INTERVIEW: Alia rewriting the history books

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  • Leading light: Alia Atkinson.

    When the world thinks of Jamaica and sport, track and field and Usain Bolt immediately spring to mind. But there is one swimmer from the Caribbean island who has been making history in the pool and is gradually forcing everyone to take notice.

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    Alia Atkinson became the first black woman to win a world swimming title when she stunned Ruta Meilutyte to win the 100m breaststroke at the World Short Course Championships in Doha last December and in the process, she equalled the Lithuanian’s world record of 1:02.36, which under governing body FINA rules is considered a new record.

    While swimmers spend their lives obsessing over numbers – one millisecond can be the difference between becoming a world champion or not – Atkinson’s achievement was much greater than swimming the fastest 100m breaststroke in a 25m pool.

    The expression on her face when she looked up at the board to learn she had won gold and set a world record said it all. It reflected shock in its purest form as she mouthed “me?” in disbelief, trying to digest what she had just pulled off.

    As an athlete dedicated to improving her sport not just in the Caribbean, but minority swimming as a whole, Atkinson knew her accomplishment would massively help her cause.

    “We’ve definitely had an increase in the swimming population (in Jamaica). More people are going out and having swim clinics and getting their children into the water. But even better the older ones are getting in as well, so they’re showing that it’s important not just for the children but for the adults to get in as well,” Atkinson told Sport360 after she set a new Jamaican long course record in the 100m breaststroke in Dubai last Friday.

    “It shows progress and a wave that’s being extended throughout the entire island which is really good. In addition to that I know we’re starting more of a push from the entire Caribbean and black swimming in general all over the world. So we’re moving in that direction and I hope I’m a part of that.

    “Coming from Jamaica you see everybody on the world scene but you always thought that they were out there, way far beyond your reach. And it took me until about 2013 to actually realise I am part of that group, I am in that area where people are looking and saying, ‘oh, she’s so far’ so I definitely try and make myself more approachable, especially in Jamaica, so people can come up to me and they don’t say, ‘she’s on a pedestal’. No I’m right down there, down to earth.”

    In a way, Atkinson was destined to make a difference in the world as her quest to influence change started before she even knew it.

    Her parents taught her how to swim at a young age so she wouldn’t grow up not having that skill like the majority of people in Jamaica.

    “About 75 per cent of Jamaicans didn’t know how to swim, so my parents wanted to be the ones to personally break that stereotype and just to make sure their children learned how to swim,” explained the 26-year-old. “So we all learned how to swim. I was the only one that kept on going afterwards. And it just turned into something to do after school.

    “And then to make it into college. And then after college I only had one year before Olympics so I was like ‘you know what? Let’s make it my final hurrah and see what I can do’ and I got fourth. So I was like ‘alright, maybe I should give it another four years’.”

    Atkinson moved to Florida as a teenager to train before getting into Texas A&M University two years later. She excelled for her school in the NCAA but admits it took her a while to adjust to life in the United States.

    “It was a culture change for sure. I remember watching things on TV and be like ‘okay that’s what it’s going to be like’. Like Saved By The Bell. But it was not like Saved By The Bell,” she joked.

    “Because in Jamaica, if you get up before the class is finished, you get reprimanded a lot. And in the US I remember the first day the bell rang and everyone just left while the teacher was talking. And I’m like ‘what am I doing?’

    “So it was a bit of a culture change and I was shy to begin with. So it took me until college actually to break out of my shell and started to talk and get around and everything.”

    Last August, Atkinson claimed Jamaica’s first-ever medals at a World Aquatics Championships (held in an Olympic-sized 50- metre pool) taking silver in the 50m breaststroke and bronze in the 100.

    “Worlds was fantastic because my first international gold was short course Worlds in Doha in 2014, so I wanted to come back and show that I can still replicate something in the long course season so to come back and to have, not only the first Worlds medal (for Jamaica), but two, is I mean… I can’t complain,” she said.

    Jamaica’s tally of 67 Olympic medals over the history of the Games have all come in track and field except for one bronze in cycling in 1980. But with Atkinson now making her way towards the pinnacle of her sport, Jamaica can now count on a medal in swimming at the Rio Olympics next year.

    Rio will be Atkinson’s fourth Games and over the course of the past 11 years, she says the support from the track and field athletes has grown and she even received coaching tips from superstar sprinter Bolt.

    “2012 Olympics (in London) I was the only swimmer and it was so fantastic because at the end going into it they watched my prelims, they watched my semi-finals, they were like ‘Alia you’ve got this’ and at finals they all got together in a room and watched my race,” she recalled.

    “And at the end Usain Bolt came and critiqued my race: ‘you started out good, I feel like you had a good push from the wall but you slowed down a little bit on the turn and that’s where they got you’. And I’m like, ‘alright, I’m not going to criticise your 100, but fine, criticise away’. Because he’s a swimmer as well. He can swim, pretty well. So he knew what he was talking about,” she added with a laugh.

    “The fact that everybody came up and surrounded me to show that swimming is integrated in Jamaica, it is coming up and people are looking at it and they’re enjoying it and getting inspired by it. Because they were like, ‘yes okay, Alia brought this on, she got fourth’ and everyone was pumped for their races the following week.”

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