Kennedy Goss quickly had to get used to life as Sandy Goss’ daughter when she decided she was going to be a swimmer.
Sandy was a two-time silver medalist, helping Canada onto the 4x100m relay podium in Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988. All the coaches that worked with Kennedy already knew that. Many of the athletes she swam against did, too.
When Kennedy was around the pool, strangers would walk up to her and strike up conversations about her father. She became used to answering the questions, smiling and being as cordial as she could be. That was life as Sandy’s daughter.
“I wanted to follow my dad’s footsteps,” Kennedy said. “People knew who my dad was and all of his accomplishments. You kind of just got used to it.”
People still walk up to Kennedy around the pool but for different reasons now. She’s an Olympian in her own right, having qualified to be a part of Canada's 800m freestyle team in Rio after finishing fourth in the 200m freestyle final at the Canadian Olympic & Para-swimming Trials in the spring.
She’s still Sandy’s daughter. That’ll never change.
But she’s Kennedy, too.
“Now, it’s more like we’re a pair,” Kennedy said.
Nothing about being an Olympian is common. Qualifying for the games takes a mix of natural ability, dedicated training and luck along the way. The stopwatch doesn’t care what your name is or how much you want to be an Olympian. It just reads off a time.
That’s what makes the father-daughter duo of Sandy and Kennedy Goss abnormal. It’s one thing for Sandy to have qualified for the Olympics. For Kennedy to follow it up and do it herself is another entirely.
“I think it’s harder for somebody that’s had a parent win an Olympic medal,” Indiana head coach Ray Looze said. Catching lightning in a bottle twice isn't something to bank on.
Swimming was never pushed onto Kennedy as a kid. Her parents put her in the water one day and she took off, just like her father and mother did. Judy, Kennedy’s mom, swam at SMU and now works as a sports psychologist.
“They just wanted me to do what I loved,” Kennedy said. “It ended up I loved doing swimming.”
Having parents who were accomplished swimmers themselves helped Kennedy along the way. She could always lean on them for support, advice and criticism when she needed it. How far she’d ultimately climb as a swimmer was up to her.
After making the FINA World Championships in the summer of 2015, Kennedy failed to make the Pan American Games hosted in her native Canada. Looze said the bitter disappointment of not being able to compete at the Pan Americans lit a fire underneath Kennedy that helped her reach the Olympics in 2016, just like her father did three decades before her.
“Sometimes when you experience not quite getting what you want, you need to be tougher,” Looze said. “She was really tough this year.”
Kennedy, a rising junior, said she came to Indiana to swim for Looze because he said he’d rather send a swimmer to the Olympics than the NCAA Championships. His goals aligned with her own.
Halfway through her academic career, Kennedy is set to embark on her own Olympic journey with Team Canada. Even though her father competed twice before, she said she doesn’t truly know what to expect when she gets to Rio. All she wants is to compete.
Sandy has managed to give his daughter at least a few pieces of advice, though, from one Olympian to another.
“He really just says to experience everything,” Kennedy said. “Don’t get too caught up in the moment. You still have to race, but take advantage one day at a time and look forward to it.”
