Ruta Meilutyte on Return to Swimming, Eating Disorder, and Mental Health

We sat down with recently crowned 2022 World Champion in the 50 breast, Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania. Ruta dives deep on a lot of topics, first of which is being back in major international competition for the first time in 3 years and managing to medal in both of her events. We then work backward through her dealing with an eating disorder, learning how to take care of her mental health (starting that process just months before the Rio Olympics), and serving a 2-year suspension from racing for missing 3 doping tests. Ruta is candid in her responses and shares knowledge that has come after over a decade at the highest level of competitive sport. 0:00 Ruta Meilutyte Introduction 2:15 Uncertainty of Competing at 2022 World Champs 4:58 Racing Mentality - "Not a medal, not an option" 7:29 50 Breast Gold Medal in Budapest 12:44 Meditation & Mindfulness 16:00 Dealing with an Eating Disorder 22:38 Prioritizing Mental Health before Rio Olympics 27:04 Training in United Kingdom, Los Angeles 32:49 Doping Suspension for Missing Tests 36:30 2-Year Racing Suspension 39:40 Coming Back to Swimming Through Retirement 43:15 Blood in the Water Video 47:19 Being More Than an Athlete 51:25 Future Projects, Keeping Short-Term Goals 53:52 Advice for Younger Swimmers Swimming news courtesy of SwimSwam.com (https://swimswam.com) Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3UGrNWoMK0RqWZCMbOwUPO?si=TeZ03KYLRbi7O6QJfWR6EA Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fish-out-of-water-the-swimswam-podcast/id1467108547 Click here to listen and subscribe on Podbean https://swimswam.podbean.com/ Click here to listen and subscribe on Google https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9zd2ltc3dhbS5wb2RiZWFuLmNvbS9mZWVkLnhtbA Follow SwimSwam on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swimswamnews/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/swimswamnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swimswamnews/