Packing for Paris: Lilly King’s parents cheer for their daughter once again

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) – The 2024 Olympic Games kick off in Paris on Friday, and tristate native, Lilly King, is preparing to compete for the third time. Among those traveling to cheer her on include her parents, who spoke with us about what it was like to raise an Olympian.

Lilly King, while known by many as the greatest breaststroker of all time, is known as “Lil” by those closest to her – her parents.

“We’re both teachers, so we have students a lot of times would say, when Lilly King’s at home but we would say you know, she’s not Lilly King. She’s just ‘Lil,’ so we joke with her about ‘before she was Lilly King,'” says her mother Ginny. “But it’s been a lot of fun, you know, working with the local swimmers here and just seeing her impact on them.”

When talking about Lilly’s impact, her father Mark says, “We’ve always been a family that’s invested in the experiences rather than stuff. She’s very in tune with the experience of high level performances. I think sometimes she feels like the best way she can share her experiences is by giving away the stuff.”

Lilly King says that Paris would be her last games.

“I think she said she’s tired of her body hurting all the time,” says Ginny. “You’re swimming 10-12 thousand yards a day for 20 years. It’s just exhausting. She’s going to continue to swim after the Olympics, but definitely isn’t going to 28.”

For Mark and Ginner, this trip feels bittersweet.

Ginny says it never gets old. “In 2016 when she went, she was one of the new ones, it was learning everything for the time. In 20, probably half the team was new, in Tokyo, she did a lot of mothering the younger people on the team. She hasn’t had to do that because everybody has been there and they know what to do.”

How does one pack for an Olympic games? The Kings say “light.”

“We’re backpack packers,” says Ginny. “We each take a backpack and that’s all we take.”

Lilly King has been in Paris for a days now with the rest of Team USA gearing up for the games, and her parents just touched down in France earlier today.

Below is the schedule of Lilly’s races for next week.

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