- Club: Rushmoor Synchronised Swimming Club
- Coach: Biz Price
- DOB: 13/02/1990
- Height: 168 cm
- Weight: 53 kg
- Born in: Plymouth
- Lives in: Aldershot
- Nickname: Olive
- Occupation: Full-time athlete at the Synchronised
Swimming High Performance Centre
Where did you grow up?
In Portsmouth and St. Albans.
How did you get into swimming?
I learnt to swim when I was 2 and got into synchro after my sister joined Portsmouth Victoria club.
I was always at the pool when my sister was training and couldn’t wait to try it for myself when I was old enough to join. I started synchronised swimming when I was 8 years old.
What do you like most about swimming?
I like synchronised swimming because it is such a unique sport. You have to have such a variety of skills including strength, flexibility and creativity. In a routine you only have a split second to think about and apply them. It’s a progressing sport which means you are always trying to come up with more difficult and innovative movements, pushing your body and your capabilities to the max, while still trying to keep in synch!
We have to train so many different abilities like gymnastics, speed swimming, weight lifting, diving, ballet and other basic cardio sports like running. It’s very different because not only do I have to swim the routine and attempt to make it appear flawless, it must also look effortless. This means that when your muscles are burning and you feel like you are going to be sick you must not let the judges see how hard it is. However, when you achieve this it is incredibly satisfying.
Describe a typical day when you’re training?
I wake up at 6.15am and get to the pool for 7.00am. I then do 30 minutes or an hour of land warm up and flexibility. At 8.00 am I get in the pool for a 1.5 hours of speed swimming. We swim about 5000m in a session and this includes endurance and power work. We also do monthly tests on our 400m swim.
I then do synchro training till 12.30pm and this would include technical work, choreography or general routine training. If we are in a physical training phase we have to do lots of repetitions of our routines with weights on our arms, legs or waist and sometimes all three!
I then either get back in the pool at 2.30pm for 2 hours in the afternoon to do more synchro and then do 30 minutes of land drill which is when we go through our routines on land or I start at 1.00pm and do 1.5 hours in the gym lifting weights doing core work and cardio.On Saturdays I do 4 hours of gym work and I have Sunday off. Currently I train about 40 hours a week.
What’s your favourite event?
Duet.
What was your finest ever performance and why?
Competing at the Olympics Games in Beijing as we did a really good swim and exceeded our expectation
of coming 16th and came 14th narrowly missing the finals by 0.5 of a mark. It was great to have a big crowd watching as well.
What was your first senior international meet?
The Commonwealth Games in Melbourne 2006.
Who are you role models?
Andrea Fuentes who is in the Spanish duet (currently 2nd in the world)
and Valentino Rossi from Moto GP (my dad’s influence).
What are your aspirations in sport?
To get a medal for Great Britain in the Olympics and World Championships.
What’s your tip for the top?
Have a positive, committed attitude especially when you are finding it tough and enjoy it!
What would you like to do when you retire from swimming?
Have a big family!
What or who is the biggest influence on your career?
My coach Biz Price and duet partner Jenna Randall.
What do you do when you’re not swimming?
Eat and sleep. Also see my lovely boyfriend.
What would you be if you weren’t a swimmer?
I would be at University however my career plans seem to change every month.
Currently I think I’d like to be a chef.
What’s your most treasured possession?
My boyfriend, friends and family.
What’s your favourite breakfast?
At the moment Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, I could munch on them all day!
What would we find in your shopping basket?
Bananas, they are my favourite fruit, and avocados to make a nice salad.
I love pasta too. I better stop before I write my whole shopping list.