At the conclusion of their college careers, many athletes ride off into the proverbial sunset, content to put their degrees to use and to hang up their cleats, or in the case of Katya Bachrouche, her swim cap. 

Above: Bachrouche is draped in the Lebanese flag at the Pan-Arab Games this past December. Bachrouche was able to join the Lebanese National Team thanks to an assist from her father, who returned to his native country and used his connections to get her a tryout. Photo courtesy of Bachrouche family

At one point, the Farmington Hills native Bachrouche thought she was resigned to the same fate. 

“At this point last year I honestly thought about retiring like most college athletes did after four years, I had hoped to swim internationally but I didn’t know if that was possible or not.” 

But Bachrouche, 22, who helped lead the Virginia Cavaliers to four Atlantic Coast Conference swimming championships during her illustrious career, eventually decided that it was better to continue training and to pursue that goal than to give up on her passion for competing at the highest levels. 

Bachrouche enlisted the help of her father, who was made his yearly Christmastime trip back to his native Lebanon in December 2011. 

“I knew I had dual citizenship so I asked my dad, Nassif if maybe he could make a connection with someone there and see if I could swim for them,” she said. 

Bachrouche had told her father every summer about her plans to swim for Team Lebanon growing up, but this time around, he went back with a purpose. 

Her father talked to a cousin in the country’s military who hooked her up with the country’s Olympic Committee, and through a “web of connections” the entire family was invited back to Lebanon in the summer, where Bachrouche would prepare for the World University Games in China that August.

Bachrouche

She visited Lebanon for the first time, met her grandfather for the first time, and found herself  in “heaven” training in the country’s expansive outdoor pool, with new goals and new visions of glory dancing around inside her head. 

The team neophyte had no trouble proving she belonged right away, becoming the first woman to reach the finals for Lebanon by finishing 7th in the 400-meter freestyle. 

From there, the training sessions became more intense as Bachrouche, who excelled mainly at distance swimming up to that point, began to refine her skills and to train even more like a professional. 

Next up were the Pan-Arab Games in Doha, Qatar, with the swimming portions taking place from December 17-22. 

“I wasn’t sure what to expect because I don’t know if it was just me but I had never really heard much about Arab swimmers, especially the women, but I knew that I was a pretty strong swimmer and I expected to win at least something,” she said.

Bachrouche shattered her own expectations in the Games, bringing four gold (200 meter freestyle, 400 meter freestyle, 800 meter freestyle and 200 meter individual medleys) along with two bronze medals back to her birth country, as she beamed with national pride. 

“It felt so good to get my hand on the wall first and to win the first gold for Lebanon,” she said. “I couldn’t have been more proud for myself and for Lebanon.” 

Perhaps the greatest reward came after the Games for Bachrouche, however, as her performance earned her a spot on the Lebanese Olympic team for the summer games in London this year. 

She now holds five Lebanese team records and is bursting with confidence heading into London, as well as a Psychology degree from Virginia. 

The mental aspect of her game, and her life, has been huge but the physical aspect might be even more important now as she works tirelessly to round herself into elite physical condition for the Olympics, which kick off on July 27. 

“I swam in college all four years and I never really slacked off but now that I’m graduated and preparing I’m focused on training and recovery, I train ten times a week which can run you down but I’m training the best I’ve ever trained in my life and things are looking good,” Bachrouche said. 

She said that the Olympic-style atmosphere of the Pan-Arab and World University Games has helped prepare her for the big stage, which she will enter as a proud representative of Lebanon. 

“Proud is the first word I use to describe my experience, my family has always been supportive behind me and I couldn’t be happier for that,” Bachrouche said. She plans to spent the next few months training in California or Florida and then to Lebanon before getting ready for the final stage. 

“It’s every athlete’s dream to go to the Olympics and I couldn’t be happier that I’ve been given the opportunity to do this,” she said.