Young athletes in Broken Hill are dreaming of competing at one of the world’s biggest sporting events.
Local swimmers speak about their aspirations of making it to an elite level in the lead-up to the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
This year’s Games will take place in Birmingham, England from July 28 to August 8.
Four nine-year-old members of the Broken Hill Aquatic Stingrays swim club had this to say.
Elsie Ogilvie is looking forward to seeing the Australians compete in the pool.
“I can’t wait to watch them swim,” she said.
She loves being in the water and has been involved in the club for the past year.
Her teammate, Ivy Boatswain, has been at the Stingrays for the same duration and will use the upcoming Games as inspiration.
“I want to watch the styles of swimming,” she said. “I’ve met Emily Seebohm and she has a lot of medals, so I’m willing to try my best.”
Seebohm has competed at several big tournaments and has seven Commonwealth Games gold medals to her name.
The backstroke specialist visited Broken Hill in February to open the Spring in the Outback Swimming Carnival.
Patrick Dall’armi is aiming to emulate the success of Australian swimmer Kyle Chambers and can’t wait for the action to start.
“I want to win a medal,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing them compete.”
He has been swimming at club level for the past two-and-half years and enjoys the freestyle stroke.
“I love being fit and doing all the different strokes in the water,” Patrick said.
Sixty-six nations have confirmed they will compete on the Commonwealth Games stage at Birmingham 2022.
Australia will battle to reign supreme following a first-place finish on the medal table when Gold Coast was the host city four years ago.
The athletes in green and gold collected 198 medals (80 gold, 59 Silver and 59 Bronze) on home soil, 62 medals clear of second-placed England.
In 2018, Tahlia Millard was five-years-old and now she wants to learn from the current generation of competitors to get to the top level.
“I’m going to be watching on TV,” she said. “I like to watch how they swim underwater and how they hold their breath.”
She started swimming at a young age and has been with the Stingrays for the past three years.
“I like hanging out with my friends and going to carnivals,” Tahlia said.
The youngsters will be part of the enormous crop of local talent that will tune in to the competition.
The Commonwealth Games will feature various popular sports like gymnastics, rugby, cricket and athletics.
