Scholar Stories: Michigan Difference Means More to Women's Swimmer Bi
1/23/2019 11:13:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving, Features
Continuing the popular series that began in 2016-17, each Wednesday MGoBlue.com will highlight a Michigan student-athlete and their academic pursuits. These are our Scholar-Athlete Stories, presented by Prairie Farms.
By Brad Rudner
After 27 hours of flying, Yirong Bi was ready to meet her teammates.
It was December 2015, and Bi was making the trip to the Florida Keys from Hangzhou, China, linking up with the University of Michigan women's swimming and diving team during its annual training trip. Like many international students, she had committed sight unseen, but given that it was winter break and campus was empty, Bi had to wait before getting truly familiar with her new surroundings.
Whether or not she was prepared, Bi was jumping in the deep end, trying to find her footing in a new country with new people while speaking a language that wasn't entirely familiar. Upon arriving, she went to the pool, threw a suit on and did her first training set -- a hard one, as she remembers it today -- as a Wolverine.
Last week inside the team room at Canham Natatorium, on the eve of her Senior Day, Bi reflected on her long journey.
"I was lost," she said. "I remember thinking, 'This is America. They train so hard!' In China, I had so many friends. It was home and you know what you're doing. I wasn't afraid of making mistakes, but here, I was cautious about everything. I don't have those fears now."
Bi -- or "Rose," as she's affectionately known -- had a lot of things to figure out during the transition, but swimming wasn't one of them. She'd always been a fast swimmer, dating back her days on the Chinese National Team.
Over there, she was largely by herself. Here she was, for the first time, truly swimming with (and for) others. Nowhere was her growth more evident than at the 2016 Big Ten Championships, coincidentally held at Canham, which took place six weeks after she arrived in the U.S.
"I've been to Asian Games, which is a big deal, but Big Tens, I think, is bigger," she said. "I wasn't familiar with everyone on the team at that point. I was nervous that I wasn't going to perform well. My first 25 during my split of the 800-yard freestyle relay on the first night, I didn't breathe. I went out too fast and died so bad. But once I started to meld into this culture and let my teammates help me, everything clicked."
She sure didn't look nervous the rest of that meet, finishing second in both the 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle, and taking third in the 400-yard IM. The Wolverines won their first Big Ten title in 12 years that weekend and went on to add two more team titles since then. Bi and the rest of this senior class hope to make it four-for-four when the 2019 Big Ten Championships begin Feb. 20 in Bloomington, Indiana.
Individually, Bi has done quite well, and will unquestionably leave as one of the program's best swimmers in recent history. She's a five-time CSCAA All-American, a three-time All-America Honorable Mention and four-time Big Ten champion. Among the program's best times, Bi ranks second in both the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyles (4:34.63/15:45.26), third in the 400-yard IM (4:07.75) and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:44.15).
Bi has excelled in the pool during her time at Michigan, but she has been just as remarkable out of the water.
Equally as impressive are her exploits in the classroom, especially when considering English isn't her first language. Bi began to learn English at age 5, taking a class once a week, each time for an hour. When she was 15, she began practicing it every day.
It all led her to Ann Arbor and to the Ross School of Business, where she's majoring in business administration. The thing with studying at Ross: participation is key. But it's hard to participate if you can't properly communicate.
"Before I came here, I knew it was going to be a huge challenge," she explained. "I thought my English was good enough, and then I got into Ross. I didn't say anything in class for the first semester. I told myself, 'This can't happen again.'"
"My second semester, my participation grade was in the top 10 percent of every class I was in. English was a huge challenge for me, but I overcame it. It's much better now."
She'll be challenged again this summer when she participates in a 10-week internship with Jefferies Investment Bank in New York City. Last year, she flew to New York twice in a two-week span to attend events and learn about the company.
For someone who wants to be an investment banker, it's a perfect marriage.
"I've wanted to work on Wall Street since I was 10 years old," she said. "30th floor, New York City. Sounds fancy. I had no idea what investment banking was, but I just wanted to be there. I just wanted to do that."
Bi will be back on campus next fall to finish her degree, and is on track to graduate in the spring of 2020. Her swimming career, however, will be over after this year -- a decision she's at peace with.
"I don't have much time left to spend with this team," Bi said. "It wasn't something I thought about my first three years. I always thought there was plenty of time, but here we are with only a few months left. My first couple of years, I was so worried about what ifs -- if I lost a race of if we lost a meet, consequences, results. The process matters so much more to me now."
"Michigan has given me so many opportunities. If I stayed in China, I'd never have gone to business school or found a job on Wall Street. I never would have met all these amazing people and learn how it feels to fight for the team. I'm almost done with the sport and I want to leave something good behind for those to follow. You only get four years and you have to treasure it. It never comes back."
Players Mentioned
