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Blueprint: An Olympian's Story of Striving, Adapting, and Embracing the Suck
"Blueprint" is a candid account of the extraordinary life and athletic journey of one of America's greatest athletes and a champion in every way—the remarkable two-time Olympian Katie Hoff. “I have so much respect and admiration for Katie Hoff as a person and an athlete. She helped push the progression of women’s swimming and now courageously shares her insights and challenges in and out of the pool in Blueprint. Through it all, Katie’s mettle is gold.” -Michael PhelpsThe most decorated Olympian of all time"As a young swimmer growing up in Maryland, I was so fortunate to see first-hand the grace of Katie in and out of the pool. Her honesty and passion about her sporting and personal life shine through the pages of this well-written book, making it a must-read.” -Katie Ledecky “Blueprint is the only book you will ever have to read about going after a goal. It has commitment, mindset, victory and defeat all wrapped in one. Whether you are an entrepreneur, pro athlete or weekend warrior you will benefit tremendously from Katie’s raw honesty and incredible journey. This should be mandatory reading for anyone with a goal on the horizon.”-Jesse ItzlerEntrepreneur, New York Times best selling author, endurance athlete, and an owner of the Atlanta Hawks.
- GenresSports
Kindle Edition
Published November 24, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 13, 2021
Book’s Thesis
In Katie Hoff’s book Blueprint, through honestly detailing the journey of her elite swimming career Hoff shares her perspective on pursuing her highest goals, “embracing the suck” and adapting to life’s circumstances that don’t match her expectations. These are big topics to conquer, and while her honesty about her tribulations makes her feel like an incredibly approachable and relatable athlete and person, the end of the book feels as though she never quite makes it to where the book promises. She continues to ask “what if” about the 2008 Olympics and struggles finding her place of fulfillment in the corporate world. If her goal is to simply share her story, she did a fantastic job. But if her goal is to share how she successfully adapted, she missed the mark.
Book Summarization
Blueprint is broken out into two main parts with sprinkles of photos and one-page side notes on thoughts such as fear, victory, defeat and luck. Part 1 details Hoff’s rise from young dancer/swimmer through her journey to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Hoff reminisces on getting started in the sport of swimming at age five, wanting to win her competitions which is something missing from ballet and tap dance. Her intense, competitive, obsessive nature lent itself perfectly to the world of competitive swimming where she could track her race times to the millisecond. At 15 years old, Hoff qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens where homesickness and nerves contributed to her puking on the pool deck after her 400-meter I.M. Hoff goes on to detail getting the Olympic rings tattooed at age 16 only after her mom, who homeschooled Hoff, researched which tattoo parlors were safe for her daughter. The next few years, her formative years, include dealing with high school boys, a jealous coach, turning professional and, of course, the “female Michael Phelps” hype leading into the 2008 Beijing Games. The 2008 Beijing Games would be the crux of Katie Hoff’s swimming career and life. After missing a chance at Gold in the 400-meter free by .07 seconds, she would spend years contemplating the “what ifs” and trying to move through the chasm of her expectations and reality.
Part 2 details her identity crisis post-Beijing, including a period of depression, as well as her subsequent adult life after swimming. In moving to California then Florida, switching coaches multiple times, and making somewhat of a comeback to swimming, her career ultimately ends with a medical diagnosis of blood clots in her lungs. Part of her silver lining is meeting her now husband, football player Todd, but she struggles trying to “make it” in the corporate world and find fulfillment in a life post-sport. Probably the most honest quote of her book is “It was hard to make the transition from a career of winning races, setting records, and being well compensated, to how elegantly I had structured an email. That type of transition plays with your head.” The book ends with her detailing her 10 favorite swims and how she continues on the path of figuring out what she is most passionate about.
Book’s Strengths
The best part of the book is Hoff’s unabashed honesty about the ups and downs that make up her swimming career. It isn’t easy to be vulnerable and share moments of your life that not only brought you to your knees or caused you to puke all over a pool deck on the most prominent world stage, but share moments of struggle that you still work to figure out today. She has an awareness and comfortability about who she is, as a swimmer and person, and it is refreshing to hear her take on her swimming career as so many know it from the outside looking in.
