Regan Smith is a highly accomplished swimmer specializing in backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle. She has already broken world records and won multiple Olympic and World Championship medals, including gold and silver. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, she earned a silver in the 200m butterfly and a bronze in the 100m backstroke.
She’s already a star in her sport at the age of 23, and her resume speaks for itself. However, what about her personal life and her support system? Let’s see all about who supports her and stays beside her through thick and thin.
Who Is Tim Rizzo?
Tim Rizzo is her partner who has stayed by her side for almost 6 years now, supporting her in her career. He, too, is an accomplished swimmer and the longtime boyfriend of the U.S. Olympian Regan Smith.
He has a background in swimming and has been a competitive swimmer for St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Perhaps it was destiny that limited each other and shared the same interests, as they grew up in areas that were very close to each other. Timothy Russell Rizzo was born in Woodbury, Minnesota, about 30 minutes away from Regan Smith’s hometown of Lakeville.
As a senior in 2019, Rizzo was the state runner-up in the 500-yard freestyle event and held the Woodbury High School record in the 200-yard freestyle. His outstanding high school career earned him recognition as a USA Swimming Scholastic All-American.
Where Is Tim Rizzo From?
He is from Woodbury, Minnesota, a suburb near Minneapolis–St. Paul. Pauls. He started at Woodbury High School, qualifying for the Minnesota State High School Championships all three years of his high school career.
Rizzo and Smith have been teammates on the Riptide Swim Team in Apple Valley, Minnesota, as per the swim team’s Facebook page. She joined Riptide when she was 13, and her father is the swimming program’s co-director, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Since the duo knew each other from a young age, they started dating in high school.
Rizzo shared an adorable photo on Instagram in 2016, where he invited Smith to a homecoming dance with a unique sign saying, “I don’t wanna go to homecoming without you.” He wrote in the caption, “The pastability that was going is very low.”
What Does Tim Rizzo Do for a Living?
He graduated from St. Olaf College with a degree in Kinesiology. He is currently serving as a Teaching Assistant on the Cadaver Dissection Team in Northfield, Minnesota.
His concentration on the study of human movement has future career prospects in fields like physical therapy, exercise physiology, or sports performance training. Apart from concentrating on his academics and swimming, he’s also a teaching assistant, on the Cadaver Dissection Team in Northfield, Minnesota.
How Did Regan Smith and Tim Rizzo Meet?
The couple met through the Riptide Swim Club as teenagers. After that, they began dating in high school and have been together for almost 6 years.
They have been dating since 2016, but the relationship has grown stronger since COVID-19 hit the world back in 2020. In 2021, after the Olympics were postponed, Smith said to NBC that she enjoyed having extra time at home with Rizzo and her family before heading to college.
“Especially after the postponement, I just kind of wanted to get my head away from that for a little while,” she told NBC Sports. “Definitely for like a week or two, I kind of had some FOMO,” about not being at Stanford.
Both Smith and her boyfriend are excellent swimmers and have a decorated resume already. Are you ready to see Smith take over the World Championships this year?
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