Olympic swimmer Elizabeth Beisel lauded winning without doping — to encourage students not to cheat in class

In the wake of high profile instances of doping in professional athletics, Olympic swimmer Elizabeth Beisel told students at the Perry World House on Wednesday that those who win without cheating find success more meaningful. 

The idea was to encourage students not to cheat in class. 

The University Honor Council featured Beisel, a three-time Olympian and captain of the U.S. women’s swimming team, in a conversation-style event focused on ethics and integrity, and particularly how to deal with hyper-competitive environments. The event was moderated by Penn's women’s rowing head coach Wesley Ng. 

“The lies will catch up to you. It is so not worth it,” she said. “You don’t always have to be the best at everything. You don’t have to be number one in order to be important. You can provide in so many other ways that you don’t even know about.”

College junior and Honor Council Co-Chair Christopher D’Urso said he hoped the event would help encourage discussion surrounding academic integrity by relating competitive academics to the competitive experiences athletes face in their sports.

“What motivates people to cheat, and how do we avoid doing that? How do we keep Penn students accountable? We wanted engagement,” he said.

Beisel shared key points of her career, beginning with her first experiences with swimming, and progressing with the trials she went through as she became an Olympian swimmer. Throughout the narrative, she repeatedly emphasized how she was just a "normal" person and her success was a result of her dedication. “It’s really humbling to see normal people do extraordinary things,” she said.

The focus of her story and the questions that followed were centered on her views on ethics and integrity. Beisel, who serves as an athlete ambassador for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency program TrueSport, shared her strong opposition to doping, adding that, "fair play is definitely one of the most important things in sports."

Attendees found the conversation and the opportunity to meet the Olympic swimmer both encouraging and rewarding. They raised questions focusing on Beisel’s career, views and — in some cases — instances of controversy surrounding U.S. athletes. By the end of the event, the attendees all stood in line to take a photo with her and the medals she earned.

“I really liked how she spoke about the integrity, which you don’t always hear about, and you don’t always see when you’re watching the [Olympic] Games,” College senior Katie Harlow said after the event. “I think it’s really informative, and lessons can be taken away [from the conversation], not just for me and my rowing team, but for the general student body as well.”