Book’s Weaknesses
Maybe this book was released too soon. Part of Hoff’s message is to “embrace the suck” and adapt to life’s circumstances, but she herself is disconnected from adopting and practicing those mindsets (on page 43 she describes “embracing the suck” as “the situation might be bad, but I would just have to deal with it”.) Considering the advanced state of modern mindset practices and self-help regimens, practicing a “just deal with it” mentality with complex sports situations doesn’t feel adequate or helpful. The focal point of her career that she continually returns to is the 400-meter free at the Beijing Olympics where she touched the wall for a second place finish .07 seconds behind first, eliminating her shot at Olympic Gold. She goes on to say “I will go to my grave frustrated in knowing that I never achieved my goal of becoming an Olympic Champion” and “I’d managed to bury some of the unresolved elements of my past - my Olympic results and relationships with coaches and other matters that would resurface later.” It leaves the reader feeling as though she preaches adapting but can’t quite grasp it herself. Through her sharing all of the heartbreaking moments of her career, you so wish to turn a page and find her at a place of peace and acceptance but that feeling never comes. It might have made more sense to wait until she reached peace with her career to share a book about what it means to adapt and strive rather than continue to live in the what she wished 2008 would have looked like.
In Katie Hoff’s book Blueprint, through honestly detailing the journey of her elite swimming career Hoff shares her perspective on pursuing her highest goals, “embracing the suck” and adapting to life’s circumstances that don’t match her expectations. These are big topics to conquer, and while her honesty about her tribulations makes her feel like an incredibly approachable and relatable athlete and person, the end of the book feels as though she never quite makes it to where the book promises. She continues to ask “what if” about the 2008 Olympics and struggles finding her place of fulfillment in the corporate world. If her goal is to simply share her story, she did a fantastic job. But if her goal is to share how she successfully adapted, she missed the mark.
Book Summarization
Blueprint is broken out into two main parts with sprinkles of photos and one-page side notes on thoughts such as fear, victory, defeat and luck. Part 1 details Hoff’s rise from young dancer/swimmer through her journey to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Hoff reminisces on getting started in the sport of swimming at age five, wanting to win her competitions which is something missing from ballet and tap dance. Her intense, competitive, obsessive nature lent itself perfectly to the world of competitive swimming where she could track her race times to the millisecond. At 15 years old, Hoff qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens where homesickness and nerves contributed to her puking on the pool deck after her 400-meter I.M. Hoff goes on to detail getting the Olympic rings tattooed at age 16 only after her mom, who homeschooled Hoff, researched which tattoo parlors were safe for her daughter. The next few years, her formative years, include dealing with high school boys, a jealous coach, turning professional and, of course, the “female Michael Phelps” hype leading into the 2008 Beijing Games. The 2008 Beijing Games would be the crux of Katie Hoff’s swimming career and life. After missing a chance at Gold in the 400-meter free by .07 seconds, she would spend years contemplating the “what ifs” and trying to move through the chasm of her expectations and reality.
Part 2 details her identity crisis post-Beijing, including a period of depression, as well as her subsequent adult life after swimming. In moving to California then Florida, switching coaches multiple times, and making somewhat of a comeback to swimming, her career ultimately ends with a medical diagnosis of blood clots in her lungs. Part of her silver lining is meeting her now husband, football player Todd, but she struggles trying to “make it” in the corporate world and find fulfillment in a life post-sport. Probably the most honest quote of her book is “It was hard to make the transition from a career of winning races, setting records, and being well compensated, to how elegantly I had structured an email. That type of transition plays with your head.” The book ends with her detailing her 10 favorite swims and how she continues on the path of figuring out what she is most passionate about.
