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An Olympic swimmer's biggest, bloody-knuckle battle ... is putting on their swimsuit

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PARIS — The Olympic swimmers filter in hours before liftoff, and ready themselves for battle. One by one here at La Défense Arena, after vibing to music or sipping coffee or wolfing down a banana, they dip into water, push off a wall, and rehearse the finely tuned strokes that, by night’s end, will propel them to greatness. But first, around an hour before their race, they dry off and disappear, to fight an unseen “battle before the battle” … with their swimsuit.