For Best Friends Julia Gaffney, Mikaela Jenkins The Paralympic Drive Is A Journey Best Enjoyed Together

What is ironic is that to hear them tell it, they don’t share as many interests outside of swimming. 
  
“We are very different people but I think it’s like that whole thing that opposites attract,” Jenkins said. “We both get along very well but we have very different tastes in hobbies and music and that sort of thing.” 
  
“I think we kind of balance each other out,” said Gaffney. 
  
The real contrast is in how they train, in a sort of a “fire and ice” way. Gaffney is the serious-minded, hard-driving competitor while Jenkins is more of a free-wheeling, fun-loving opposite. And that may be where they have made their biggest contributions to each other. 
  
“Sometimes I get really serious in the water and Mikaela is kind of more laid back,” Gaffney said. “And she kind of helps make me laugh a lot and reminds me to have fun in practice too.” 
  
“Julia is the hardest worker I’ve ever met when it comes to swimming,” Jenkins said. “And a lot of times I tend to be a little bit too laid back. So seeing her like pushing really hard makes me (think), “‘OK, I’ve got to pick this up.’” 
  
The two have gotten to know each other’s families. While Jenkins has just one sibling in a younger brother, Gaffney grew up with four brothers and a sister, admitting that “growing up with a lot of boys can be a lot.” 
  
Having an effervescent friend like Jenkins is certainly a different dimension to that upbringing. 
  
“Mikaela has such a fun, energetic personality,” Gaffney said. “She’s just really bubbly and I just love that about her.” 
  
This year, the pair spent nearly three months together at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, with Jenkins visiting from Indiana and living next door to her friend. It has been a month since they have been apart, as they get ready to reunite ahead of the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials set for June 17-20 in Minneapolis, with cycling and track and field also taking place. 
  
The goal of reaching the Paralympics is close to becoming reality.  
  
“I think it would be just insane because very few people get to say that they’ve been on a Games team, whether it’s the Olympics or the Paralympics, let alone with one of your best friends,” Jenkins said. “And getting to both be in the same rooming area and then getting to experience all of that, it’s definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity, so it’s even better to have one of your closest friends with you.” 
  
That opportunity could have come last year had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic, which came right around the time they were together in that Florida training camp. Yet the extended time off has given them more time to develop their friendship, their technique in the pool and perhaps even increased their chances of success for the Tokyo Games. 
  
“I’m really, really excited and I’m so pumped and I think we’re going to do really great together,” Gaffney said. “We’re going to go in there and just kill it, and do the best we can.”