A 14-year-old girl from Salford has won three golds for England in the World School Swimming Games.
Katie Lee, representing Ellesmere Park High School in Eccles, scooped three Golds and a Silver at Rio de Janeiro’s ISF (International Sports Federation) World School Swimming Games against teams from USA, China, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Chile, at the end of August.
She travelled out to Brazil for 11 days, where the City of Salford Swimming Club teen also won fourth place in the final of the 200m backstroke.
After returning home from the competition, and some well-deserved sightseeing, Katie felt immensely proud of the work she had achieved. She said: “It felt really good I wasn’t expecting it at all. I was so excited to tell mum that I had won gold. When I won she started crying.
“We did four days of training, then we did some sightseeing around the city. It was quite scary because none of the team really knew each other, but we all clicked after a few days.”
Katie began swimming at age two, when her mum, Susan, began taking her to lessons on Sundays. Now, the teenager trains seven times a week, with two 4.30am starts, and weekend sessions.
She explained: “I enjoyed swimming, but I had no idea anything like this could happen when I was younger.
“I don’t really see my school friends outside of school. I spend time with my swimming friends. I don’t seem to struggle balancing swimming and school. I wake up at 4.30 for morning training so I find it easier to get to school, rather than waking up at 7.30.”
Susan continued: “I’m so proud of her. It’s a big commitment and she does sacrifice a lot with school friends to swim. Especially with morning, afternoon and weekend swimming. But she loves it so we carry on doing it.”
In two weeks time, Katie and two other swimmers from Salford are jetting off to Greece to represent Great Britain’s Youth Swimming team in the European Open Water Juniors.
The three Salfordians are among a team of seven from Great Britain to be selected. Susan continued: “It’s all credit to Katie, and the two other swimmers who have been selected from Salford to go to Greece. It’s a real big achievement, especially because only seven swimmers from the country have been selected and three are from our area.”
Katie said: “It’s a really nice feeling when you get picked, but when you’re there it’s really scary. I know that I put pressure on myself. My goal is that I want to get to the Olympics. It would mean absolutely everything for me to get to that level.”
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