Swimmer Stephanie Peacock wins two medals at World University Games

In late winter and early spring, UNC senior and swimmer Stephanie Peacock was forced to sit out of a large portion of her season due to an illness — one that coach Rich DeSelm said was never fully identified or diagnosed.

But after months of training herself back to full strength, Peacock traveled to Russia this month with the US National team and won gold and silver medals at the World University Games.

Peacock, who returned to the states this week, earned the top spot in the women’s 1500-meter freestyle and placed second in the 800-meter.

“I wasn’t expecting to come home with that,” Peacock said.

“It just really, really makes me happy to know that all this training I’ve done in the past couple months really paid off.”

Fellow freestyle swimmer Danielle Siverling said Peacock was patient with her return and that her intensity in training played a key role in her return.

“It was really cool to watch her come back,” Siverling said.

“She never complained, but you could tell she didn’t want to be a spectator because that’s not what she’s supposed to be, obviously.”

But for Peacock, keeping her composure and letting her body recovery was only half the battle.

After traveling halfway across the world, continuing to perform at a world-class level presented a different challenge.

Previous experience — including swimming in the World University Games two years ago in China — helped Peacock swim her best.

“(The US) does a great job of planning the trip and planning enough time to travel and acclimate before the competition starts,” DeSelm said.

“Her experience from China and the good guidance from (the US) were certainly confidence boosters.”

Peacock admitted that even with her experience, it took about six days for her to get used to the sun rising at 5 a.m. and staying out until 10 p.m.

“All of us woke up around five in the morning thinking it was 8 o’clock in the morning because it was so bright out,” Peacock said. “That was the hardest part.

“A lot of us, for the first few nights, got between four or five hours of sleep.”

But by adjusting her routine and listening to the advice of USA swimming coach Jack Roach, Peacock was ready by the time competition started for her.

Roach told Peacock and her teammates that the best way to adjust and thrive was to follow the routine they normally did at home as closely as possible. From eating the same foods to taking naps at certain times, Peacock said she tried to follow Roach’s words of wisdom.

And it paid off.

“It’s nice now that I’m back home,” Peacock said.

“I can sit back and think about what I’ve accomplished.”

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