VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Even the thought of being at the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials has Maddy Hartley excited.
"Not even making it to the games, just making it to the step to make it there, that 8-year-old girl is really happy right now."
That 8-year-old girl was Maddy Hartley back when she first started having Olympic dreams.
"I remember when I was 8 years old watching the 2012 Olympic Games. I just remember watching those games and watching Missy Franklin. Her being a 17-year-old making it to the Olympics, that was when I realized I wanted to go."
Hartley has also traveled a long road to reach those goals. She's dealt with injury as a freshman at Arkansas, the daunting task of walking into SEC swim meets, moving around often during childhood, and of course, early mornings in the pool while classmates slept.
"We have to get up, in high school we had to get up at 4 a.m. two, three times a week."
She had an assist in making it through those grueling workouts from her TIDE Swimming teammates.
"When you didn't want to do that, you knew the other person would be there. If they're gonna go, I gotta go. If they're gonna put in this effort, I've got to put in this effort."
All of that effort has paid off: TIDE is sending nine swimmers to trials.
"Out of those nine, four are in my class. We graduated together," Hartley said. "We went through thick and thin with each other. They've seen me get surgery, a bunch of different things. It means everything to me that I'm able to go with this group of people."
She's also been supported by family every step of the way and will swim with them in mind at the trials in Indianapolis this week.
"It would mean that I've put in the hard work and that all of the sacrifices my parents and my siblings made for me would have been worth it," she explained. "It's already worth it to make it to the D1 level but this would be the cherry on top. It would mean a lot to me. It would mean a lot to my parents, to me, my whole support system would be really elated."
She'll also swim for that girl who watched those London Olympics 12 years ago and was inspired to walk that path herself. Hartley has been through a lot in between London and Paris, but she says it's all worth it regardless of what happens this week.
"I would tell [8-year-old Maddy] to be excited and stick it out. It wasn't easy," said the elder Maddy, standing on the edge of the TIDE Swimming pool. "I'd tell her that you did it and you made it and keep working hard."