On International Women\u2019s Day, Swimming World looks at the life and times of Alia Atkinson<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n Alia Atkinson<\/strong> retired from swimming in December 2021 to bring to a close one of the most illustrious breaststroke careers of her era.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Since hanging up her goggles, Atkinson has been elected chairperson of the World Aquatics Athlete Committee<\/strong> and has expanded the Watabound<\/strong> wellness, performance and mentoring programme she set up in 2014.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> in Doha and matched at the World Cup in August 2016.<\/p>\n Alia Atkinson: Photo Courtesy: EuroSport<\/p><\/div>\n It\u2019s a mark that she still shares today with Ruta Meilutyte<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n Atkinson told Swimming World:<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s the highlight because it\u2019s 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\u2019re always in the medals but you never really think that you are going to be the best.<\/p>\n \u201cSo sitting down and actually thinking about what does it mean to have a world record?<\/p>\n \u201cTo that point nobody in history that has ever yet lived has gone that fast.<\/p>\n \u201cTo sit there and be like oh wait \u2013 that was me.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it changed my perspective completely and it gave me more self-esteem to be like \u2013 when you dream and when you believe it has some girth to it, it\u2019s not just a hot air balloon that\u2019s like floating away.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re like \u2013 no, it\u2019s up\u00a0 there, I see it. You can actually attain it and you can actually hold on to it and reach for it.<\/p>\n \u201cSo 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\u2019t really often happen.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was great to give me that tangible push and to tell others as well \u2013 young athletes, young females \u2013 it\u2019s okay to dream, it\u2019s okay to give it all, in sport you never know what\u2019s going to happen.<\/p>\n \u201cA 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 \u2013 it\u2019s a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Atkinson made her Olympic debut aged 15 at Athens 2004, a self-confessed fan-girl rubbing shoulders with the likes of Venus<\/strong> and Serena Williams<\/strong> and NBA all-star Yao Ming<\/strong>.<\/p>\n By the time of her fifth and final Games, Yao was there once more but as president of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).<\/p>\n Alia Atkinson: Photo Courtesy: Photo Giorgio Scala \/ Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n 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\u2019 disease in early 2016.<\/p>\n She said:<\/p>\n \u201cI would have to break it down: let\u2019s say emotionally the memories that come up are how I persevered.<\/p>\n \u201cThese last two years of not swimming I don\u2019t understand how I got up and went to the gym: it\u2019s so difficult to do that now so how did I do that for so long?<\/p>\n \u201cThe perseverance, I really look back and be like \u2018wow Alia\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cAll those times where I didn\u2019t want to go when I was sick when I got the Graves\u2019 disease \u2013 how in the world did I motivate myself to keep doing that?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Also the change in the landscape of the sport as it became more diverse, saying:<\/p>\n \u201cPeople-wise, I think it\u2019s meeting all the people from the Pacific Islands to South Asia to the African nations to the Caribbean islands \u2013 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.<\/p>\n \u201cSo 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\u2019s really developing and I really enjoyed being there to see that entire process.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess just the people I met along the way: it\u2019s amazing, you have a personality and you have a set trait and then seeing that trait in different cultures, it\u2019s really cool.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Watabound was created \u201cwith the purpose of bringing light to people of colour from all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n She explains:<\/p>\n \u201cIf 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.<\/p>\n \u201cYou 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.<\/p>\n \u201cYou may feel very alone but it came about to hear these stories and so other people would be like \u2018oh I learned to swim in a gully too\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s kind of like connecting all the different people together to realise you are not alone.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Photo Courtesy: Erich Schlegel\/USA Today Sports Images<\/p><\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n To ensure a level playing field as it were.<\/p>\n Following her retirement, Atkinson further developed the project to encompass the mental and emotional aspects as well as the physical and educational.<\/p>\n It\u2019s now also a mentoring programme which helps facilitate performance coaching and wellness as well as encouraging and enabling lifestyle changes.<\/p>\n She continued:<\/p>\n \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n \u201cSo 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.<\/p>\n \u201cSo 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWatabound is continuing to expand and grow: what it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n 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.<\/p>\n She will liaise with staff \u2013 be it AQUA or federation team management \u2013 to address those issues.<\/p>\n New projects have been introduced including workshops at competitions, most recently at the 2024 World Championships in Doha where they focused on athletes\u2019 and coaches\u2019 mental health.<\/p>\n It addressed a range of issues \u2013 competition, injury, plateauing and social media \u2013 anything that affects an athlete\u2019s career with the likes of three-time Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo<\/strong> and Anthony Ervin<\/strong> also involved.