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Alice Dearing

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Alice Dearing
Dearing in 2024
Personal information
NationalityBritish
Born (1997-04-23) 23 April 1997 (age 27)
Birmingham, England
Height1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
ClubLoughborough University

Alice Georgina Nana Dearing (born 23 April 1997) is a British swimmer, specialising in open water events.[1] In June 2021, Dearing qualified to represent Great Britain in the 2020 Olympics.[2] Dearing co-founded the Black Swimming Association in 2020.[3] The charity was founded to encourage swimming among BME communities in Britain, and has the support of Swim England.[4]

Biography

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Alice Georgina Nana Dearing[5] was born on 23 April 1997.[6] Dearing grew up in a suburb of Birmingham and started swimming at the age of about eight[7] or nine.[8] She studied at the Royal Wolverhampton School[7] and was accepted to Loughborough University to study Social Media and Political Communication,[9] and is coached there by Andi Manley.[10] She has Ghanaian and English heritage[11] and is the third black swimmer to represent Great Britain competitively,[9] following Paul Marshall at the 1980 Summer Olympics and Achieng Ajulu-Bushell who represented the team in 2010.[12] She was the first black female swimmer to represent Britain at an Olympic competition in 2021, when she competed in the 10km marathon swim.[13]

Swimming career and achievements

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Dearing finished fourth in the 7.5 km event at the 2014 World Junior Open Water championships, and took the European Junior bronze in 2015. In 2016 she became 10 km World Junior Open Water champion, overtaking Nikoletta Kiss in the final 50 metres with a sprint finish to finish 0.5 seconds ahead in 2:04:24.1. This was the first British gold medal win at a World Junior Open Water Championship.[14]

She made her senior international competitive debut at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships.[1] In the women's 10 km event at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships[15] Dearing finished 17th and missed out on qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics.[10] Dearing achieved the best result of her senior career to date at the FINA Marathon Swim World Series event in Doha in February 2020, finishing tenth in 1:56.47.5, less than seven seconds slower than gold medallist Leonie Beck.[16]

In 2016, Dearing was one of the 33 people selected for British Swimming’s Podium Potential programme, which was targeted at swimmers that were believed to have the potential to win a medal at the 2020 Olympic Games.[17] In 2018 she was selected with 37 others as part of the British Swimming World Class Performance Programme, which offered members training and competition opportunities and a better level of assistance from British Swimming performance staff.[18]

Dearing competed in the women's 10 km marathon swim at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics finishing in 19th place,[19] having qualified for the event by finishing fourth in the FINA Marathon Swim Qualifier 2021 in Setubal, Portugal.[20]

Having failed to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics, Dearing retired from competitive swimming in April 2024.[21]

in 2022, she was named as a Sunday Times Changemaker of the Year, and received a Sports Journalists' Association award. The following year, she was included on the BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Power List.[22] She is an Ambassador for the British Elite Athletes Association,[22] and a member of the Advisory Board for British Esports.[23]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Alice Dearing". British Swimming. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Alice Dearing set to become first black woman to represent Team GB in Olympic swimming". Sky Sports. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  3. ^ "Alice Dearing: Britain's only black elite swimmer looking to challenge cultural myths". Sky Sports. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  4. ^ Sammy Mngqosini (17 December 2020). "The swimmer poised to make British Olympic history". CNN. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  5. ^ "About". Alice Dearing's website. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  6. ^ "Alice Dearing". eurosport.co.uk. Eurosport. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Oldbury swimmer Alice Dearing takes the 2020 plunge". Express and Star. Wolverhampton. 26 December 2014. Archived from the original on 12 February 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  8. ^ Jarrett-Bryan, Jordan (27 October 2019). "British athlete Alice Dearing on being Team GB's only black swimmer". Channel 4 News. London. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  9. ^ a b Tomas, Fiona (23 October 2019). "'Swimming has changed my life': Alice Dearing, the only black swimmer on the British team, is determined to end stereotypes in her sport". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  10. ^ a b Byrnes, Liz (13 February 2020). "Open Water Swimmer Alice Dearing Seeks To Inspire Through Changing Perceptions". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  11. ^ Jones, Seren (6 August 2019). "Team GB's only black swimmer: 'I understand why girls would quit over their hair'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 September 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  12. ^ "Alice Dearing: Five things you didn't know about the swimmer". BBC Newsround. 13 February 2020. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  13. ^ "Alice Dearing's quest to become Britain's first Black Olympic female swimmer since 1896". The Desert Review. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  14. ^ "Alice Dearing claims gold at World Junior Open Water Champs". swimming.org. Swim England. 11 July 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  15. ^ "18th FINA World Championships 2019: Women's 10km start list" (PDF). FINA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  16. ^ "Brits clinch top-10 finishes in thrilling Doha races". britishswimming.org. British Swimming. 17 February 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  17. ^ "English athletes selected for Podium Potential programme". swimming.org. Swim England. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  18. ^ "British Swimming reveal World Class Performance Programme squad". swimming.org. Swim England. 25 September 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  19. ^ "Alice Dearing makes history but Team GB's first female black swimmer leaves 'broken'". the Guardian. 4 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  20. ^ "Great Britain Alice Dearing's Olympic qualification makes history". FINA - Fédération Internationale De Natation. 28 June 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  21. ^ Lee, Olivia (11 August 2024). "'Sometimes you really have to let go': can Olympians embrace retirement?". The Guardian.
  22. ^ a b "Alice Dearing encourages athletes to prepare for life after sport". British Elite Athletes Association. 25 April 2024.
  23. ^ "Advisory Board". British Esports. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
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