Courtesy of Nulo Pet Food, a SwimSwam partner.
Regan Smith has stood on the world’s biggest stages, but on a recent evening at Purrfecto Cat Lounge in Austin, in partnership with Nulo Pet Food, the 24-year-old Olympic gold medalist sat among a room full of cats and cat lovers and, in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, spoke on something the highlight reels don’t always show:
The mental work behind the performance — and the cat who makes it all a little easier.
In January 2024, Smith was living alone in Phoenix. “I wanted something I could pour all of my energy and love and attention into, to give me an outlet outside of swimming,” she said. So, she went to the shelter with her mom, and while most of the cats were fine, one crawled into her lap, curled into a ball, and fell asleep. She renamed her Roo, and they went home that afternoon.
Roo was malnourished — underweight, coat rough, low energy. Smith has been feeding her Nulo exclusively since March 2024, and the difference is evident. “She’s double the weight in a healthy way. Her coat is so glossy, she has so much energy, she can jump so high.”
The bond with Roo is only part of the story. Smith was 17 when she had her breakout season and was favored to win gold at the Tokyo Olympics before COVID postponed the Games a full year. That extra year of pressure festered, and she failed to qualify for one of her marquee events at the 2021 trials. “That experience forced me to grow and look in the mirror and do the work.” The work included therapy — something she once stigmatized. “I thought it meant you were weak,” she said. Now she’s had the same therapist for nearly three years, and the biggest lesson has been separating emotional thoughts from logical ones. “In any situation where you’re feeling anxious or stressed, you have to look at the facts and forget everything else.”
Day-to-day, Smith journals before bed, limits social media when her anxiety spikes, and has been reading more books, especially at bedtime. “It’s a good hobby to do with your cat,” she said. And when the day goes awry, or practice goes badly, she can always count on Roo. “She’s literally saved my mental state so many times.”
With Pan Pac Championships in Irvine on deck this summer, and the LA Olympics two years out, Smith is head-down in Austin — training, finishing her psychology degree online, and of appreciating Roo through it all.
