Regan Smith’s fondest memories of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 did not take place in the pool but, rather, the dorms.

She reveled in playing games such as Jenga and Cards Against Humanity with other swimmers around her age while listening to music, far away from the competition.

Big meets never really excited the Lakeville native. Quite the opposite, actually. After she burst onto the scene via world-record-setting swims at the 2018 World Championships as a 17-year-old, the stardom and expectations that followed left Smith wading in anxiety and nervousness ahead of her biggest events.

“I lost my love for the sport for a long time,” she said. “I didn’t enjoy competing, and I was just going through the motions, because I don’t think I was competing and performing to the best of my ability.”

Fast forward three years, and Smith walked into Lucas Oil Stadium, a football stadium packed with 20,000 fans in attendance to watch the U.S. Swimming Trials last month. It was the most-attended swim meet in history.

Such a stage would have, justifiably, frightened Smith in her not-too-distant past. But, this time, she played the role of a gladiator who was legitimately exhilarated by the size of her arena.

“It was pretty cool,” Smith said. “And that was the first meet that I was genuinely amped up about, instead of scared of.”

And the desired results followed. Smith qualified for the Olympics in all three of her events — the 200 butterfly, 200 backstroke and 100 backstroke, setting a new world record in the latter. She enters the Paris Olympics this week back on top of the swimming world, and no longer afraid of the massive spotlight that comes with it.

Part of her resurgence in performance is a product of her uniting with noted coach Bob Bowman. His straightforward workout routine resonated with Smith, who has always savored the structure and routine of the practice pool.

But Smith noted that she’s still the same swimmer, physically, as the teenager who took the world by storm six years ago. But that girl was relatively naive to pressure and expectations. Smith is now a professional who is all too aware of what’s going on around her.

It’s why she credits her current form to “a lot of mental work.”

One of the definitions of “perform,” per Oxford Languages, is to “present to an audience” as a form of entertainment. That’s a concept Emily Klueh, U.S. Swimmer’s manager of psychological services, conveys to Smith in their sessions.

“Something she always says to me is, ‘Give the crowd a show. Give the people a show. This is about entertainment,’ ” Smith said.

So when the 22-year-old gets nervous, which is still a very natural occurrence, she simplifies the task in front of her using that lens.

“OK, all I’m trying to do is entertain the people who are watching this swim meet,” Smith said. “It doesn’t have to be any deeper than that. It should be fun. The people just want to be entertained and excited and have a good time, so how can I do that for them?”

Swim as fast as you can, and have fun doing so.

For the longest time, Smith was always a swimmer who enjoyed practices more than meets. She never had any issue showing up to the pool and hammering out a grueling workout plan. That was preferred over testing herself against the best.

Her new mentality has shifted that mindset.

“So honestly I’d say, as of now, I do enjoy meets a lot more than practice,” Smith said. “And I think I’m proud of that. Because I used to enjoy practice more, just because there was no pressure. But it’s important to be able to withstand pressure and still perform well.”

Smith said being a part of Bowman’s training group has helped her embrace competing and the urge to perform to the best of her ability. When a challenge presents itself, she now aims to rise to it, rather than backing down.

“You know like, ‘Fight or flight?’” I think I used to flight in situations,” Smith said. “And now I think I’m more of a fighter, so I think that’s been the biggest change as I’ve gotten older.”

Not only does Smith not back down from a fight, she savors the battle.

She walked away from Tokyo with a silver medal and two bronzes, an Olympic haul by anyone’s standards. Obviously now Smith, a gold-medal favorite, seeks to stand on top of the podium. But her goals entering Paris aren’t centered on those types of results.

“Ultimately, it’s not completely in my control, if you know what I mean. I want to execute every race to the best of my ability and really do a good job with my preparation and my race plan — pre-race, post-race, during the race and everything in between,” she said. “I think if I do a really good job with sleep, recovery, warmups, cool down, race execution and everything in between there, as well, I think that will constitute a successful meet for me, because I think that’s what’s going to create the best results.

“Because, ultimately, I could have the race of my life and still walk away with the silver medal or a bronze medal. If that happens to me, I don’t want to walk away feeling incredibly disappointed, because more likely than not, I’ll still have had a performance that I should be incredibly proud of. I want to have my results based on things that are completely in my control.”

One of those things is her mindset. And Smith knows this. She wants her favorite memories from this Olympics to have taken place in the pool.

“Because I know that when I’m done swimming, I’m going to miss these days. These are going to be the glory days of my life, so I don’t want to wish them away and be really nervous for them. I want to embrace the experience and really enjoy it,” Smith said. “The Olympics — and opportunities to compete in the Olympics — are so few and far between, so I want to approach it the same way and think like, ‘What an incredible opportunity this is.’

“I truly want to soak it in instead of feeling anxious and nervous and wanting to wish the experience away. I know it sounds cliche, and I feel like everyone says, ‘Oh, I just want to enjoy it.’ But I truly do, because I feel like that’s where the best results are produced — when you’re actually enjoying the environment that you’re in, you’re really embracing competition and you’re embracing your nerves and the pressures that come with it. Because I think it can be really fun if you frame it in the right way, like, ‘Wow, what an incredible opportunity I have in front of me’ instead of thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a very daunting thing I have to do.’ So hopefully that’s how I’ll feel. I feel that way now, for sure.”

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