Agnese Ozolina is joking when she says she plans to be president of her native Latvia one day. But who knows? After swimming for Latvia in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, she is already a hero there. Meanwhile, at Kenyon College she is a seven-time All-North Coast Atlantic Conference swimmer and a seven-time All-American.

The economics major, who regularly appears on Kenyon's merit list, isn't one to brag, especially about her Olympic exploits. "Latvia is so small," she says. "It is like half of Ohio. And usually I would finish something like fortieth at the Olympics."

Out of how many swimmers?

"Oh, maybe seventy or seventy-five," she answers.

That sounds pretty good.

"Whatever," she deadpans.

Ozolina has been impressed not only by Kenyon's academics but by the worldliness of her fellow students as well. "Students at Kenyon actually know where Latvia is!" she says.

The swimming program has surprised her, too. "Training at Kenyon has been even harder than what I was used to," she says. "Coach [James] Steen has really renewed my excitement about swimming. He's inspired me." Nicknamed "Grandma" by teammates owing to her advanced age of twenty-three, Ozolina is one of the most animated College swimmers, loudly rooting on her teammates. "Coming to Kenyon has been a wonderful gift," she says.