On January 10, 2026, Upper Arlington held its 2026 Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony and featured 12 inductees which represented almost nine decades of student athletes. Among this legendary Hall of Fame class was swimmer Abby Chin who was recognized for the talent that she brought to Upper Arlington High School from 2008-2011. During her high school years, she won multiple state titles and All-American honors. She was a competitor in the Olympic trials in 2008, 2012 and 2016. She continued her athletic career at the University of Louisville where she was a two-time captain and two-time NCAA competitor. Chin is now an assistant coach at Upper Arlington High School as well as a practicing lawyer.
Chin began her athletic career at a very young age. She says that if you were to ask her mom, she would tell you that Chin was thrown into a pool at about a week old because of the temperatures in August. She began competitive swimming at around 6 years old in the summer league with the Northwest Swim Club and later swam with Upper Arlington Swim Club. Because she began at such a young age, it was more than a sport to her.
“It was much more than a hobby,” Chin said. “It was really a lifestyle. Looking back, it doesn’t surprise me how involved swimming was in my life and has been in my life.”
As Chin swam through her high school years, she got increasingly faster at her meets. As much as her wins were there, she was still chasing for a state title. She placed second in state meets her freshman, sophomore and junior years of high school.
“Second place at a state meet is great, but it hurts. I lost both of those races very narrowly,” Chin said. “It can be hard to turn around from those when the expectation and pressure is that you go out and you win it.”
During Chin’s sophomore year of high school she was coming off a time where she had felt high on life. In the summer of 2008 she was a competitor at the Olympic trials, which was a time of opportunity and success for her.
“I thought about not swimming anymore [after the trials],” Chin said. “I had a really high high after that year, and it was hard to come down from that. But for me I couldn’t imagine my life not being in the water.”
Chin’s love for being in the water is unconditional. She loves every opportunity of swimming she gets, from hard practices to state championships. Chin credits her coaches for encouraging her in the sport.
“I had really amazing coaches that encouraged me to continue moving forward. [They said] continue moving forward, even though you’re coming down off this really high year that you’ve had previously, there’s still so much more that you can do in the sport. Having coaches in particular and really amazing teammates around me was the driving force of ‘Let’s keep doing this,’” Chin said.
Although swimming is an individual sport, there is a huge team component because swimmers are with their team daily at practice. Something that Chin realized early on as an athlete is that when the team is doing well, everyone is doing well.
“It’s not the wins or achievements that really stick with me memory wise. It’s always the moments with my teammates and coaches,” Chin said.
Chin continued her passion for swimming by becoming an assistant coach at UAHS. She mentioned that her biggest joy as a coach is being able to be the type of coach that she had growing up.
“I think back to the coaches that had such an impact on my life and really allowed me to grow both in the sport and as into adulthood. If I can provide that support for my swimmers that is ultimately what I strive to do,” Chin said.
As Chin reflected on the coaches that made an impact on her life, she remembered Coach Dan Peterkoski, who is a science teacher and a previous swimming coach at UAHS. Peterkoski supported Chin during her trials in 2008. He was also alongside her as she won her first individual event at states her senior year.
“We were always so close to winning an individual state championship every single year, freshman, sophomore, junior and we just hadn’t gotten to that point. I remember looking over at him after my first individual event at that meet. I had won, and we looked at each other and there was this moment of pure happiness,” Chin said. “You could tell that this was four years of hard work put together to get to that point.”
One motto has stuck with Chin throughout her swimming career.
“Happy swimmers are fast swimmers,” Chin said. “I think this applies to life much more broadly as well, but when I look back, I think one of the reasons why I was so successful in the sport was because I truly enjoyed it. You can’t always necessarily control the outcome, but if you’re appreciating the process and the day to day and being happy about it, oftentimes the results tend to flow.”
As Chin’s life began to shift from swimming to her legal career, she noticed the qualities that swimming has translated into her life.
“I learned through [swimming] drive and work ethic. I learned a lot about how to deal with tough situations, and how to handle adversity. What I do now is intense and it’s a lot of pressure, but often that is what athletics are,” Chin said.
As Chin was inducted into the Upper Arlington High School Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2026, she reflected on the people who helped her achieve this.
“I hope that it reflects back on Coach Dan and the other amazing coaches that we had during that time. It’s truly a testament to those people that helped me achieve what I did in the sport,” Chin said.
The success of the UAHS swimming program is far from over, and Chin recognizes this. Her advice to the future of the program: just keep swimming.
“This goes for a lot of sports in UA, but it is a tradition of excellence,” Chin said. “I remember being a kid and looking up to the high schoolers that were doing amazing things when I was in elementary school. When you watch those people, you want to be them. And for the high schoolers today, they are the future.”
