‘Fight for it’: Luis Martinez sets bar high for second Olympics

AUBURN, Ala. – Pressure is nothing new for Luis Martinez. The former Auburn swimmer is a three-time NCAA qualifier and a three-time All-American. But when he stepped up to the blocks at the Olympics for the first time in 2016, he could feel the nerves.

“Everything you have done becomes reality in 50-plus seconds, and you got 50-plus seconds to prove that to everybody,” Martinez said. “That is a lot of pressure to put on yourself when you're 19 years old."

Martinez, swimming for his home country of Guatemala, placed 19th overall in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. He’s back this year with Guatemala, competing in the same event at the Tokyo Games, and he’s faster, stronger and more mature. With that, however, comes a different kind of pressure. 

“The thing I learned the most was it doesn't matter who you are or where you're from, you're always going to be nervous at your first Olympics,” he said. “Now I’m not just a young swimmer at the Olympics. I'm in my prime, and I need to perform.”

Martinez was born and raised in Guatemala and moved to the United States in 2013 to pursue his educational and swimming dreams. After hearing about Auburn through a teammate back home, as well as his coach, he had his sights set on being a Tiger.

His coach, Coach Juan, told him “If you ever have an opportunity to go to the U.S., you need to look at this university. But just know you’re going to there to swim, like truly swim.” 

After a brief stint at Division II Missouri S&T, Martinez earned a scholarship to swim at Auburn. He arrived in January 2015, and over the next four years, he would add his name to the Auburn record books while racking up wins and various accolades along the way. He’s still among the top-10 fastest performers in program history in the 100 butterfly.

Swimming at the Olympics was never a dream of his, though, because prior to Auburn, Martinez never considered it a realistic possibility. It wasn’t even on the radar.  

“A few years before Rio, I wouldn’t even have believed that I would make the Olympics,” he said. “It was a lot really fast, but it made me learn a lot of valuable lessons that I’ve applied to now my second Olympic cycle.

“Not a single door was just open to me. It's not like I just came here and all of a sudden, everything was just handed to me. I've had to fight for it.”

After finishing his collegiate career at Auburn, Martinez set his sights on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, but adversity struck again when COVID-19 postponed the Olympics and halted everything around him. He was in arguably the best shape of his life, ready to compete, and it was taken away.

Not only was the pandemic physically challenging, having to stay in shape when everything was closed down, it was mentally challenging as well.

“The first couple months were incredibly hard,” Martinez said. “I feel like I grew up 10 years in one year mentally. But I do think the pandemic has made me a better athlete and a better person.” 

To qualify for his first Olympics, Martinez made the “A” standard time by one one-hundredth of a second. He was the first Guatemalan to ever hit the “A” standard in the 100-meter butterfly. This time around, he’s hit the mark over a dozen times. In November 2020, he set the U.S. Open record with a time of 51.50.

But Tokyo is no different than Rio. Martinez has one shot, 50-plus seconds, to swim a time fast enough to advance to the semifinals. Otherwise, his Olympics will be cut short.

“It’s easy because I remind myself that I'm doing this because I want to,” he said. “If I'm doing something because I want to do it, I'm going to do it right because that's what I want to do.”

On Monday, Martinez left for Tokyo along with his coach, former Auburn swimmer Gideon Louw, and another former Auburn S&D alum, Julie Meynen. Martinez, Meynen and Santiago Grassi have been training together in Auburn since the beginning of COVID-19, and now after a tumultuous year full of ups and downs, the trio will compete in the Olympic Games – all for the second time.

For Martinez, regardless of result, he wants everyone who has supported him along the way to know how thankful he is for them – whether that be his parents, his coaches, his friends, fellow Guatemalans or the Auburn Family that took him in six years ago.

“It's been a long journey, and the support has been very significant,” Martinez said. “It’s an honor to represent my country and to represent Auburn University.”