<\/p>\n Alia Atkinson; Photo Courtesy: PHLEX<\/p><\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n For instance, the packed schedule and subsequent travel and costs in water polo and the development of artistic swimming.<\/p>\n Finding venues for open water and high diving.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also education for coaches and officials to ensure they\u2019re kept up to date with new technology which will be used in competition.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cSome countries they don\u2019t see the backstroke ledge until they\u2019re actually at the competition and even then who is really going to sit there and explain that to them?<\/p>\n \u201cHow can we fill that divide so they see it beforehand and they\u2019re educated and they\u2019re knowledgeable about what this is and how am I supposed to use it in competition.<\/p>\n \u201cI can say I don\u2019t want it but now everybody else is using it so I am going to use it too \u2013 it\u2019s a very weird system.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Atkinson is the third child born to parents Sharon<\/strong> and Tweedsmuir<\/strong>, the youngest behind siblings Adi<\/strong> and Sannica<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Sharon learned to swim when she was in her twenties with all the children swimming by the age of four.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n And Sharon has been alongside her daughter throughout her career, travelling with her and enjoying London 2012 from the stands at the Aquatics Centre.<\/p>\n Alia Atkinson: Photo Courtesy: Singapore Swimming Association<\/p><\/div>\n Atkinson said:<\/p>\n \u201cMummy has been\u2026.it\u2019s hard to say because she has so many hats.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring World Cups when\u00a0 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 \u2013 hotels and transport.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen she was there with me for World Cups she\u2019d be the physio and the nutritionist, the team manager \u2013 all the things that you have to do when you\u2019re at competition.<\/p>\n \u201cNow she is still being the manager and helping social events, speaking engagements.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a Watabound book series so it\u2019s an interactive workshop \u2013 seven steps to becoming a successful athlete.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s being able to brand that as well and find different locations to talk about the book etc.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, mummy has been everything. Even coaching \u2013 \u2018no, your breaststroke didn\u2019t look that great today, something\u2019s off, you should fix that.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI was the third child, of course the baby gets all the attention, right?<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019d have stayed in the sport long enough or been able to do all the things that I had accomplished without her assistance.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It would be remiss on International Women’s Day not to ask if there are female swimmers that she particularly admires.<\/p>\n She said:<\/p>\n \u201cGrowing up it was always my next target so I\u2019d always have somebody I was working towards to beat and compete against.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I got older I think I appreciated a lot of the athletes like Katinka Hosszu<\/strong> and Ranomi Kromowidjojo<\/strong> \u2013 the ones who really put in the grind but still has that sense of respect for themselves and for others.<\/p>\n \u201cThey encompass what a great role model should be and I think that really earned my respect.<\/p>\n \u201cHow they attack different situations and how they bounce back from it, their mindset throughout everything.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And of a woman beyond swimming that she admires?<\/p>\n Photo Courtesy: Alia Atkinson<\/p><\/div>\n Atkinson points to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce<\/strong>, the Jamaican sprinter who has won three Olympic golds among eight medals across four Games.<\/p>\n She said:<\/p>\n \u201cMy word, she has changed the game for track and field athletes but also Caribbean athletes and women in general.<\/p>\n \u201cI think her vulnerability of having a child and sharing the process of how hard it was mentally and physically to bounce back \u2013 and to even do it and still be at the top of your game is unfathomable actually.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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\u2019s Day, Swimming<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7575,"featured_media":144487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[28623,5223,25129,35244,26448,30706],"class_list":["post-580059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-world","tag-alia-atkinson","tag-anthony-ervin","tag-katinka-hosszu","tag-ranomi-kromowidjojo","tag-ruta-meilutyte","tag-shelly-ann-fraser-pryce"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n![\"Alia](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Alia-Atkinson-700x500.jpg\")
Pride In Perseverance & Welcoming Greater Diversity<\/h3>\n
![\"ATKINSON](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ATKINSON-Alia-LON_GSca_DB34510-700x500.jpg\")
Enabling Lifestyle Changes For All With Watabound<\/h3>\n
![\"Jul](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/pan-am-games-swimming-2015-107-e1438624038825-700x500.jpg\")
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Working For The Athletes<\/h3>\n
![\"alia-atkinson-phlex-edge-launch\"](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/alia-atkinson-phlex-edge-launch-700x500.jpg\")
A Mother’s Influence<\/h3>\n
![\"alia-atkinson-2015-world-cup-singapore\"](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/alia-atkinson-2015-world-cup-singapore-700x500.jpg\")
Respect For Those Role Models In And Out Of The Pool<\/h3>\n
![\"36da0322-8a78-4b27-b2be-d335c279a95b\"](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/36da0322-8a78-4b27-b2be-d335c279a95b-700x500.jpg\")