Leah Grace Smith
(born April 19, 1995) is an American competition
swimmer
Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...
who specializes in
freestyle events. Smith is a member of the 2016 US Women's Olympic Swimming team, and won a bronze medal in the 400 m freestyle and a gold medal in the 4 × 200 m relay at those games.
Personal life
Smith was born in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
to a family of many elite athletes. She is a great-granddaughter of World Series champion baseball player
Jimmy Smith and great-niece of boxer
Billy Conn
William David Conn (October 8, 1917 – May 29, 1993) was an Irish American professional boxer and Light Heavyweight Champion famed for his fights with Joe Louis. He had a professional boxing record of 63 wins, 11 losses and 1 draw, with 14 wins ...
.
Her sister Aileen currently swims for
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
.
A graduate of
Oakland Catholic High School
Oakland Catholic High School is a private, Roman Catholic college preparatory school for girls, located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, within the Diocese of Pittsburgh. It was established by Bishop Dona ...
, Smith committed to swim for the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
in 2013. She earned her B.A. degree in May 2017.
[
]
Career
College career
Smith attended the University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
, where she competed for the Virginia Cavaliers swimming and diving
The Virginia Cavaliers Swimming and Diving teams represent the University of Virginia in all National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Swimming and Diving Events. In 2021, the women's side won the NCAA Championship, a first for a ...
team. At the 2015 NCAA Championships, she won both the 500-yard freestyle and the 1,650-yard freestyle. Smith repeated as NCAA Champion in both the 500-yard freestyle and the 1650-yard freestyle at the 2016 NCAA Championships. Smith was awarded the IMP Award as the top female athlete at the University of Virginia at UVa's Annual Awards Dinner.
2014
At the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships
The 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, also known as the 2014 Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, a long course (50 m) event, was held in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, from 21 to 25 August 2014.
Qualifying cr ...
, Smith won a gold medal and set a championship record as a member of the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. She was also 9th in both the 400 m freestyle & 800 m freestyle. She then went on to win both the 400 m freestyle
4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures.
In mathematics
Four is the smallest c ...
and the 4 × 200 m freestyle at the 2015 Summer Universiade (World University Games).
2015
Smith represented the United States at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships
The 16th FINA World Aquatics Championships, FINA World Championships (russian: Чемпионат мира по водным видам спорта 2015), also Aquatics 2015, were held in Kazan, Russia from 24 July to 9 August 2015. Russia host ...
where she won a gold medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. She placed second in the 400 m freestyle event and the 800 m freestyle events at the 2016 Olympic Trials. With only 26 spots on the Women's Olympic Swimming Team, second place athletes are not guaranteed to qualify unless and until someone qualifies for more than one event. But in the United States "there has never been an occasion where the top two swimmers in each event, along with the top six swimmers in the 100 m and 200 m free, haven’t made the team", with the recent exception of Ryan Held, who finished sixth in the 100 m free at the 2020 Olympic Trials but was not selected to represent the US in Tokyo due to the 12-spot limit for relay-only swimmers, with Held being designated the 13th relay-only swimmer of priority. On July 3, 2016, Smith was named to the US Olympic Team.
2016
At the 2016 United States Olympic Trials, the U.S. qualifying meet for the Rio Olympics, Smith qualified for the U.S. Olympic team for the first time by finishing second in both the 400- and 800-meter freestyle events behind Katie Ledecky and third in the 200-meter freestyle.
In 2016, Smith competed at the Rio Olympic Games. She won a bronze medal in the 400-meter freestyle with a 4:01.92, behind Jazmin Carlin
Jazmin Roxy "Jazz" Carlin (born 17 September 1990) is a former British competitive swimmer, who previously represented Wales and the Great Britain swimming team. She competed primarily in endurance freestyle events, and was based at the Univer ...
and Ledecky. Along with Ledecky, Maya DiRado
Madeline Jane "Maya" DiRado - Andrews (born April 5, 1993) is a retired American competitive swimming (sport), swimmer who specialized in freestyle swimming, freestyle, butterfly stroke, butterfly, backstroke, and medley swimming, individual med ...
, and Allison Schmitt
Allison Rodgers Schmitt (born June 7, 1990) is an American competition Swimming (sport), swimmer who specializes in Freestyle swimming, freestyle events. She is a four-time Olympic Games, Olympian and a ten-time Olympic medalist.
In her Olympic ...
, Smith won her first ever Olympic gold medal in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. She had split 1:56.69 en route to a first-place finish in 7:43.03.
2022
World Championships
Personal bests
Long Course
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Leah
1995 births
Living people
American female freestyle swimmers
Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Virginia Cavaliers women's swimmers
World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in swimming
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming
Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Sportspeople from Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Swimmers from Pennsylvania
Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m)
Universiade medalists in swimming
Universiade gold medalists for the United States