The coach Antonio Lutula's persuasion ended with a historic Olympic Games gold.
Sarah Sjöström's second full hit in Olympic contexts is also Sweden's first Olympic Games gold on sprint distances in freestyle.
On Sunday, she can pick up another one on 50 meters freestyle, where she is a big gold favorite.
I'm super proud that I did this, she says.
It took a few seconds before I saw that I had won. I felt that I had done a really good race, says Sjöström, who won with a time of 52.16, her third fastest race ever on the distance.
Second-place Torri Huske, USA, was 13 hundredths behind, and Siobhan Haughey, Hong Kong, was 17 hundredths after.
Favorite Mollie O'Callaghan, Australia, missed a medal and was fourth, 18 hundredths behind super-Sarah.
"I've felt it inside"
Sjöström has previously taken four silvers and a bronze in World Championship contexts. In the Olympic Games, it was a bronze in 2016.
Had you given up the thought of ever winning that gold on 100 meters freestyle?
I'm going to be honest and say that I talked to my coach in February and have somehow felt inside that I would win 100 freestyle. But I couldn't say where I would do it, she says.
It happened at the Olympic Games in Paris.
And she did it as an outsider.
"I was about to faint"
In contrast to the Olympic Games gold on 100 meters butterfly in Rio and when she goes in on 50 meters freestyle later in the week.
In Rio, it was a relief. I was so nervous and had a hard time enjoying it beforehand. I was about to faint because I felt the pressure there. Now it was just focus on what I myself would do, she says.
When she stepped out of the pool after the gold race, she couldn't hold back tears.
You get so overwhelmed by everything, she says.
On the podium, she looked happy, happy, but also collected.
It's important not to faint completely, think about that I'm a little older now. I also have 50 meters freestyle, so when I get away from all the stimuli, I just try to breathe, she says.
Now she's looking forward to 50 meters freestyle.
I'm going in on 50 meters freestyle with a different mindset, where I'm the favorite. But I have the best left, I love 50 freestyle.
So the Olympic Games celebration will have to wait.
I'll try to wind down, take a break, it sounds really boring, but it will have to wait. I have a lot of celebrating to do in the fall, says Sjöström, who will then marry her long-time fiancé Johan de Jong Skierus.
Born: August 17, 1993 (30 years old).
Club: Södertörn.
Coach: Antonio Lutula.
Olympic Games merits: Gold on 100 meters freestyle in Paris 2024, gold on 100 meters butterfly in Rio 2016, silver on 200 meters freestyle 2016 and on 50 meters freestyle 2021 in Tokyo, bronze on 100 meters freestyle 2016.
World Championship merits (long course): 14 gold, 8 silver, 3 bronze. Has 4 World Championship gold on 50 meters freestyle, including 3 in a row: 2017, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
European Championship merits (long course): 17 gold, 7 silver, 4 bronze.
Total medals: Has 96 medals in total in long and short course between 2008 and 2024.
2024 (Paris): Sarah Sjöström, gold on 100 meters freestyle.
2021 (Tokyo): Sjöström, silver on 50 meters freestyle.
2016 (Rio de Janeiro): Sjöström, gold on 100 meters butterfly, silver on 200 meters freestyle, bronze on 100 meters freestyle.
2000 (Sydney): Lars Frölander, gold on 100 meters freestyle, Therese Alshammar, silver on 50 and 100 meters freestyle, women's team bronze on 4x100 meters freestyle.
