West Suffolk Swimming Club member Angharad Evans, from Little Abington, near Haverhill, wants to prove point at Olympic Games
When Angharad Evans landed at her first Team GB training camp in Paris last Wednesday, she was greeted with a sea of Olympic rings and Great Britain flags draping from every corner of the building. This was her ‘wow, this is really happening’ moment.
The 21-year-old from Little Abington, near Haverhill, has spent the last week training with elite coaches and swimmers, gearing up for her 100m breaststroke heats on Sunday (10am) – which could lead to the semi-finals (8.15pm) on the same day, and potentially the final on Monday (8.32pm).
Walking around the training complex, Evans, a former Linton Village College pupil, has spent time mixing with the country’s greats of other sports – boxing, gymnastics and table tennis to name a few – as well as enjoying downtime in the games rooms.
With the Olympics being the culmination of four years of intense training, the Team GB athletes have to try and enjoy the experience, but Evans knows she has a job to do this weekend. She heads into the Games in the best form of her life, having smashed the women’s British 100m breaststroke record in London and, more recently, landing silver at the Sette Colli Trophy International in Rome.
“I was thankful to make the team for the Olympics but I didn’t qualify for the team with the time that I wanted so, for me, I still had something to prove. And I still do, just because I got the British record doesn’t mean the game’s over,” said the West Suffolk Swimming Club (WSSC) member.
“My expectations through each meet have just been to enjoy it, see what I can do, push myself fully, but it’s all been for the bigger picture of the Olympics.
“I actually feel, right now, pretty relaxed because it has been really fun training here, and getting video footage to review my racing has been good preparation. I think I’m more focused on what I have to do than ‘I’m racing at the Olympics’, and I think that’s what caught me off guard at the trials.
“It means everything to me. It’s been really emotional coming here.”
Evans moved from her training camp to the famous Olympic village on Wednesday, which is where she feels the reality of what she is about to embark on will hit home. She will be backed by her whole family this weekend, and has received countless messages from former and current coaches and swimmers at WSSC.
“I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to actually see them (her family) but knowing that they’re going to be in the crowd is really pushing me to try my best and dig deeper than just putting in 100 per cent,” she added.
“This has been the hardest (training) block I’ve done and for the longest amount of time in my whole life. My training has been very consistent and so have my times. It’s been a mirror reflection and training has been some of the best of my life.
“It’s definitely given me confidence, there’s still a whole lot of things that could go wrong but a lot more things that can go right
“ I’m just trying to focus on what I have to do rather than everything that can go wrong.”
While Evans will be supported in numbers in the French capital, she will be backed by fellow members of WSSC at home as well – who have recently celebrated success at the Swim England East Region Open Water Championships.
Isabel Moore posted the fastest Suffolk county time in the under-16s category as Myles Turner was crowned county champion in the 3km race. Shannon Dalligan and Ella Stuart won gold in their county competitions while claiming silver and bronze respectively in their 3km races.
