International Women’s Day: Alia Atkinson On Her WR Career Highlight, Facilitating Change & Female Role Models

by Liz Byrnes - Europe Correspondent

08 March 2024, 12:05am

International Women’s Day: Alia Atkinson On Her WR Career Highlight, Facilitating Change & Female Role Models

Pioneer. World champion. World record-holder. Five-time Olympian. Businesswoman. Author.

On International Women’s Day, Swimming World looks at the life and times of Alia Atkinson.

Alia Atkinson retired from swimming in December 2021 to bring to a close one of the most illustrious breaststroke careers of her era.

There were five Olympics spanning 2004-2021 plus World long and short-course Championships, Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games and Central American and Caribbean Games.

Including World Cups, the Jamaican won 136 medals and she became the first black woman to claim an individual global title in the pool when she won the 100m breaststroke at the 2014 World Short-Course Championships in Doha.

Since hanging up her goggles, Atkinson has been elected chairperson of the World Aquatics Athlete Committee and has expanded the Watabound wellness, performance and mentoring programme she set up in 2014.

With such a long and illustrious career, it would be hard to single out one high point and while she says there are many, Atkinson points to the world record of 1:02.36 she posted en-route to that historic world title in Doha and matched at the World Cup in August 2016.

Alia Atkinson: Photo Courtesy: EuroSport

It’s a mark that she still shares today with Ruta Meilutyte and preceded the 50m breaststroke s/c world record she twice set, first going 28.64 in October 2016 and 28.56 two years later before Meilutyte went 28.37 at the 2022 World Short-Course Championships.

Atkinson told Swimming World:

“I think it’s the highlight because it’s like you are always there but you never actually reach, you are always in the final and suddenly break on to the medal podium or you’re always in the medals but you never really think that you are going to be the best.

“So sitting down and actually thinking about what does it mean to have a world record?

“To that point nobody in history that has ever yet lived has gone that fast.

“To sit there and be like oh wait – that was me.

“I think it changed my perspective completely and it gave me more self-esteem to be like – when you dream and when you believe it has some girth to it, it’s not just a hot air balloon that’s like floating away.

“You’re like – no, it’s up  there, I see it. You can actually attain it and you can actually hold on to it and reach for it.

“So that gave me an added little boost of confidence to really fulfil my dreams because it might happen, you want it to happen but we all know it doesn’t really often happen.

“It was great to give me that tangible push and to tell others as well – young athletes, young females – it’s okay to dream, it’s okay to give it all, in sport you never know what’s going to happen.

“A lot of the times it may not be in your cards but you stay in it for so long and persevere that you actually create it for yourself – it’s a beautiful thing.”

Pride In Perseverance & Welcoming Greater Diversity

Atkinson made her Olympic debut aged 15 at Athens 2004, a self-confessed fan-girl rubbing shoulders with the likes of Venus and Serena Williams and NBA all-star Yao Ming.

By the time of her fifth and final Games, Yao was there once more but as president of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).

Alia Atkinson: Photo Courtesy: Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Stardom faded as she grew older and her standout memories include her tenacity and determination, especially in the face of things outside her control, such as being diagnosed with immune system disorder Graves’ disease in early 2016.

She said:

“I would have to break it down: let’s say emotionally the memories that come up are how I persevered.

“These last two years of not swimming I don’t understand how I got up and went to the gym: it’s so difficult to do that now so how did I do that for so long?

“The perseverance, I really look back and be like ‘wow Alia’.

“All those times where I didn’t want to go when I was sick when I got the Graves’ disease – how in the world did I motivate myself to keep doing that?”

Also the change in the landscape of the sport as it became more diverse, saying:

“People-wise, I think it’s meeting all the people from the Pacific Islands to South Asia to the African nations to the Caribbean islands – all the ones who are developing in the sport and seeing that change because when I started on, it was very few people of colour in the sport, not that many countries were represented at the certain level.

“So now when I was retiring and seeing almost 240 counties represented, people of colour everywhere I look and not just in swimming but open water and I saw some in artistic swimming coming out so it’s really developing and I really enjoyed being there to see that entire process.

“I guess just the people I met along the way: it’s amazing, you have a personality and you have a set trait and then seeing that trait in different cultures, it’s really cool.”

Enabling Lifestyle Changes For All With Watabound

Watabound was created “with the purpose of bringing light to people of colour from all over the world.”

She explains:

“If you have a story from Burkina Faso or Sierra Leone and you say how hard it is to learn how to swim so you had to swim in the rivers because there is no pool open to you.

“You had to learn in the gullies or you had to train yourself and teach yourself how to swim because there are no coaches and no certifications.

“You may feel very alone but it came about to hear these stories and so other people would be like ‘oh I learned to swim in a gully too’.

“So it’s kind of like connecting all the different people together to realise you are not alone.”

Photo Courtesy: Erich Schlegel/USA Today Sports Images

From there it expanded into a swim clinic to ensure those countries with less resources in and out of the water are kept fully up to date with changes within the aquatic world and competition.

To ensure a level playing field as it were.

Following her retirement, Atkinson further developed the project to encompass the mental and emotional aspects as well as the physical and educational.

It’s now also a mentoring programme which helps facilitate performance coaching and wellness as well as encouraging and enabling lifestyle changes.

