Olympic champion Diana (Munz) DePetro hated swimming – at first. Summer League came at a tender age, and it took bribes of candy and encouragement from her siblings to get her in the water.

“It was frightening, but I learned how fun it was, swimming and laughing with my new friends,” she explained. “I found something that was different than school, and I started to love that aspect of the sport.”

The 200 freestyle shaped Diana’s first vivid memory of competition. In hindsight, it is funny considering her distance swimming credentials. From 1996 to 2004, she always made the podium, and career high-points netted Olympic hardware: 400 freestyle silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 800 freestyle bronze at 2004 Athens Olympics. Diana’s gold medal came at the 2000 Olympic Games on the 4x200 freestyle relay, a sprint event in her otherwise brutal schedule.

“The 200-yard free, as an eight-year-old…” Diana mused. “I was totally terrified of swimming eight laps, all fast. My coach wasn't sure I could do it. I remember it so well, everyone standing to watch, my coach, my parents, my friends, which, of course, made me even more terrified.” 

Diana did ok, as she described it, finishing all eight laps. She remembers feeling a sense of accomplishment, but it was her Lake Erie Dolphins coach, Jerry Holtrey, that made the moment meaningful. “He told me how proud he was, which then made me love the sport even more.”

Elite swimmers follow a well-worn path, and along the way everyone has that moment, that one swim where they start to believe, “I could be great.” According to Diana, she never believed in a million years she would swim at the Olympic level. 

“That level was way out of my league,” she said, “I truly didn’t think about it. I just swam in Ohio and kept moving up and up.” 

By the age of 13, Diana qualified for the USA Swimming National Junior Team, and she still didn’t comprehend her talent.

“I knew I was going to swim in France,” she laughed. “I thought that’s pretty cool.  Beyond that, I didn’t think much about it.” 

It wasn’t until USA Swimming’s 1996 Summer Nationals that Diana started to understand her ability.  She was still 13, but by then she had her distance legs. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, under the baking sun, she ripped a fast 1500-meter freestyle in the morning heats. 

“It wasn’t the fastest U.S. Nationals, because it was the summer of the Atlanta Olympics,” she said. “But that night I stood on the side of the pool watching the final heat, and it was the craziest 15 minutes of my life. I couldn’t believe what was happening.”  No one in the final edged her morning swim. Diana was a national champion at the of age of 13.

Diana is one of the lucky ones. She had one coach during her entire swimming career, Jerry Holtrey, the same one who wasn’t sure she could finish her first 200-yard freestyle when she was eight years old. Coach Holtrey and Diana were close. He was like a second dad, and he did not mince words. The fall following her first national championship title, Coach Holtrey told her, “We’re not looking at this year. We’re looking at the next four years.”  Diana knew what he meant, but she could hardly believe her ears. Coach Holtrey was preparing her for a berth on the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team.

Today, nearly two decades past her Olympic performances, Diana keeps her gold, silver and bronze medals in a velvet bag, tucked way, way back in a closet drawer. Her memories are what resonate now, and they’re almost more tangible than the Olympic hardware. Diana loved going to Zone meets.

“Those memories are some of the best I have, traveling and staying in hotels with friends,” she said. “And, back then, my swimming hero was Janet Evans. How she presented herself and her size didn’t matter. She made all girl swimmers believe they could do anything, no matter what size you were.”

Diana’s 37 now, too young and still too close to swimming to jump back in the pool without feeling the need to train hard. She does yoga, runs and every at-home workout you can think of – and she does it every day.  She has too, especially now, sheltered-at-home during this historic pandemic with three kids. 

“At the beginning I thought I could totally handle this (the COVID-19 shutdown),” she said. “I didn’t think staying home would be too bad, until about 10 days in. We live in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and the weather has been all over the place – grey, sunny, snow. Sydney’ s 11, and very independent, but she’s missing her friends and sports. Reagan’s seven and she needs a lot of guidance. Then there’s my two-year-old, Penelope, who is so happy everyone is home but doesn’t understand why they can’t play all the time. 

I have taken this time to reflect on my entire life, and I definitely know now how much I need people around me. I have been a mom for eleven years, and I’ve decided I need to put some focus on my next move.”

We’re looking forward to Diana’s next move, and she certainly has the swimming family at her back. In truth, Diana never really left the sport. She follows swimming closely, in particularly, Katie Ledecky, a fellow distance-freestyle superstar. Diana has also been engaged for eight years as a USA Swimming Foundation Champions Club member, financially supporting the needs of the USA Swimming National Team through the USA Swimming Foundation.

“The coaches and friends I made while on the National Team, I will never forget,” she added. “The elite group of people I was able to spend so many years of my life with was truly an amazing experience.”