Olympic trials in sight for teen

HeronBridge College learner and swimmer Alexa van Thiel has been invited to take part in the South African Olympic trials after bettering her best time in a competition.

Currently in Grade 12, Alexa realised her passion for swimming when she was in Grade 3 and swam in her prep school’s inter-house gala. She asked her mom to take her for professional training and, since 2018, she has won eight gold medals in various competitions.

She swims freestyle and breaststroke but her best stroke is backstroke. When she heard news of her qualification to swim at the trials, she said she was surprised.

“Recently, I’ve only ever made my times down at the coast where there is more oxygen. With less oxygen up here, I was very surprised and happy with myself… The news of my time took a while to sink in. But it hit me later that evening,” she said.

During lockdown, Alexa said keeping fit had been extremely hard. “I had no motivation and I had to do all my fitness on land as opposed to in water. I had to look deep inside me to find motivation to do everything I needed to.

“When Level 3 lockdown in the country happened last year, I was able to swim again. Doing training exercises in my home pool was so boring with the various exercises to keep fit.”

Alexa has also represented Gauteng in swimming and plays as a goal shooter in netball. When asked about time management, she said it was slightly difficult to manage training and her academics.

“In terms of managing school with training, now that I have made my time, I can slow down on the training since I was training every day. “I have to find a balance to manage the two. But if anything, swimming takes my mind off academics.”

Looking to the future, Alexa hopes to study either bio-medical sciences or industrial engineering in the Netherlands.

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