i have to swim against her?

The title of this article should be, "I GET to Swim Against Her?"  When did people get so afraid of testing themselves against the best?  Who wants to reminisce by saying, "When I was in high school I almost competed against an Olympian but my parents and my school didn't think I was good enough and they worried that my fragile self-esteem might be crushed if I lost a swim meet..."?