Swimming in India is perceived more as a recreational or fitness activity than as a sport. Moments of glory for Indian swimmers have been few and far between, but triple Olympic champion Stephanie Rice feels the Indian swimmers have achieved good results keeping in mind the lack of a strong swimming ecosystem in the country.
“I personally feel that the current Indian swimmers are doing really well for what I feel is their access to a really elite level of coaching, nutrition or physios,” Rice told reporters in Mumbai as she announced her plans to launch the Stephanie Rice Swimming Academy in India by early 2020.
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“A lot of the current Indian swimmers train in Thailand or the US, and then they come back to India to compete for the country. So, it makes it really hard for India to become a really good swimming nation, because you’re requiring every athlete to have the funds to be able to train somewhere else in the world. With my academy my aim will be to provide a facility to enable these swimmers to train in India” she added.
Rice, who won three gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games, feels it is necessary to create an ecosystem in India where swimmers have access to not just the right infrastructure but also to the best swimming coaches, something which she feels the country currently lacks in.
“Our aim right now is to focus on the high-performance group of 30 swimmers and prepare them to compete at the highest level by 2024 or later. I’ll bring with me, my team of coaches, strength and conditioning (coaches), physios and nutritionists to India, to be able to help the current swimming athletes,” the Australian revealed.
She added, “However, what we want to do long term is to develop senior and junior teams and also have Learn to Swim programs so that there’s an ecosystem for swimming in India at an affordable and accessible locality so that they feel there is a real possibility for them to become an Olympic swimmer.”
On her decision to choose India to establish her academy, Rice suggested that she can have a big impact with the potential for the growth of sports like swimming in the country.
“I have seen that the Indian federation wants to develop all sports. But swimming and athletics are two sports that offer maximum medals, so I’m looking forward to the support I get here as there are lot of gains in swimming. So, for me the potential to make an impact here is huge and that excites me,” Rice stated.
The Australian also believes that every country has talent and its success in a particular sport depends on how the talents are groomed.
“There is talent everywhere. You need to scout it and groom it with good facilities, coaching and physical development. We will look to do just that, but initially our focus will be on the top performers who are already in certain programs,” Rice said.
“In India, there is a lack of work at grassroots as far as swimming is concerned. In the various clinics that I conducted here, the sight of 7-8-year-old kids participating was not very common. That needs to change in the long term” she added.
Rice is still looking for the perfect facility to run her academy from, with the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bengaluru one of the possible locations.
As of now Indian swimmers seem content with reaching the A-cut-off Olympic qualification mark and have been on the fringes of a podium finish at the Asian level. Rice just like her playing days is looking to pull of a coup in India with her academy.
“Our aim is to see an Indian on an Olympic podium,” she bravely concludes. Only time will tell if she can make another big splash in swimming world.
