'Our Super Bowl, our World Series' Former Olympic Swimmer discusses experience of competing in the Olympics

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The 2024 Summer Olympics will be getting underway for many athletes beginning this weekend, and there will be plenty of athletes ties to the St. Louis-region and Missouri who will be competing in Paris for a spot on the medal podium in their respective sports.

Very few people know the experience of what is it like to compete in the Olympics, but for Alfredo Jacobo, the Senior Vice President and Audit Director at Midwest Bankcentre in St. Louis, he knows the experience of competing in the Olympics quite well.

Before working at Midwest Bankcentre, Jacobo was a Olympian, representing Mexico in the 100 meter breaststroke at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

Jacobo says the Olympics was the ultimate dream for him going back to when he was still a young teenager.

"The Olympics is our Super Bowl, it's our World Series," said Jacobo. "Once you start getting to a competitive level and start winning some national events in Mexico and competing internationally, the Olympics was definitely a goal for me."

"So actually achieving it was a lifelong dream come true."

Jacobo says he has brought multiple traits from competing in the Olympics to his daily life as a Senior Vice President and Audit Director at Midwest Bankcentre in St. Louis.

"At the Olympic level and even the national level, you have to have dedication, you have to do hard work and have discipline, and passion," said Jacobo. "In my professional career, I've always been passionate for audits."

"In order to be passionate about something, you have to do the hard work and be around people who are also passionate and want to self-improve. I been at the Bankcentre for the last five years, we continue to make improvements and I work with a team that always want to strive for better."

Despite Jacobo is now far removed from in the Olympics, he is still excited about the Olympics, saying he is going to try to watch every Olympic event possible, especially the swimming events.

"I just love watching every single race, whether they win or not, and getting the best time (they can get)," said Jacobo. "You see it in their faces, you see it in their celebrations. That's one of the best parts of the Olympics, just watching them. Even if they don't win, the excitement they have is the best time."