To win, you must begin.
The starting block for Olympic champion Dana Vollmer was the Fort Worth Area Swim Team.
Ron Forrest was and still is the head coach.
“My assistant coach came over and said hey you've got to take a look at this girl she's really good,” Forrest recalled from a conversation in 1999.
It was clear, he says, from the beginning Vollmer would make waves in the world of competitive swimming.
“All of a sudden it was just kind of like a high-powered speed boat coming up on the water,” he said seeing Vollmer’s first swim sprints.
Vollmer has come a long way since then.
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She's earned four gold medals including her first in Athens when Forrest was her coach.
“It’s been really fun to watch this journey,” he said.
When Vollmer isn't chasing medals, she’s chasing her 1-year-old son Arlan.
In June, she told NBC 5's Brian Curtis, pregnancy inspired her to jump back into the sport.
“As soon as she told me she was back in the water I felt pretty good about where that was going to lead her,” Forrest said.
So far, it's led to bronze and silver medals in Rio.
Saturday night, she looked to cap off her third Olympic games with gold.
“I would love to see this as the capstone for her Rio Olympics. To be able to stand on the top of the podium. She went there, ‘momma on a mission’ for a gold medal,” Forrest said.
