Paving the way
Published:Thursday | December 24, 2020 | 1:52 PMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
While Olympian Alia Atkinson is pleased with the increase in the diversity of swimmers competing in the sport, she hopes that their longevity will lead to more persons of colour being inspired and allowed to make it a career.
In an interview with BBC Sport Radio, the 30-year-old Atkinson discussed her role in breaking barriers for other swimmers of colour and the responsibility of those swimmers in laying the foundation for the next generation.
Atkinson made history in 2014 when she became the first black woman to win a world swimming title, when she won the 100m breaststroke event at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Doha, Qatar. Additionally, she equalled the event’s short course world record, which was set by Lithuanian swimmer, Ruta Meilutyte in 2013.
LEAVING THEIR LEGACIES
Atkinson hopes that the consistency of other black swimmers such as Simone Manuel and Lea Neil of the United States, will inspire other black swimmers to leave their own legacies in the sport.
“The representation isn’t consistent enough, so nobody is staying in the sport long enough to have that inspiration continue to the younger generation,” Atkinson said. “But right now, I think we are in a good position with (Simone) Manuel and myself, (Lea) Neil. So many people are coming up and staying consistent and being seen in the international stage, that we are spiking interest in the sport.”
Manuel became the first African American woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics, when she won the 100m freestyle event.
Atkinson has represented Jamaica in four straight Olympic Games and is expected to participate in her fifth, next July in Tokyo. She defended her 100m breaststroke short course title at the 2018 World Championships in China as well as capturing the 50m breaststroke title. She says that she has been fortunate that she has been able to witness the increase in the sport’s diversity and the part her success has played.
“I became aware of it in the latter part of my career, probably three years ago, when I am seeing so many athletes come out in my travelling and I really get to see swimmers from Malawi or Sudan and Syria and a lot of the Middle Eastern countries and African nations and the Pacific Islands,” she said. “So, in the latter part of my career, it’s truly a blessing to be able to stay in the sport for this long to see that, but also to see what my swimming has accomplished.”
Atkinson recently finished her first competitive tournament since March at the recently-concluded 2020 International Swimming League. She competed as a member of the London Roar and helped the team advance to their second consecutive final.