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Kim Black, a gold medal winning swimmer in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, spoke at Hamilton's Campus as a part of the Hamilton College Competitive Swim Camp.  Kim was a member of the winning 4x200 freestyle relay team for the United States.   

The Olympian discussed her own memories and experiences from the Sydney Games in 2000, giving a power point presentation followed by a question and answer session directed for the campers; staffers and members of the Hamilton community attended as well. In her presentation, Black discussed her specific race, the 800m freestyle relay, showcasing her own photographs and film of the events. She also discussed her original involvement with competitive swimming.  When she was 8 years old, Kim Black had plenty of energy for the sport, but lacked technique, claiming to take way too many strokes, nearly double what most swimmers take, for her specific event. Black continued the sport through her early adolescence until she was side-lined for nearly four months. However, her time out from swimming gave her a new perspective on the sport, as Black claimed that she realized then how much swimming truly meant to her during this time. She was back in the pool as soon as possible, and continued to swim through high school and college, eventually trying out for the Olympic Games in 1996 in Atlanta. Unfortunately, she missed the cut by 1/100 of a second and went as an alternate. However, Black was given a second chance in 2000, qualifying for the games and swimming her way to an Olympic gold medal. She discussed how a combination of hard work and practice, determination, a healthy lifestyle, and most of all, believing in herself, helped her reach her Olympic dreams.

In addition to her Olympic experience, Kim was named the 2001 NCAA Woman of the Year, was a named the SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year, and graduated from the University of Georgia in 2001 with her BS in biology. 

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