In Greek mythology Athena is the goddess of strategy, reason, wisdom and of heroic endeavours. Fourteen year-old record-breaking swimming and judo champ Athena Gaskin embodies some of these qualities. Her quiet demeanour belies her fierce competitive spirit which has propelled her to success in a number of sporting disciplines; her first love swimming, judo and track and field. Stabroek Sport recently caught up with the Bishops’ High School student and national swimmer to talk about her ambitions and how she balances school and competing at the national level in several sporting disciplines.
Athena is set to represent North Georgetown (District 11) at the Guyana Teachers’ Union Track and Field, Cycling and Swimming Championships at Albion next month. Though she is eligible to participate in the Under-16 age group, she told this newspaper that she opted to participate in the Open Category “because there are more events, more strokes, in this category; and it is more challenging.” She will vie for the Girls’ Open championship which she has a chance of winning or sharing with school and team-mate Noelle Smith, last year’s joint champion in this category.
Though she enjoys running both sprints and distance events, Athena said a scheduling conflict prevented her from doing so this year as her school’s track and field events were held the same day as the North Georgetown Inter-Schools Swimming Championship. The swimming team for the national championships is usually selected from this competition. Last year though, she was the top track athlete for her age group at the junior level of her school.
At this year’s Goodwill Swimming Championship held in Barbados in August, Athena copped a silver medal in the Girls’ 13-14 age group 50-metre freestyle event. She also won the bronze medal in the 200-metre freestyle event at the meet; breaking the 13-14 age group national record held previously by Kristyl Robinson, in a time of 2:22.47. This is currently the fastest time on record for the 200-metre freestyle locally in either the girls’ junior or senior age groups. At the same meet, Athena broke the 100-metre freestyle record with a time of 1:06.16s. The record was held previously by Robinson.
Athena holds five other national records. At the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association’s recent distance meet she broke the girls’ 13-14 age group 400-metre freestyle record held previously by Smith in a time of 5:13.09s and the 800-metre in a time of 10:45.92s. Smith’s record was 11:44.40. During the same meet Athena also established the record in the same age group in the 1,500-metre freestyle which had not previously been competed in; and broke Danica Summerson’s 200-metre backstroke and Steffi DeNobrega’s 200-metre breaststroke records.
The teenager started swimming competitively at the regional level last year. Her first international meet was the Goodwill Swimming Championships at home which was followed by the highly competitive Trinidad and Tobago National Swimming Championships. Athena said swimming is fun and enjoyable but more rewarding when winning and “dropping time.” A member of the Rising Sun Judo Club, Athena was the lone female on the five-member team and the only one to secure a gold medal in the 2009 Roraima Cup International Judo Competition held in Boa Vista, Brazil in May. She credits her achievements in swimming and judo to her coaches. She noted that her judo and swimming coaches are cousins: Nicholas Fraser, swimming, and Bruce Fraser, judo. Athena holds them in high regard because of their serious attitude but adds “they can be fun also.”
Except for Sundays, she trains with the national swimming team six days per week for one-hour periods in the mornings at the Castellani Pool. At the club level, she swims for one hour in the evenings at the Colgrain Pool on Mondays and Fridays. She is a member of the Dorado Speed Swim Club. Athena then practices judo on Mondays and Wednesdays after school with the Rising Sun Judo Club which trains at the Marian Academy auditorium.
She goes to judo wearing her swimsuit under her gi (judo clothing) on Mondays so as not to waste time between judo and swim training. Also, she does not join the swim team for exercises at the gym because that would cut into her time for home work and revision of school work. When this newspaper asked how she manages to cope with training and academics and whether she complains about her schedule, her mother Hans Granger-Gaskin said Athena is very focused on both sports and academics.
Because the family lives a good distance from George-town on the East Bank Demerara, Athena and her 11-year-old brother have to get out of bed by 5.10 am to get to the Castellani Pool in time for warm-up at 5.45 am. “There is no rolling over in bed and complaining about having to get up. On swimming days, I don’t get complaints about feeling unwell and not wanting to get out of the house,” Granger-Gaskin said.
When swimming ends at 7.30 am, Athena would breakfast at the extended family’s home in Georgetown before school. Homework is done immediately after school in town. On Mondays and Fridays the family reaches home after 8pm. Athena admits, however, that if she does not finish some homework in town and it is to be submitted the next day she still has to finish it when she gets home.
Granger-Gaskin said that there is no fooling around after school, especially on Mondays when her daughter has both judo and swimming on the same afternoon. Also, for relaxation, the television is out of the picture during the week. Athena and her brother are with their parents in town until after one o’clock on Saturdays, when work ends for the week.
After swimming, the balance of the siblings’ day is taken up with homework, reading and some amount of relaxation. Sundays, the only day the family spends at their East Bank Demerara home from sunrise to sunset, is dedicated to family and relaxation. When this newspaper asked Granger-Gaskin about her daughter’s approach to schoolwork she said, “Athena keeps a handle on her work and maintains a decent average in her school work. She does well in the subjects she likes and she tries to do well in the other subjects.
She is very organized and sets her goals….That kind of goal-setting [allows] her [to] approach her school work the same way she treats sports.”
