Mariah Denigan, a northern Kentucky native, is now a USA Olympian

SOUTH CENTRAL KENTUCKY- Mariah Denigan is the fifth woman in U.S. history to qualify for the Olympics in the 10K open water event. She tells us how her dream is becoming her reality.

The Olympian says, “I’ve been swimming since I was 7 years old, and so, I just have so much love for it, and it’s just a joy to go to practice every single day and push to see what my body is capable of, and so, just like, having the dream of making it to the Olympics become a reality was just like icing on top of the cake because of how much I love the sport.”

Mariah Denigan, a northern Kentucky native, has been swimming since then, and her love for the sport grew beyond what she imagined. However, she is not doing this alone. She also had a solid support system in her school system, the Barren Academy of Virtual and Expanded Learning, and her family. They have always believed in her and her dreams.

“At eight to nine, she continued to progress, and we knew that there was something special. I mean, she already was talking at nine, you know, being just like a lot of kids do, but by the time she was 13 or 14, we started realizing it could be a reality,” her father, Josh Denigan, says.

Mariah’s parents knew back then that the best way for their future Olympian to succeed was to give her a vision, and to sacrifice for Mariah.

Her mom, Candace Denigan, also shares with us a pivitol moment that motivated her to keep pushing towards her goals. Candace says, “My husband took her to the 2016 Olympic trials in Omaha and she told him then, in fact, she wrote a sign that said, ‘I’m Mariah Denigan, and I’m going to be a 2020 Paris Olympian’, and she had that sign in her room. It was for 2020. So she missed it by just a little, but we’ll take it.”

“I feel blessed to be able to represent them, represent all Kentuckians, and honestly, just make it and just show younger kids of Kentucky that their dreams of being an Olympian can become a reality,” Mariah Denigan says.

You can watch her compete and cheer her on in the Paris Olympics this summer on WNKY NBC 40.