Glenwood High School Elite Swimmer, Tiago Cordeiro, recently completed a busy European and National competition programme. Glenwood’s Head Coach, Graham Hill, who is also the National Swimming Coach, was satisfied with Tiago’s performances and says he is looking forward to his charger’s next outing.
As part of the Elite Swimming programme, Glenwood’s swimmers focus on the international stage and preparation is well under way for the 2018 Commonwealth games as well as the 2018 Junior Olympics. Coach Hill is quietly confident that his swimmers will produce top performances at their respective events but, at the same time, warns of complacency and over-confidence.
To get a brief synopsis of what it’s like in the pool, we asked Tiago to give us his view of his recent competitions:
Mare Nostrum
Mare Nostrum took place from the 5 to the 13 of June in Monaco and Barcelona. We arrived in Monaco on the 6th and had a warm up and went sightseeing. During our warm up I got to see the best swimmers in the world swim. This was an overwhelming feeling and it finally set in that I wasn’t just at another gala. I participated in the 400m and 200m free as well as 200m butterfly. In my main event, I made the final and got to swim with one of the world’s greatest, Lazlo Czech. Not just watching but getting to eat and talk to the best in the world was a real eye opener for my swimming. In addition, we got to meet the prince and princess of Monaco.
In Barcelona, I got to stay with more great swimmers that were actually very open and approachable. This feeling that I was one of them just gave me more inspiration and lit the fire in my heart even brighter. I swam the 200m and 100m butterfly as well as the 400m individual medley. I made the final for the 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley. This was the greatest experience of my life as I got to learn from the greatest in the world.
SA short course
This gala took place from the 10 to the 13 of August. The first 2 days was tough and upsetting as I did not swim well. This was due to my antibiotics I was taking for an ear infection. I did not swim the 3rd day because I did not have any events on this day and was hoping to change my luck for the last day as it was 200m butterfly. I made the 200m butterfly final with a time of 2 minutes 03 seconds in the final. In the final I came 2nd with a time of 2 minutes 02 seconds. The guy who came first was 20 years old and I was only 1 second away from gold. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t win but I won’t stop till I do.
We look forward to Tiago’s upcoming events and wish him, and all our Elite Swimmers, the best going forward.