GAINESVILLE, Fla. — In the exclusive best-of-the-best world of elite athletes, where Gators senior swimmer Josh Liendo has called home for several years, the door is always locked. A steep price must be paid to gain entry.

“You’ve got to make sacrifices at that level, and he’s doing that,” Florida head coach Anthony Nesty said.

The 23-year-old Liendo, who is on the final leg of his decorated collegiate career, has already made headlines at this week’s Southeastern Conference Championships in Knoxville, Tenn. On Tuesday night in the 200-yard medley relay, Liendo’s blazing 17.58-second anchor – the fifth-fastest 50 free split in history – pushed the UF team of Jonny Marshall, Koen de Groot, Scotty Buff and Liendo to a new NCAA record (1:20.03).

Another race, another magical moment for Liendo. They have been adding up for almost a decade.

The great ones, such as Liendo, often can identify the instant a childhood dream morphed into something more, a possible reality that suddenly appeared much closer. For Liendo, the eye-opening experience happened when he was 14 in the summer of 2017.

Liendo was competing in the 100-meter fly at the Canadian Junior Championships in Toronto, near his home in Scarborough, Canada. He had been chasing the record in his age group that a competitor kept lowering. Liendo, determined he could shave his then-best 56.49-second time to under 55 seconds, arrived at the pool that day in a feisty mood.

Once in the pool, he entered what he called the “flow state.”

“I broke the record in the morning off the bat, and I was racing a guy who was 18,” Liendo said. “I beat him in the morning. I broke the record by a second, and at night, I broke the record by another second. That was a point where I realized that if I put my mind to something, it was possible.”

 

When the day was over, Liendo owned the record (54.76) and a sense of self-belief that was as fresh as the morning sun.

Eddie Toro, his longtime coach at the Toronto-area North York Aquatic Club, considered it Liendo’s official introduction to the next level.

“That swim,” Toro told Swimming World magazine, “when I watched it, I said, ‘this guy is going to make it very far.’ “

Liendo soon discovered how far.

A few weeks after his 16th birthday in August 2018, Liendo flew to Fiji to compete in his first international event, the Pan Pacific Championships. Next, Liendo was off to Argentina for the 2018 Youth Olympics. In the years since, Liendo has traveled the world as one of the sport’s up-and-coming stars, including a silver medal in the 100 fly at the 2024 Paris Olympics, becoming the first black swimmer from Canada to win an Olympic medal.

With his star on the rise after high school, Liendo faced a difficult decision: turn pro or attend college.

“I was kind of on the fence,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Gators pressed to get him to Gainesville and continue the program’s tradition of winning on the national stage and developing Olympic-level competitors.

“The college-level coaches knew about him,” Nesty said. “It was a battle, but we won. Guys at that level are always a hard get.”

A storybook marriage has ensued, with Liendo continuing Florida’s dominance in sprint events in the wake of three-time Olympian and 10-time Olympic medalist Caeleb Dressel’s departure after the 2018 season. Liendo is a six-time individual NCAA champion (three 100 free titles, two 100 fly and one 50 free) and has won six NCAA relay titles, putting him within shot of UF Hall of Famer Tracy Caulkins (12 individual, four relay) for most NCAA championships in program history.

At this point, Liendo’s list of accomplishments in UF’s media guide reads like a phone book. The list goes on and on.

Liendo stepped inside Tennessee’s Allan Jones Aquatic Center this week, coming off another strong regular season and a world record in the 100-meter fly at the World Cup short-course series, his time of 47.68 seconds in late October in Toronto unseating Noe Ponti’s record by three-hundredths of a second. He entered 2025 eager to improve on his runner-up finish to Hungary’s Kristóf Milák in the 100 fly at the Paris Games by less than a tenth of a second.

“It’s a huge drive to the next level,” Liendo said. “It’s funny how it works, because you start to think you have figured it out, and then you get to the next level, and you’re like, ‘Ah, there’s more.’ There’s more you can do, and that’s exciting. I got to the point of medaling, but there’s more left. There are still things I can improve on. It’s very motivating to see gaps that I can fill in and do better.”

That is what makes Liendo elite, in Nesty’s eyes.

“Usually after the Olympics everybody kind of takes a dip as far as performances are concerned, but in his case, he wasn’t too happy with his results,” said Nesty, who was poolside in Paris as Team USA’s head coach. “It’s always great to win a medal, but when you are at that level, you want to win the whole thing. That gave him an extra incentive to come back, get back to work, and trust the process. He is a true Gator, through and through. His personality, his toughness, his leadership.”

Liendo was born in Toronto, but his journey to international fame in the pool began during his youth, when he lived in Trinidad. His parents enrolled him in a swimming class for safety reasons, and Liendo took off from there.

When the family moved back to Canada when Liendo was 9, he continued swimming competitively and blossomed into one of the country’s top junior swimmers.

He quickly made an impact at Florida, training alongside Dressel and Olympic icon Katie Ledecky. Liendo won the 100 free national championship as a freshman and won NCAA titles on three relays his first season.

He has maintained the pace, albeit with a more calculated approach.

“I look back at myself freshman year, and I was just going. Brain off, just send it,” he said. “That’s good to an extent, just going off instinct, but when I look at myself, ‘dude, what are you doing? How was I doing this back then?’ When I won the 100 free my freshman year, I look at it now, ‘dude, you messed up there. I could have done this better.’ I just wanted to enjoy the moment and enjoy competing the way I always have.”

At 6-foot-4 and with his sculpted athletic frame, Liendo could easily pass for a member of Florida’s football or basketball team. Instead, he moves around campus casually and often unnoticed. That changed after his silver medal at the Paris Olympics and his world record at the World Cup in October. He threw out a first pitch at a Toronto Blue Jays game last summer and has noticed an uptick in being recognized around a college town far from home.

Nesty, who won gold at the 1988 Olympics as a member of the Suriname National Team, has developed a strong bond with Liendo. The two have similar backgrounds and a passion for being the best at what they do.

Nothing Liendo does surprises Nesty. He sees the work Liendo puts in.

“Coming in here and improving every year, that’s just phenomenal,” Nesty said. “He’s done it individually and in relays. At his level, every tenth of a second counts.  There was always the potential for him to have all these results later on down the line.

“You have to have the mindset. You’ve got to be brave, and you’ve got to be at a level that you’re always seeking to be the best. He’s probably our strongest guy in the weightroom. His practice habits are 100 percent. And the most important thing, he’s a good kid. He’s a vocal leader and a leader who leads by example, and that’s what you want from that caliber of athlete.”

As Liendo eyes the finish line of his UF career, he wants more SEC championships and NCAA titles. He will then turn his attention to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

But whatever happens, Liendo’s place in program history is secure. He is one of the best to ever suit up for the Gators, his name mentioned alongside greats such as Caulkins, Dressel and so many others.

It’s a journey that, in some ways, started that summer nine years ago, when he was a 14-year-old eager to make a splash.

Liendo can only grin and shake his head when asked to put it all in perspective.

“To be mentioned in that conversation is awesome,” he said. “Legacy, I would say the big thing for me, I just want to leave behind something the younger guys on the team can kind of take as a tradition.”