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Swimming In Paradise: We Need to Compete against the Powerhouses

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The 2008 Olympics is where Alana Dillette got her shot at an Olympic medal. 

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The 2008 Olympics is where Alana Dillette got her shot at an Olympic medal. 

She helped cement a strong Olympic foundation for The Bahamas and inspired a new generation of swimmers – looking for Olympic glory. 

With still a ways to go, she believes there are some missed fundamentals – like simply knowing how to swim. 

“I always think about even though we are a power house in swimming how many Bahamians still don’t know how to swim, who if they did could be really amazing swimmers,” Dillette said.

“We are an athletic people, we see that from track and field and other sports so if we are not tapping into the full breadth of our athletic talent as a nation, I think we are just we’re still yet to see the actual best of the best.”

Yet, those who can and do swim competitively, have helped The Bahamas to earn six consecutive CARIFTA Swimming Championships and back-to-back Goodwill Games wins. 

A stark comparison to only two swimmers qualifying for these recent summer Olympics. 

But Dillette offers a different view upon closer examination.

“If you think about the history of Olympians going for The Bahamas, it has increased but when you think about how people have made it, you know, Arianna made it to the finals this year, Lamar, he did really well from what I could see as far as his time and what he placed almost making the semi-finals and these are things that we weren’t necessarily seeing before.”

These days Dilette is an associate professor at San Diego University.

A dominant high school athlete, she continued her success on the collegiate circuit at Auburn University.

She also thinks Bahamian swimmers could benefit from competing against powerhouse countries – well before the Olympics.

“In swimming the powerhouse countries we we normally see are the U.S., Canada, Australia, and then there’s always different European nations that are sprinkled in there and so we’re not getting exposure to any of those countries at the games that you mention from the regional level so I definitely think that that has to be that is a part of it right,” Dillette said.

“I think you know the reason that those countries are faster are various: they have more people to choose from, they generally are wealthier countries to give resources to give at swimmers at ages and you know there’s other historical things.”

You could sum it up as a good example of the ebbs and flows of sports but Dillette, like many of her contemporaries, believe the Olympic glory days for  swimming are in the not-so- distant future. 

“Like Arianna, I am very excited to you know see how well everybody’s doing and how far this sport has come since I was in that age group and era,” said.

And as a nation we eagerly await to see who emerges as the next Alana or Arianna. 

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