BACON Phoebe

General
LEAERNING FROM LEDECKY
She is from Chevy Chase, Maryland, and attended the same schools as fellow US swimmer Katie Ledecky. When she first started school, Ledecky, who is six years her senior, was assigned as her older buddy. They have stayed in touch over the years and Bacon says watching Ledecky win a medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London had an impact on her. "Neither of us I think had the knowledge of where swimming was going to take us back then. It was more just I was meeting somebody older than me. Then as she went on to 2012, and it opened my mind up to wow, maybe swimming can get me that far as well. Now, we're teammates on the 2021 Olympic team. It's such a big thing, it's really incredible because she's been such a big role model in my life. She is always asking me about my swimming, and, of course, I'm always reading and watching about her swimming. I'm always asking her about hers. She's a really great person for me to look up to and a big help, I would say, for my swimming career." (teamusa.org, 20 Jun 2021; olympics.nbcsports.com, 14 May 2021; wjla.com, 28 Jun 2021)