Quick Facts
AriesBiography
Leah Smith (born April 19, 1995) is an American competition swimmer 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.
Career
Smith attends the University of Virginia, where she competes for the Virginia Cavaliers swimming and diving 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.
At the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, 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 and the 4 × 200 m freestyle at the 2015 Summer Universiade (World University Games).
Smith represented the United States at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships 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." On July 3, 2016, Smith was named to the US Olympic Team.
In 2016, Smith competed at the Rio Olympic Games. She won a bronze medal in the 400 metre freestyle with a 4:01.92, behind Jazmin Carlin and Katie Ledecky. She was a member of the 4x200 metre relay with Ledecky, Maya DiRado, and Allison Schmitt, that earned a gold medal in Rio.
Family
Smith is a great-granddaughter of World Series champion baseball player Jimmy Smith and great-niece of boxer Billy Conn.