I won a Silver Olympic medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with the time of 1.54.97, being the second woman to ever drop below the 1.55 mark and made history by being the first Slovenian to bring home a swimming Olympic medal.

I pursued my swimming career and studies at the University of California Berkeley, having success in both fields. As a 3 time NCAA team champion, I graduated with a degree in Psychology (emphasis on neuropsychology) and later earned my Masters degree in Performance Psychology in San Diego, graduating with honors. My masters thesis focused on Aviation Psychology, exploring the effect of mindfulness training in airline pilots.

In between my undergraduate and graduate degree, I pursued brain research at University of California San Diego. The neuroscience laboratory explored neural mechanisms of optimal performance, resilience and stress coping mechanisms [MD. Martin P. Paulus’ OptiBrain Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, UCSD], in US Navy Seals, Marines and Olympic Athletes. As a co-author, I have been published in two research journals- Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience as well as Biological Psychology.