Fourteen-year-old Leon Seaton is simply brilliant in the pool. He’s a swimmer with immense potential and ability and his ultimate goal is to represent this dear land of ours at the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan in 2020.
His name could be a major headline that could have Guyanese glued to their television sets with the hope of invoking national pride on the biggest international stage, if he is able to qualify for the games in Japan, and moreso, as one of the youngest Guyanese to do so.
“My main focus, like any other youngster who is swimming at a competitive level, is to attend the Olympics,” the Goodwill gold medallist told Stabroek Sport at the Aquatic Training Facility recently.
Beaming with confidence and the swagger of a youth who seems intent on making his nation proud, Seaton revealed that his intention is not only to qualify but also to medal.
“The goal is not only qualifying but also to bring back a medal.”
Evidently, with such bold ambitions in the public domain, the spotlight will definitely find a permanent place on his performance at his upcoming CARIFATA meet which is billed for Barbados April 19-22.
And with that comes pressure and high expectations.
“There is pressure,” he admitted.
“Everyone expects a lot from you but when you fail there is a lot of talk that start to go around. But I’m trying not to let…that affect me.”
With nearly a decade of work in the pool, which enabled him to ascend to where he is today, Seaton, who is currently the number one swimming resident in the country, is planning to pull out all the stops to achieve his dream.
Scribed in his diary are his intentions to possibly attend the CARIFTA Games, FINA World Championships, Pan Am Games, South American Games and the Commonwealth Games in a bid to stop the clock at the qualifying time to ensure his participation in Tokyo.
However, despite there being light years ahead of him reaching his peak, the Silver Shark member knows that he is not quite the finished product.
His current coach Haresh Bhagwan, who is carrying the youngster through his paces and a major kink in his support system along with his parents, all harbour the same level of confidence and trusting of the process in getting young Seaton to Asia.
“I started coaching Leon in 2015, he was fast then and now he’s faster… It’s been an interesting four-year journey and we are hoping to go the extra mile between this year and the qualifier for Olympics to get him to that Olympic level,” Bhagwan told Stabroek Sport.
As the technical man, Stabroek Sport quizzed him about how far off the Olympic hopeful is to the Olympic benchmark and where he needs to be in just a few months’ time to earn the ‘Olympian tag’.
“He is at that mark to represent [Guyana] but we want to go beyond and we want him to make his mark in swimming. In terms of his timing, he is a few seconds off the qualifying time; about three seconds currently. His fastest time is currently at 25:15 in the 50-freestyle and he needs to be around the 22 seconds mark,” Bhagwan explained.
According to the coach, he is also aiming to raise Seaton’s mark in a few other events to increase his chances.
Indeed, the upcoming CARIFTA Games will signal to both Seaton and Bhagwan where all the kinks and strengths lie.
Aside from improving his times, the St Rose’s High School student is now more than ever quite focused on collecting gold in Barbados.
