If there is anyone who understands what it means to bring a new swimming pool to a community, it’s Lilly King.
The Evansville, Indiana, native, University of Indiana alumna and three-time U.S. Olympian grew up first splashing around in her hometown hole of Lloyd Pool, and she didn’t see any major construction for another until the brand-new Deaconess Aquatic Center unveiled one with her name on it in 2021.
Wednesday afternoon in Madisonville, she was called upon once again to cut the ribbon on a new pool — this time at the Hopkins County YMCA, where years of generous giving and anonymous matching funds helped finish and fill what is now the Badgett Family Aquatics Center.
Swimming, she said, is a sport with one clear mantra — one that people can now chase more effectively in Hopkins County.
King doesn’t recollect when she actually learned how to swim. Somehow, she’s always been in the water and always taken advantage of it — which she said isn’t the case for so many individuals and families across the country.
Now, they can in Hopkins County, and not in the conditions she first faced across the Ohio River — where she never had a locker, nor did it ever “feel like home.”
She does remember, at 8 years old, her mother visiting a city meeting and taking her along — beseeching City of Evansville officials to move forward with pool renovations or a new facility. Then 10 years old. Then 12 years old. By the time King was in high school, she said her mother had been to at least six city meetings — talking about getting a new pool built for the community.
“Out of the blue,” King said, she made the Olympic team at 19 years old — alongside the likes of Katie Ledecky, Ryan Lochte, Missy Franklin, Michael Phelps and others — and “that helped” matters move along.
After King won her two gold medals in Rio De Janiero, Brazil, 2016, everyone knew: this was the time to once again ask. She, her mother and Paralympian Mikaela Jenkins all spoke, bringing some emotion into the logistics.
It worked, and King said she started crying as the approval came.
A 2025 retiree from the sport at 28 years old, King started swimming competitively at 8, though “terribly,” she added, until a clinic in Mt. Vernon where Olympic great Janet Evans — a legendary distance swimmer — offered her some advice.
Win after win came for King in her pre-teen and high school years, but not without the work, and she said somewhere inside doubt always lingered.
Located at 150 YMCA Drive in Madisonville, the Badgett Family Aquatics Center is — among other opportunities — now expected to be the home of the Hopkins County Hurricanes swim team beginning this October. It is a year-round club that competes as a YMCA and USA swim program, and it offers children 5 and up to work with trained coaches to improve swimming skills and endurance, while promoting a healthy lifestyle.
King’s Full Speech:
FULL GALLERY
PHOTOS – Hopkins County YMCA Olympic Medalist Visit – WFMW
About King:
+ She swam collegiately at IU, and within the swimming community, she said that wasn’t a popular decision. California, Arizona, Florida, she added, seemed more fitting for that career, but she decided that staying home in a program, and with a coach she trusted, worked for her. To that point, she had worked with five coaches in four years, and she noticed that the Hoosiers, as a collective, had improved personal times from the year prior — a sign of growth and competition.
+ A breaststroke specialist, she won gold in the 100-meter breaststroke and 4×100 medley relay at the 2016 Olympics, then earned two silvers and a bronze in Tokyo 2020 before adding another relay gold in Paris 2024. She is the current world record holder in the 100-meter breaststroke and retired following the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
