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Anne LAZOR
Sport Swimming
NOC United States   
GenderWomen
Born17 Aug 1994 in Detroit, MI, USA
 Human Interest 
Further Personal Information
Residence
Bloomington, IN, USA
Higher education
Communications, Public Relations - Auburn University: United States
General Interest
Famous relatives
Her partner Vinicius Lanza represented Brazil in swimming at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. He also won three medals, including one gold, at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. (SportsDeskOnline, 13 Dec 2021; Instagram profile, 11 May 2020)
Sport Specific Information
Why this sport?
She began taking the sport seriously after competing at her first junior national championships. "I made my first junior [national championships] team when I was 15. After I made that, my coaches told me I was crazy if I continued to play water polo or soccer instead of focusing on swimming. Looking back, I was so naive in the swimming world - I didn't know what any of these teams meant. I didn't know there were any international meets outside of the Olympics. Focusing on swimming helped educate me more on the sport and realise I could make some of these teams someday."
General Interest
Hero / Idol
US swimmer Rebecca Soni. (swimmingworldmagazine.com, 04 Jun 2019)
Sport Specific Information
Training Regime
She trains as part of a post-graduate group at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN, United States of America.
When and where did you begin this sport?
She began swimming at age five. "Our local summer club was directly across the street from our neighbourhood; going there every day with my family made it easy for me to love the water."
Further Personal Information
Occupation
Athlete
Languages
English
General Interest
Nicknames
Annie (Facebook profile, 22 Aug 2018)
Other information
KING'S SUPPORT
In April 2021 her father passed away. Lilly King, her teammate at Indiana Swim Club, drove five hours to Lazor's house when she heard the news to offer her support. "She was going to do everything it took to put me on the team [for the 2020 Olympic Games], and she was going to pull me through practice every day. She has been there for me in ways I can't even describe, words kind of fall short, to be quite honest, she is my family outside my family. The last few months for me have been far from easy [speaking in July 2021], but she has dragged me through the mud and pushed me every day and distracted me, and before we got up for the 200m breaststroke [at the US Olympic Trials], she told me she loved me, and let's just do this, and that was all I needed to hear." Lazor went on to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, having missed out on the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro before taking a break from swimming. "I don't [think] I could have ever envisioned this happening when I came back in 2017. There were a lot of times where I questioned myself, I doubted myself. I think even when I got to Indiana, I don't think putting myself on the Olympic team was a solidified goal of mine. I just wanted to work as hard as I could and see how good I could become." (espn.com, 27 Jul 2021)

TRAINING IN INDIANA
After a break from swimming following the 2016 US Olympic Trials, she began training with her former Auburn University coach, John Hargis, in Pittsburgh, before moving to join the post-graduate group at Indiana University [IU] in 2017. "I took a training trip there during the height of the NCAA championship season to visit my Auburn roommate and IU post grad Ashley Neidigh. I loved the environment, the energy of the coaches and post grads, and could see clearly why Indiana had enjoyed so much success. Afterward, [coach John] Hargis worked with me collaboratively to reach out to Ray Looze and Mike Westphal to explore that as a new training environment for me. It's been great for me mentally and physically to train with other post grads and to take on the training at IU. The breaststroke group we have is unparalleled – training with and being around people like Lilly [King] and Cody [Miller] every day opened my eyes to new standards I needed to set in my training to be more successful." (swimmingworldmagazine.com, 26 Jun 2020, 17 Aug 2018)

COMPETITIVE BREAK
After the 2016 US Olympic Trials she took a break from competition, returning to the pool in 2017. She had become disillusioned with competing after her coach, John Hargis, left for a new job during her preparation for the trials and she failed to make the team for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "I just don't think I was in the right headspace after everything that had happened to make the team. I kind of felt like for a while that swimming had kind of betrayed me a little bit, just in the events that led up to [the 2016] Olympic Trials. I felt like I was ready, and I just felt like everything went wrong. I could have handled it so much better, but I didn't. I was 21 years old, and I just felt like that was the end of my world. I started swimming again in September 2017 with my coach from Auburn, [John] Hargis, with his new programme at Pitt [University of Pittsburgh]." (podcasts.apple.com, 11 Feb 2020; swimmingworldmagazine.com, 04 Jun 2019, 17 Aug 2018; swimswam.com, 01 May 2019)

COLLEGE TRANSFER
She studied at Ohio State University in 2012/13 before transferring to Auburn University in 2013/14. (Twitter profile, 07 Nov 2020; swimswam.com, 01 May 2019)
Further Personal Information
Family
Partner Vinicius Lanza
Sport Specific Information
Club / Team
Mission Viejo Nadadores [USA] / Indiana Swimming Club [USA]:
General Interest
Memorable sporting achievement
Winning bronze in the 200m breaststroke at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (necn.com, 30 Jul 2021)
Sport Specific Information
Name of coach
Ray Looze [Indiana], USA

 Competition Highlights
Olympic Games
Rank Year Venue Event Result
3 2021 Tokyo, JPN 200m Breaststroke 2:20.84
World Championships
Rank Year Venue Event Result
Semifinal 2022 Budapest, HUN 100m Breaststroke  DSQ
Semifinal 2022 Budapest, HUN 50m Breaststroke 30.89
World Championships Short Course
Rank Year Venue Event Result
Heats 2022 Melbourne, VIC, AUS 50m Breaststroke 30.69
Heats 2022 Melbourne, VIC, AUS 100m Breaststroke 1:05.51
2 2022 Melbourne, VIC, AUS 4 x 50m Medley Relay  
1 2018 Hangzhou, CHN 200m Breaststroke 2:18.32
Pan American Games
Rank Year Venue Event Result
1 2019 Lima, PER 100m Breaststroke 1:06.94
1 2019 Lima, PER 200m Breaststroke 2:21.40
1 2019 Lima, PER 4 x 100m Medley Relay 3:57.64
World Cup
Rank Year Venue Event Result
6 2022 Indianapolis, IN, USA 200m Breaststroke 2:22.46
7 2022 Toronto, ON, CAN 100m Breaststroke 1:05.87
4 2022 Toronto, ON, CAN 200m Breaststroke 2:20.65
5 2022 Toronto, ON, CAN 50m Breaststroke 30.88