She continued:

“I really love it because it not only brings about performance within athletes but also with people who are not athletes, people who are middle-aged or really just want a life change.

“So I am certified with nutrition, physical education, corrective exercises and a bachelors in psychology so bringing it all together to have lifestyle changes to become the best that you can be with the holistic approach to see what we can do to get you where you need to be.

“So that is really the project I am moving on with now and 2024 I am thinking about trying to build Watabound into a non-profit organisation that will have free learn to swim lessons or at least work with the minister of education in some countries to help at least every second grader or third grader to learn how to swim without the financial costs added to the parents.

“Watabound is continuing to expand and grow: what it’s going to be eventually I have no idea but we do have a goal of Watabound being a place for athletes, a place for people to learn how to swim in a safe environment, to become an ambassador for mental health and wellbeing and to have lifestyle changes so you can bring out the best that you can.”

• Link to Watabound
• Link to ‘Day 1 Not One Day’: A Seven-Step Guide To Success

Working For The Athletes

In her role with the athlete committee, Atkinson attends events where she listens and speaks to athletes about issues they have, be it at competition or with their federations.

She will liaise with staff – be it AQUA or federation team management – to address those issues.

New projects have been introduced including workshops at competitions, most recently at the 2024 World Championships in Doha where they focused on athletes’ and coaches’ mental health.

It addressed a range of issues – competition, injury, plateauing and social media – anything that affects an athlete’s career with the likes of three-time Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Anthony Ervin also involved.

Alia Atkinson; Photo Courtesy: PHLEX

Issues that often crop up outside competition range across the sports, their federation and the importance that is attached to the sport in different countries.

For instance, the packed schedule and subsequent travel and costs in water polo and the development of artistic swimming.

Finding venues for open water and high diving.

There’s also education for coaches and officials to ensure they’re kept up to date with new technology which will be used in competition.

“Let’s say the backstroke ledge where other countries you probably have it in your pool or in a nearby pool or at a competition in the coming months, your coaches are already educated on it.

“Some countries they don’t see the backstroke ledge until they’re actually at the competition and even then who is really going to sit there and explain that to them?

“How can we fill that divide so they see it beforehand and they’re educated and they’re knowledgeable about what this is and how am I supposed to use it in competition.

“I can say I don’t want it but now everybody else is using it so I am going to use it too – it’s a very weird system.”

A Mother’s Influence

Atkinson is the third child born to parents Sharon and Tweedsmuir, the youngest behind siblings Adi and Sannica.

Sharon learned to swim when she was in her twenties with all the children swimming by the age of four.

While her parents were heavily into track and field and the Atkinson siblings went through the athletics system, swimming was the sport Alia stuck with.

And Sharon has been alongside her daughter throughout her career, travelling with her and enjoying London 2012 from the stands at the Aquatics Centre.

Alia Atkinson: Photo Courtesy: Singapore Swimming Association

Atkinson said:

“Mummy has been….it’s hard to say because she has so many hats.

“During World Cups when  it was usually just me travelling, she would be the manager, she would make sure financially that everything was coming in and going out, paying and this and that – hotels and transport.

“When she was there with me for World Cups she’d be the physio and the nutritionist, the team manager – all the things that you have to do when you’re at competition.

“Now she is still being the manager and helping social events, speaking engagements.

“I have a Watabound book series so it’s an interactive workshop – seven steps to becoming a successful athlete.

“So it’s being able to brand that as well and find different locations to talk about the book etc.

“So, mummy has been everything. Even coaching – ‘no, your breaststroke didn’t look that great today, something’s off, you should fix that.’

“I was the third child, of course the baby gets all the attention, right?

“I don’t think I’d have stayed in the sport long enough or been able to do all the things that I had accomplished without her assistance.”

Respect For Those Role Models In And Out Of The Pool

It would be remiss on International Women’s Day not to ask if there are female swimmers that she particularly admires.

She said:

“Growing up it was always my next target so I’d always have somebody I was working towards to beat and compete against.

“When I got older I think I appreciated a lot of the athletes like Katinka Hosszu and Ranomi Kromowidjojo – the ones who really put in the grind but still has that sense of respect for themselves and for others.

“They encompass what a great role model should be and I think that really earned my respect.

“How they attack different situations and how they bounce back from it, their mindset throughout everything.”

And of a woman beyond swimming that she admires?

Photo Courtesy: Alia Atkinson

Atkinson points to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the Jamaican sprinter who has won three Olympic golds among eight medals across four Games.

She said:

“My word, she has changed the game for track and field athletes but also Caribbean athletes and women in general.

“I think her vulnerability of having a child and sharing the process of how hard it was mentally and physically to bounce back – and to even do it and still be at the top of your game is unfathomable actually.

“I know how hard it is to maintain being at the top anyway, much less everything else. So yes, I think that Shelly is definitely at the top.”

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Tweedy Atkinson

1 month ago

Well written article Liz. We want to thank you for your own reporting on Alia throughout the years. Just to let you know that we have completed a 4 book set on her swim journey and we have had to refer to your analyses of her swimming prowess many times.

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Judith

21 days ago

This is an amazing woman and athlete. I am so proud to be her cousin.

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