"I always remember having a great team to swim with. I was on the Webster Blue Fins Club team, grew up on Lake Ontario, so, just have a lot of really cool memories from Rochester."

Kara's older brother Sean starred at Eastridge. She and her brother Kevin swam in Webster.

"My mom started coaching me when I was five and was the coach of our team in Rochester. A lot of great memories, going to the pool and it was a family affair, my mom coaching and both my brothers swimming so, just really neat."

She finished high school in Michigan, where her brothers swam for Eastern Michigan. She went to Georgia and became an All-American.

In 2004, she went in the 50 freestyle, finishing second in the trials to Dara Torres. In 2008, she placed third behind Torres and Jessica Hardy. But Hardy was given a tainted sports drink and was forced to relinquish her spot to Joyce. Earlier this month, she took second at the Olympic Trials.

“Olympic Trials is an extremely intense meet and it's very different than the Olympics. We're racing against each other and now we come together as a team to represent USA so, we do change the focus a bit but the goal is still to touch the wall first and bring home some medals."

Despite her veteran status, Joyce is still awed by the entire experience.

"I've had an up and down four years, especially this last year and I've just had so many people who believed in me, an amazing support group and I think that's really what got me here. I just try to have fun with it. Swimming is a great sport and yeah, just keep my head up."