Student Profile: Former-Olympic-Swimmer-Turned-Dental-Student Elinah Phillip DMD 28 Trades Goggles for Loupes
Whether it’s a swimming pool or dental classes, Elinah Phillip DMD 28 is never afraid to jump right in.
In 2016, Phillip was the first swimmer and the youngest athlete ever to represent the British Virgin Islands (BVI) at an Olympic Games, competing at age 16 in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Phillip also represented the BVI in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics (held in 2021), where she was the country’s flag bearer during the opening ceremony. Now, she’s switching her focus from the pool to her long-term dental professional goals, with her first step being attending GSDM.
“I feel like everything happened the way it was supposed to because of my work ethic and my personality,” Phillip said.
Her swimming career led her to discover the importance dental health can have on both physical and mental health. When she was younger, she swam in a pool with improperly balanced chlorine levels; the high level of chlorine began to affect the enamel on her front teeth. She said she didn’t know anything was wrong until she started to have staining and sensitivity issues.
Phillip said she struggled to find a dentist who could help diagnose and treat her. After more than a year of searching, she eventually found a dentist who gave her a fluoride treatment and polish. This seemingly simple solution had a major impact: Not only did it restore her discoloration, but it solidified in her mind that she wanted to pursue dentistry.
“I remember that first appointment,” Phillip said. “[My dentist] gave me the mirror and I was blown away. Wow. It seemed so simple, but it affected my confidence significantly. That’s when I realized and thought, ‘Okay, this is what I want to do, this is the impact I want to have.’”
Phillip said swimming was her way to connect with her older sister, Amarah. Their mother signed the pair up for joint swimming lessons, which Amarah thoroughly enjoyed from the start while Phillip sat on the side, refusing to get in. Their mother ultimately told Phillip she would stop bringing her if she didn’t get in the water–and that was the motivation Phillip needed. Once she got in, the sisters thrived in the water and would both eventually progress to competitive swimming.
When Phillip was 12 years old, she watched the 2012 London Summer Olympics with her family. That changed everything for her. She decided she had to become an Olympic swimmer.
That year, she began to train with a goal in mind in the BVI before she and her family relocated to the United Kingdom. Phillip was 14 when she competed in her first international competition.
“I really enjoy working towards a goal,” Phillip said. “It felt rewarding and I knew I was doing well for my age, but I wasn’t thinking about it too much. It was fun. It was a pretty quick development, but I was with my sister, so it just always felt fun.”
Her 2012 vision became a reality when she qualified in 2016 to represent the BVI in the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics she placed 48th in the women’s 50-meter freestyle with a time of 26.26 seconds.
During her first Olympic experience, Phillip said she tried to stay as grounded as possible. With the help of her family, friends, and coaches, she was able to stay in the proper headspace to compete at her best.
“In the moment, you don’t really process it.” Phillip said. “I was aware of the magnitude, of course, but I was also very self-aware. I knew that if I let it get to me, it might affect my performance.”
Phillip also competed at the Youth Olympic Games held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2018 after qualifying during the summer prior at the World Juniors Swimming Championships. At the Youth Olympic Games, Phillip advanced to the semi-finals finishing with a time of 26.56.
Phillip went on to Rutgers University in 2019 where she set several school records and became an a finalist in the Big 10 Championships during her freshman year. She transferred to Florida International University in January 2021 where she continued her swimming career. During her time at FIU, Phillip helped her team win multiple conference championships, became the conference champion in her events, and earned the title of Newcomer of the Year. (She graduated from Florida International University having completed the last of her pre-dental requirements in May 2024.
Throughout her undergraduate experience, she was on the pre-dental track, always balancing dentistry with 20 hours of training per week in season, in addition to traveling for competitions. While attending the Tokyo 2020 Olympics during the summer of 2021 (the 2020 Olympics were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Phillip even finished a virtual pre-dentistry summer program that ended the day before her competition started. Despite the challenge of balancing rigorous academic coursework with a time-consuming athletic schedule, Phillip said she remained focused on achieving both her swimming and dental goals. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Phillip improved her performance, finishing 35th overall with a time of 25.74.
“It was hard. I won’t lie,” Phillip said. “It required a lot of discipline, but ultimately, I can’t complain because the discipline’s going to serve me well now. I never felt like it was anything to complain about. I knew what I wanted. It was just stepping stones to get to my goal.”
In looking back over her swimming career, Phillip said her favorite moments had nothing to do with breaking records. For her, as a Black female, the most meaningful times were when she could see the positive impact she had on minority swimmers.
She fondly recalled the Swimming World Cup, an international competition in the Netherlands when a young black girl was trying to speak to her in Dutch. The girl’s teacher translated, saying the child was excited because she had never seen a person of color swim before.
Swimming has, historically, lacked diversity. In the 2023 demographics report from USA Swimming, it was reported that only 2.1 percent of its nearly 335,000 members identified as African American or Black while 62.4 percent identified as white. (Note: 3.4 percent of athletes did not respond to the ethnicity question and responses to ethnicity questions were not mandatory.) According to the Pew Research Center, 14.4 percent of the U.S. population self-identified as Black in 2022, including those who said their race was Black, either alone or in combination with other racial backgrounds.
This memory stayed with Phillip. Representation matters—and those were the moments for which she swam.
“I could plant that seed in someone’s mind and let them know that there really are no limits,” Phillip said. “You can achieve whatever you set your mind to, as long as you work hard for it.”
For Phillip, getting accepted to GSDM was the dental equivalent of qualifying for the Olympics. As she embarks on the next step in her dental career, Phillip said her goal is to help support underserved communities and improve access to adequate, equitable healthcare.
“For me, it’s always been about impact and being able to give back,” Phillip said. “Dentistry is just an ideal way to do that.”