A big congratulations to Jamaican swimmer
Alia Atkinson, who is a new 100m breaststroke champion. Atkinson completed the
race in 1 minute and 2.36 seconds at the Fina World Swimming championships in
Doha at the weekend, equalling the record set by Lithuanian swimmer Rūta
Meilutytė. Atkinson is the first ever black woman to win a world swimming
title.
Atkinson, who mostly trains in Florida,
where she also works with the International Swimming Hall of Fame to promote
swimming to youngsters from different communities, looked overwhelmed by her
win on Saturday.
According to a 2010 survey by USA
Swimming, 69% of African American children have low or no swimming ability. The
stereotype of black people refusing to learn how to swim is a stubborn one to
shake, but with Atkinson’s win – and others such as Justin Lynch (an
18-year-old California swimmer who broke Michael Phelps’s 2001 national
age-group record last year) – perhaps it is being eroded.
After her win, Atkinson said: “Hopefully,
my face will come out, there will be more popularity, especially in Jamaica and
the Caribbean, and we’ll see more of a rise.”
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