41nature.
02:42I feel like it just makes it very competitive and very fun.
02:44You know, I compete against these guys for a year and a half straight.
02:47So most of them are my friends.
02:48You know, I'm anxious to see what they pull out.
02:50You know, it is the Olympic Games.
02:52Anything can happen.
02:53But I'm pretty excited for them to see my stuff.