By Louis Fernandez, WRAL Sports

History has a way of repeating itself, especially with the Berkoff family.

Father David is a two-time Olympian, with four medals, two of them being gold. He excelled in the 100-meter backstroke.

Daughter Katharine – a 5-time NCAA champion at NC State – made an Olympic team for the first time in 2024. She excels in the 100-meter backstroke.

“As soon as I figured out that he was an Olympian, gold medalist, world record holder, I decided I wanted to do all those things, too,” she said after qualifying for Team USA during the Olympic Trials in July.

Her journey has been her own, her dad said.

“When she was about 4 years old, she asked me if she could be on the swim team and I said, ‘not until you can get across the pool by yourself,'” David Berkoff said.

The eventual 30-time All-American struggled, but made it to the other side of the pool. Then David moved the goalposts on her, asking Katharine to wait another year. It’s been non-stop ever since.

“She’s always had this dream of being an Olympian, and I’ve never asked her if she ever wanted to do that. I never put the pressure on her to try and follow in my footsteps and the fact that that’s something that she wanted to do, and she actually did it is quite phenomenal.”

“In my head. I was always an Olympian,” Katherine Berkoff says, “so it’s not like anything’s changed too much because it’s I always believed I would do it.”

It hasn’t always been an easy road for the younger Berkoff to get to the Olympics. During the Olympic Trials in 2021 for Tokyo, she finished just outside of the top two and missed the team. Fortunately, she had a home-grown coach, as well as the staff in Raleigh, to help her through the tough times.

David Berkoff said he let her make her way back after the letdown.

A father’s role, he said, was, “having a conversation with her after that, and letting her reset her attitude and her priorities and not put so much pressure on herself.

“Comparison is the thief of joy. Everybody swims differently. Everybody progresses differently. You just have to stay in your lane basically and not worry about what’s going on.”

So when the moment arrived and Katharine Berkoff officially claimed her place on Team USA, her dad’s eyes weren’t red from the chlorine.

“It kills me. It’s just … every, every parent wants their their child to have success in life, and to know what she went through to get where she got,” he said. “For her to go through that that that meat grinder and come out the way she did is just – it’s amazing.”

The women’s 100-meter backstroke heats and semifinals are on Monday. The final is on Tuesday, July 30.

Source: wralsportsfan.com