Luke Whitlock started out as a reluctant swimmer.
“It took (some) convincing to get him to swim,” said his mother, Kara Whitlock. “We laugh because he failed Level 1 in swim class (at age 6) because he didn’t want to put his face in the water. Then his little brother Blake did it and from there it took off because he’s very competitive. He looked like a swimmer when he was swimming, so we tried to convince him to join the swim team. It took a couple of years, but he decided to try.”
The member of the Fishers Area Swimming Tigers has come a long way. Whitlock, 18, became the youngest male U.S. swimmer to make the U.S. Olympic team since Michael Phelps made it in 2000 at age 15. Whitlock qualified by finishing second to Bobby Finke in the 800-meter freestyle with a personal best time of 7 minutes, 45.19 seconds, earning him a spot on the team at the U.S. Olympic Qualifying Events in Indianapolis.
Whitlock, a Noblesville resident, finished 15th in the 800-meter dash at the Summer Olympics in Paris on July 29. He was about 4 seconds slower than his Olympic team qualifying time. Whitlock had been feeling unwell but did not test positive for COVID-19 until after his Olympic swim.
“I didn’t even know he wasn’t feeling well or that he was sick,” said FAST trainer Joe Keller. “He didn’t want to use that as an excuse. He still put on a great performance, but I’m pretty confident that if he had been feeling better, he probably would have been a lot faster. In 2028, he should be able to do some pretty awesome things.”
Whitlock was disappointed.
“I didn’t perform as well as I wanted to. I don’t want to make any excuses for that, but it’s something I couldn’t control,” said Whitlock, a freshman at the University of Florida. “After my race, I thought I’m ready to get back to work and ready for next year and every year after that, especially the next four years. But I knew I needed a break because I didn’t take a break at all last year.”
So he forced himself to take a few weeks off, but he can’t wait to get back into training.
Still, Whitlock said the Olympic experience was great.
“I had to quarantine for two or three days, but since I had symptoms before, I slowly started to feel better,” he said. “After my quarantine, I was able to walk around the Olympic Village for the last two days.”
Keller said Whitlock was often dissatisfied with a performance or workout.
“When I first started working with him, that could lead to some outward frustration,” Keller said. “We talked about it a lot and felt that that could be a really negative thing. He’s learned to control it and turn it into something positive. Sometimes the things that are one of our biggest weaknesses can also be our greatest gift. That’s what spurred him on and gave him that hyperspeed to make the Olympic team.”
FAST hosted a welcome home celebration for Whitlock on August 7 at Fishers High School, where many younger team members asked questions and got autographs.
Whitlock competed in the 500-yard freestyle as a freshman for Noblesville High School. He made it to the IHSAA state finals but finished 15th. After that, he focused on the longer races in junior meets and stopped competing at the high school level.
He took online courses but completed them along with his class.
“Because of the days he would miss, (NHS) suggested online classes,” said Keller, who is also the boys and girls swim coach at Fishers High School. “I think that aspect was helpful because there were times when he was able to get a little more sleep. I don’t necessarily want to encourage that, but I think when you have an athlete at a high level, there are some benefits.”
Ready for the next stage
FAST coach Joe Keller is convinced that the best is yet to come for Luke Whitlock.
“He can train with the best in the world,” said Keller
Whitlock trained with Bobby Finke in the US training camp and will train with him again at the University of Florida.
Finke, who won a bronze medal in the 800 meters and gold in the 1,500 meters at the recent Summer Olympics in Paris, is a former Gators swimmer.
Whitlock is 6’3″ tall and weighs about 135 pounds. One of his main goals is to gain weight.
“I’ll have a target meeting with my coach at the beginning of the season, but the ultimate goal is to build muscle and get bigger and stronger,” Whitlock said. “All the guys are a lot bigger than me and you can see my turns aren’t as good and my legs aren’t as strong. I’m good at swimming, but getting stronger will improve some of my skills.”
In addition to training in the weight room, he is looking forward to developing more specific nutrition plans to gain weight.
