AUSTIN, Texas — Lizzi Smith wants to recapture that childhood joy.
That enthusiasm for exercise.
That feeling of finding a passion.
At 25 years old, she's accomplished enough for a lifetime.
She's an Olympian -- a silver medalist in fact -- and is hungry for more, despite the hand she's been dealt.
"I was born with a condition called amniotic band syndrome," Smith said. "Little fibroids got wrapped around my arm and cut off circulation. My parents didn't know before I was born that I was going to have one hand. I would go to preschool and then elementary school and I could feel people staring at me and I just wanted to hide."
Instead of hiding, Smith blossomed and found peace in the pool.
"I never wanted to be known as the girl with one arm," she said. "I wanted to be known as the girl who's really good at swimming.
"It was always to keep up with my able-bodied teammates. It was never, 'I'm just happy to participate with one hand.' It was, 'I want to be great at this.'"
That's exactly what she's done, and she's now training for Paris in 2024.
She gives a lot of credit to her coach, former University of Texas swimmer Ian Crocker.
"Ian's been one of my biggest supporters," she said.
She credits him for both the faster times and for making swimming feel like old times.
"He's helped me love the sport again, so it's not a job, it's a little-kid passion," she said.
That "little-kid passion" is on display in more ways than one at Western Hills Athletic Club.
Smith works alongside Crocker as a youth coach.
"The way she interacts with people, the way she works with the younger kids... To be able to see that, 'I've got more to offer than going up and down a pool quickly,'" Crocker said.
She's teaching kids how to swim and sharing with them her childhood joy.
"I really like working with the little kids. The ones that just started doing swim team, they're like 5 or 6... It brings me back to being that age where I first fell in love with doing this," she said.
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