Olympic champ swims through her pregnancy

Five-time Olympic gold medallist Dana Vollmer isn’t letting pregnancy get in the way of her training.

On Friday, the 29-year-old swimmer competed while six months pregnant.

“Time didn’t matter. Place didn’t matter,” Vollmer told The Associated Press after finishing the 50-metre freestyle in 27.59 seconds, more than two seconds slower than she swam it at the same Pro Swim Series event in Mesa, Ariz., last year.

Vollmer, who is part of the world record-holding U.S. women’s fourby-100-metre medley relay team, placed 55th, which is not bad considering she was weighed down by a “bowling ball,” as she described her healthy baby bump.

“I don’t think I’ve ever done a 50 where I took four or five breaths,” she said. (Elite swimmers generally take one breath or none at all during the race.)

“A 50 felt long for the first time in my life.”

Before Vollmer got in the pool, she checked with her doctors to make sure everything was OK.

Her goal this pregnancy was to avoid forced bed rest — she said her last pregnancy forced her to stay off her feet for 30 weeks.

“I talked to a lot of other moms who compared working out to not working out and whether or not they ended up on bed rest and decided I needed to be healthier with the activity I do,” she told ESPNW ahead of the race Thursday.

With two kids to care for, Vollmer doesn’t expect to slow down as Tokyo 2020 approaches.

Vollmer, who competed in Rio just 15 months after giving birth to her first son Arlen, said competition is also enjoyable.

“I’ve loved being here,” she said. “I’ve loved seeing all my teammates, all the people from Rio. The race felt great.”

Vollmer is expecting another boy in July.