With timelines pushed back a year for the next Olympic Games in Tokyo, swimmers are re-adjusting their preparations for the new schedule. However, some swimmers, like Madisyn Cox, had plans for their lives after swimming that could now conflict with a 2021 Games.
In 2019, Cox announced her intention to go to medical school after the summer of 2020 (Olympics or not) and stop swimming. She’ll now have to figure out if she can defer admissions to a school for a year to realize her Olympic aspirations or end her competitive career.
“As of right now, I’m not exactly sure what [my plans] look like yet,” Cox told SwimSwam.
“I do know I am going to try to work it out so that I am able to train for [Olympics] Trials next year. There are a few moving pieces that factor into whether I will be able to do so or not. The first being the dates of both the Games as well as the start dates of medical schools I am still looking at. Another piece of it being which medical school I actually end up going to and if they will let me defer a year so that I can train.”
Since Cox said that, the IOC announced the 2021 dates of July 23 to August 8. She’ll now have to figure out what school she wants to attend and then work with that school to defer her start date until after the 2021 Games.
“I’m going to try my best to work it out so that I can swim,” she said.
An All-American and very successful collegiate athlete at the University of Texas, Cox continued to progress postgrad and looked to be a serious threat in the IM races to score a spot on Team USA’s roster for the 2020 Olympics before the coronavirus pandemic ultimately postponed the Games. As it stands in the 2019-20 season (which is now all but over), Cox is ranked sixth in the world in the 200 IM and 11th in the 400 IM (fourth among Americans in the 200 and third in the 400).
She should ask for the deferral. I would think any medical school would approve this. If she doesn’t ask, she will never know.
Where it does get dicey is when the school starts, and if she would miss anything that would impact her greatly. Medical students are people too. You may be surprised at the number of med students who find themselves starting families during medschool (and in some cases that is a surprise!), others want to finish up a master’s program or some research before starting and faculty/administration work with them as well to meet their goals.
Wow, can’t imagine going through the whole application process while training professionally – that’s a feat in and of itself! I will be impressed wherever she matriculates, given how competitive medical school applications are (especially Stanford with literally a 2% acceptance rate). I was bummed when I was applying to these schools how little some of the admissions committees seem to know about high level athletics outside of the Olympics, and was told on several occasions that “some of them think D1 is just a vitamin.” I’m sure her acceptance will come from the merit of her MCAT and other clinical/research experiences, with her swimming career being a really awesome cherry on top!
upon reading this, just want to clarify that swimswam readership should be impressed whether she goes to Stanford or not 🙂
Any med school lucky enough to get her will be more than happy to defer her admission for a year. Finish what you started in the pool. Med school can wait one more year.
Bravo.
It’s very simple to me. Madisyn Cox is a superb athlete. She has had two jobs at Texas. I am an OU and UCLA Law grad. Agent Orange survivor. Cleaned B52s during VIETNAM. Another wasted war for America.
Madisyn is a stud muffin.
School and swimming. Excelled in both. She wants Stanford medical. It is the best school overall in the world. 7,500 students, great location, most NCAA championships.
Defer her admission. She adds more to the school than sychophant Iraq war monger Provost Condoleezza Rice.
If not then #2 med school UCLA/UCSF should step up. All should offer her a full schilarship
Janet Napolitano do your job.
Pat Maginnis
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310.500.8609
Thanks Steve.
The second comment I left was taken down. I don’t know why. Today. everyone wants to be politically correct. My comment was perfectly truthful about how great Stanford and Cal are.
This is way better than Olympian saying he was a three-time Olympian. “Cleaned B52s during VIETNAM.” That’s a keeper.
Keep in mind that deferring now comes with an opportunity cost anywhere from 250k-1m depending on what she specializes in. She will never make that as a swimmer. It’s not a simple answer.
The bigger issue over the next 6 months is the training schedule. My pool is shutdown.
My advice to her would be to defer med school and swim the “last mile” for the 2021 games. When you’re that young it’s easy to get impatient and want to move on with your life, but in 5-10-20 years that extra year of work doesn’t mean as much and the year of “what if” you missed out on means a lot more. I speak from my own experience of skipping my senior year, which is my biggest regret from college. Keep pursuing your dream Madisyn!
Most med schools applicants are desperate to get accepted anywhere ever, and they apply many years, even re-taking undergraduate classes post-graduation. Cox already got a leg up in applications since graduate schools sometimes, and perhaps correctly, view college athletes as having true technical work experience
Recently, many high level athletes lost their season, eligibility, and/or training space. Many grad school applicants are losing their jobs (or at least their paychecks) while the cost of applying to multiple schools remains high.
She’s got a good shot of qualifying, but it’s really hard to feel sorry for her right now. Just defer.. and if she can’t, she can always reapply. If she qualifies for the games next year, an Olympian who… Read more »