OLYMPICS: Torrey Pines High grad Pold looks forward to swimming for Estonia in Beijing

By Marwan Razouk - Staff Writer | Sunday, June 15, 2008 6:10 PM PDT ∞

Swimmer Anna-Liisa Pold, a Torrey Pines High grad, will compete for Estonia at the Summer Olympics. Photo by John Koster - For the North County Times.

Anna-Liisa Pold skipped her senior swimming season at Torrey Pines to focus on qualifying for the Olympics. It paid off as she met the qualifying standard time. Photo by Jamie Scott Lytle - Staff photographer.

A year ago, Anna-Liisa Pold was competing against the best swimmers in the Palomar League. In August, she'll stare down the best swimmers in the world.

Pold, a 17-year-old Carmel Valley resident and Torrey Pines High graduate, is competing for Estonia at the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

"I am representing my club team (North Coast Aquatics)," Pold said. "I'm representing Torrey Pines, San Diego and California and Estonia. My parents.

"What I'm doing is kind of for everyone ... representing girls as athletes and student-athletes."

Born in Tartu, Estonia, on Aug. 24, 1990, Pold moved to the United States with her family in February 1992. Meeting the Olympic qualifying time coupled with her dual nationality allows her to compete for Estonia in Beijing.

"It's been a lucky set of circumstances, a really, really lucky set of circumstances," Pold said.

She knows that the competition to make the U.S. team is much more fierce and that a minimum cut time does not make the grade.

The idea of competing for Estonia in the Olympics originated with Pold's father, Mehis. He contacted Estonian federation officials after his daughter's junior year at Torrey Pines, and they were happy to have her if she could qualify.

"I realized that it was a good opportunity and I should try to take advantage of it," said Pold, who will attend the University of Florida on a swimming scholarship in the fall.

Pold gave up a spot on the Torrey Pines swim team as a senior to focus on qualifying for the Olympics.

She was a part of the Falcons' CIF San Diego Section Division I title team as a junior, finishing first in the 100-yard backstroke and second in the 100 butterfly at the section champions. She helped the Falcons set section records in the 200 medley, 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays.

Pold's decision to skip her senior swimming season paid off. She completed the 400 individual medley in 4 minutes, 54.43 seconds, bettering the Olympic qualifying mark by 1.46 seconds at the Long Course Invitational in Austin, Texas, in March, a meet sanctioned by the International Swimming Federation.

Though she reached an Olympic qualifying mark, her time was nearly 20 seconds slower than the gold-medal winning time of 2004.

She realizes a medal in Beijing isn't realistic. Her goal?

"To not embarrass myself," she said, laughing. "I have a time in my head that I want to reach. I want to have fun, meet more people and experience China; to swim fast and watch other great swimmers."

Pold will meet her Estonian teammates for the first time next month when she arrives in Singapore for a training camp. From there, it's on to Beijing for training and directly into competition on the first day of the Olympics.

Despite living most of her life in America, Pold is no stranger to Estonian culture. She loves Estonian food, but it's easy to tell she is an athlete in training by her description of it.

"Lots of fat. You can't live out there and not have body fat," she said of the bitter cold weather in Estonia, which is along the Baltic Sea in Eastern Europe. "Lots of meats, potatoes. Lots of soups. Instead of pasta and rice, we'll have potato."

Pold's parents are cancer research biologists whose work led them to the United States.

Anna speaks Estonian at home, and says her knowledge of the language is decent. She is adjusting to doing interviews for the Estonian press in her native language.

She has already given interviews for several Estonian newspapers, and with a small Olympic contingent on the national team from a country of about 1.3 million people, she expects business to pick up when she arrives in Beijing.

"At home I get my message across," she said. "When it's a stranger interviewing you want to articulate yourself well and send across the right message."

Pold's parents are proud of their daughter's accomplishment and want her to maximize the experience, although they won't be able to join her in Beijing.

Pold acknowledges the uniqueness of her situation being an Estonian-American who is in a "little bit of limbo" on how she is perceived.

Perhaps Mehis Pold summed it up best with a reference to the opening ceremonies in which Estonia will follow the United States in the introductions.

"It's sort of like entering in an extended family," he said. "For me, it's like a symbolism. I have two home countries."

Contact staff writer Marwan Razouk at mrazouk@nctimes.com.