CHAPEL HILL—It wouldn’t be hard to blame Sue Walsh for watching something else when the summer Olympic Games come along every four years.
In 1980, the then-Tar Heel swimmer made the U.S. Olympic team that ultimately didn’t compete in Moscow because of America’s boycott of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Four years later, after she won 11 national titles to rank as one of Carolina’s most decorated athletes, Walsh missed qualifying for the team by one-one hundredth of a second. She was devastated, but didn’t let it dictate her life.
“It’s OK to grieve, it’s OK to be disappointed, but it’s not something that should keep you from moving beyond and pursuing other dreams, and that’s what I focused on,” Walsh said.