Book’s Strengths
The best part of the book is Hoff’s unabashed honesty about the ups and downs that make up her swimming career. It isn’t easy to be vulnerable and share moments of your life that not only brought you to your knees or caused you to puke all over a pool deck on the most prominent world stage, but share moments of struggle that you still work to figure out today. She has an awareness and comfortability about who she is, as a swimmer and person, and it is refreshing to hear her take on her swimming career as so many know it from the outside looking in.
Book’s Weaknesses
Maybe this book was released too soon. Part of Hoff’s message is to “embrace the suck” and adapt to life’s circumstances, but she herself is disconnected from adopting and practicing those mindsets (on page 43 she describes “embracing the suck” as “the situation might be bad, but I would just have to deal with it”.) Considering the advanced state of modern mindset practices and self-help regimens, practicing a “just deal with it” mentality with complex sports situations doesn’t feel adequate or helpful. The focal point of her career that she continually returns to is the 400-meter free at the Beijing Olympics where she touched the wall for a second place finish .07 seconds behind first, eliminating her shot at Olympic Gold. She goes on to say “I will go to my grave frustrated in knowing that I never achieved my goal of becoming an Olympic Champion” and “I’d managed to bury some of the unresolved elements of my past - my Olympic results and relationships with coaches and other matters that would resurface later.” It leaves the reader feeling as though she preaches adapting but can’t quite grasp it herself. Through her sharing all of the heartbreaking moments of her career, you so wish to turn a page and find her at a place of peace and acceptance but that feeling never comes. It might have made more sense to wait until she reached peace with her career to share a book about what it means to adapt and strive rather than continue to live in the what she wished 2008 would have looked like.
May 23, 2026
I found this memoir disappointing. The author's personality is off-putting. I'm never a fan of people who credit themselves with all of their achievements, and view everything negative that happens as out of their control. There are plenty of people who have a solid plan that work extremely diligently and hard to meet their goals, but have other roadblocks to achieving them, be they financial, physical, etc. She also faults people for perceiving her actions as completely in alignment with her previous actions and her personality when they don't have all the facts. Although that's not the right thing to do, when you consistently present as a poor sport, it's hard to blame someone too much for assuming something you've said or done is for that reason. Overall I found myself thinking that people like this are a huge turnoff to individual competitive sports. And how many times could she possible reference herself as the female Michael Phelps? Perhaps that was a hope others had for you at some point in time. Face facts that it did not come to fruition. I found myself wanting her to relay her pride in her amazing, mind-boggling accomplishments without feeling the need to almost put others down and certainly without the need to compare herself as being the same as someone who has achieved far greater accomplishments. Mad respect for her work ethic, accomplishments, etc., but I'm not a fan of the personality.
November 2, 2023
Katie sounds like such an amazing, inspiring and nice person. The sort of person you wish you knew as a friend in real life.
Even though she’s not from my country, it is so annoying and disappointing for me she didn’t win gold, because I like her and her personality much more than the gold medalist who I also read a lot about. Katie is one of the USA’s most likable athletes when it comes to personality.
Even though she’s not from my country, it is so annoying and disappointing for me she didn’t win gold, because I like her and her personality much more than the gold medalist who I also read a lot about. Katie is one of the USA’s most likable athletes when it comes to personality.
March 1, 2024
I have always been a Katie Hoff fan, but reading this thoughtful and brutally honest autobiography of sorts gave me a new appreciation for her. This book is about a swimmer who talks about many swimming-related topics and occurrences, but I would truly recommend this to anyone who is, well, living a life. It is fascinating to hear from one of the greatest athletes of all time who, in her mind, fell short of her goals. Very inspired by her story. Also a great read for the Olympic year!!
April 8, 2024
My 12 year old daughter was reading this book for a school project, so I decided to read it with her. I didn’t know much about Katie Hoff, but I really enjoyed her book. She talks a lot about the highs and lows of competitive swimming, which was great for my daughter to read.
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October 15, 2021Amazing book showing how Katie Hoff faced adversity and overcame injuries to get her up to silver medals in the Olympics!!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews