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Maya DiRado, born in 1993 in Santa Rosa, California, became one of Stanford’s top swimmers while studying management science and engineering. At 19, she narrowly missed qualifying for the 2012 Olympics, finishing fourth in both medley events. Choosing to continue, she won NCAA titles and graduated in 2014, postponing a job at McKinsey & Company to pursue another Olympic run. At the 2016 U.S. Trials she qualified in three individual events and the 4×200 freestyle relay. In Rio she earned silver in the 400 IM, bronze in the 200 IM, and relay gold. Her defining race came in the 200 backstroke, where she won gold by 0.06 seconds over Katinka Hosszú. DiRado retired at 23 with four Olympic medals and began her career at McKinsey in 2017. Today, she remains active in swimming while advancing in business.