Olympian Olivia Smoliga is prepping for Tokyo with meditation and new swimsuit

In conversation with Yahoo Sports’ Liz Loza, Olympic gold medalist Olivia Smoliga reveals her self confidence in the quest for gold Tokyo with help from a stealth new swimsuit by JOLIN X FINIS and a daily meditation routine, created by Restoic.

Video transcript

OLIVIA SMOLIGA: Hi, guys. I'm Olivia Smoliga, 2016 Olympian and gold medalist in the 4 by 1 medley relay. So looking forward ahead to Tokyo, first we have our trials of course, where I'll be participating in the 200 free, 100 free, 50 free, and 100 backstroke.

LIZ LOZA: Tell me about the swimsuit you're wearing these days.

OLIVIA SMOLIGA: Yeah. So I'm wearing Finis, it's white with gold stripes. It's great. Usually swim racing suits are like black, gray, they have maybe some patterns. But this like all white, ice. You know? So I like it.

LIZ LOZA: When did you start meditating and how does it impact your life as an athlete and also just like a regular person?

OLIVIA SMOLIGA: I actually just started meditating this year. Like really around the time that COVID hit, it was a blessing. I was able to get connected with this athlete meditation app called Restoic, they're about to launch. But I got their audio tapes when they were kind of like fresh and in the process of creating this app.

Man, it changed everything for me. It's awesome. I listen to it every morning now. But meditation really just helps me control my thoughts, like filter them out and just be my own hype man, in a way. It just really calmed me down and hindsight's 20/20, I wish I started meditating like way earlier, but this like routine that I've created over the past year has been incredible. I love it.