This Olympic Swimmer Is Doing Her Part To Prevent Cancer
Two-time Olympic medalist Elizabeth Beisel has always lived an active life.
Whether it be in the water swimming or spending time outside in the sun, that great big star in our sky is always overhead. So, when Dermasport, a sunscreen company founded by Dr. Christopher Schmidt, and competitive triathlete Karen Allard reached out to Beisel for a partnership, agreeing to it was an easy decision.
“Being in the swimming world, I'm kind of always looking for new ways to take care of my skin,” Beisel said. “Once I found out about Dermasport and the fact that it was developed by a swimmer of 50+ years, obviously a dermatologist, and knowing that they were taking care of not just the chlorine aspect, but the SPF side, it just made sense.”
Beisel grew up in Rhode Island and swam collegiately at the University of Florida. She earned a spot representing the United States internationally in the Olympics in 2008, 2012, and 2016, and Beisel was even voted by her teammates to be a team captain. At the 2012 Games in London, Beisel won a silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley and a bronze medal in the 200-meter backstroke. Beisel went on to retire from swimming after competing for Team USA in swimming for 12 total years.
Incorporating sunscreen into a daily routine is one of the easiest and simplest ways to protect your skin from harmful UV rays. To its largest degree, wearing sunscreen can drastically lower the risk of developing skin cancer. The Skin Cancer Foundation reports that wearing SPF 15 sunscreen daily will reduce the risk of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) by 40 percent and the risk of melanoma by 50 percent.
Cancer is something that has personally affected Beisel as her father passed away from stage IV pancreatic cancer in 2021. Being able to partner with a company that is working to prevent cancer made partnering with Dermasport all that more personal and meaningful for Beisel.
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“You kind of think you're invincible,” Beisel said. ”I get it because I've been there but for me, I have now been touched by cancer. I lost my dad to cancer and even though it wasn't skin cancer, it's not something that you ever want to mess with. Put it on every single morning, put it on every single time before you swim.
If you're gonna see the sun while you're outside, the UV rays still come through your windows while you're driving your car. It's just been something that I’ve become really passionate about. Sunscreen is so important. Do not mess with your skin. Do not mess with your health because you're healthy until you're not.”
Before her father passed away, Beisel was planning to swim from mainland Rhode Island to Block Island, 12.5 miles (20 kilometers) offshore. It was something her father could look forward to while battling his cancer, but he passed away before Beisel her open ocean swim.
The swim and the initiative behind it is called Block Cancer, which raised $660,000 for cancer research. Beisel was the first woman to swim across Block Island Sound. When you factor in swimming in college, representing the Team USA, and winning Olympic medals, there are many memorable swims in Beisel’s career, but none more memorable than that 20-kilometer swim.
“When you win a medal at the Olympics, it's for you,” Beisel said. “It's for your country [and] it's for your teammates, but I think my background was so much more personal. There was a lot more visceral emotion that was tied into it.”
Photo credits: Elizabeth Beisel’s Instagram, Block Cancer’s Instagram
