Olga Simm

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Olga Simm is a competitive swimmer from Mongolia. She moved to the US at age 3 with her mother and 7 sisters. At the time, banks handed out mortgages without a care in the world. Olga’s mother had almost no credit history; had just come from a poor, largely nomadic, landlocked country; and barely not needed an interpreter to speak English to the loan officer. She bought a big home that had enough room for each of her 8 children. She could make the payments, but only just, on a Mongolian immigrant family’s salary.

But the easy mortgages came back to haunt everyone when the Great Recession hit in 2008. Olga’s mother defaulted on her mortgage and had her SUV repossessed. In a manner of a few months, the family lost their home, car, and decent credit rating. Olga was just 6 when her mom’s house was foreclosed on. Olga’s mother was destitute with 8 children depending on her. She eventually rented a small trailer with only a single bed, lots of cockroaches, and nowhere near enough room for the big family. Olga still remembers having to sleep on the floor sometimes. At one point, one of her sisters was bitten by a spider in the bathroom. Her mother made the daunting decision to send the older children back to Mongolia to live with their dad, or put them up for adoption. But Olga stayed with her mother because she was the youngest of the 8 children. 

Olga’s mother married Mr. Simm in 2012, who had a decent home outside Washington, D.C. Olga took her new stepfather’s last name. Within a couple of years, Olga found and reconnected with some of her sisters on social media. The Simms’ new home had a swimming pool, and Olga took up with swimming. She had barely seen so much as a river or lake during the first few years of her life in Mongolia, let alone a swimming pool, or a home having its own swimming pool. She joined the swimming team at her high school, where she carried her team to state and regional championships in breaststroke. After graduating in the middle of the COVID pandemic, Olga became a member of the Money Swim Club. She was chosen as the team’s captain because of her good record in high school and resilience through a bad upbringing, shaping her into a good leader.

Outside the pool, Olga maintains contact with 4 of her sisters, 3 who moved back to Mongolia and another, the oldest one, who married an American travel agent. Olga is also trying to locate 2 of her other sisters, who her mother adopted out after her life was ruined in the recession of 2008. One of Olga’s sisters refuses to talk to her.

Her number one friend is her ferret Eslem. Olga and her ferret are inseparable. Eslem will happily sleep on Olga, laying on her belly. At swimming events, she often brings Eslem with her if the organizers let her. A lot of Olga’s nightmares involve Eslem being sick. And she just loves ferrets in general. She practically sees the animals as angels. And the idea that ferrets are “cheap” or “wild” is revolting to Olga. When asked what she would do if ferrets were outlawed, she said “Just move out of this country.”

Money Swim Club has 5 members. They are based in Washington, D.C. The team is active across the US, competing against many other minor swim teams. They are also seen at many swim-a-thon and other fundraising events. After Roe v. Wade was overturned, the team made sacrifices and increased their fundraising efforts to create a fund to help its members travel for an abortion if needed.