Teenager Washington targets Rio Olympics

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Jesse Washington’s ultimate goal in swimming is to represent Bermuda at the Olympics.

And the promising swimmer intends to see that dream become reality before he celebrates his 18th birthday.

Washington has targeted appearing at the 2016 Games and current form suggests he’s firmly on course to achieving just that.

“I want to qualify for the Olympics in 2016 and hopefully do Bermuda proud,” he said.

Assistant national swimming coach Ben Smith sees no reason why Washington can’t achieve his goal of competing at the Olympics.

“If he continues to stay focused and put in the hard work he can most definitely reach that level,” he said.

Doing the Island proud at international swim meets is fast becoming a habit of the 13-year old Washington.

The Sandys Middle School student won seven medals at this year’s Carifta Swimming Championships in Bahamas. It was only his second appearance at the regional swim meet.

He won gold medals in the 100 and 200 metre freestyle, 100 and 50 metre butterfly and 50 metre freestyle as well as a silver medal in the 50 metre backstroke and a bronze medal in the 400 metre freestyle.

For added measure the Somerset resident established 12 national records and personal best in every event he competed in Bahamas to be crowned high points champion in his respective age group.

It was the first time a local swimmer has won their age group at the regional swim meet.

“I was just going all out this year and I was somewhat surprised while I was winning medals,” Washington said.

More recently the talented athlete won multiple medals at the Caribbean Island Swimming Championships (CISC) in Aruba.

Washington won gold medals in the 100 and 50 metre freestyle, 50 metre butterfly, 100 metre butterfly and 200 metre freestyle. He also won a silver medal in the 50 and 100 metre backstroke and 400 metre freestyle to bring his impressive medal haul in Aruba to eight .

Washington shattered the CISC record in the 100 metre freestyle and 50 metre butterfly while his times in the 50 metre freestyle (25.53) and 200 metre freestyle (2:05.21) are also new national records.

Washington said his superb display in Aruba surpassed his expectations.

“What I achieved at the Caribbean Island Swimming Championships hasn’t sunk in yet,” he said. “It was a good result and I felt proud to represent Bermuda.

“It was nice to stand on the podium and hear the national anthem of my country.”

Washington’s outstanding performances in the pool in Aruba also caught coach Smith completely by surprise.

“After what he did at Carifta nobody was really expecting for him to improve to the level that he did in such a short time,” he said.

Earlier this year Washington served notice of bigger and better things to come when he set two national records in the 50 and 100 metre freestyle as well as the age group record in the 50 metre butterfly at Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association Time Trial Meet.

The 2016 Olympic hopeful attributes hard work and the support of his family and coaches Smith and Richard Goodwin as the reasons behind his phenomenal year of competition.

“I have put in a lot of hard work and training and my family and coaches have given me wonderful support,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I have without my coaches.

“I think I’ve done pretty good and improved a lot this year. The year has been very good and hopefully I can carry it on to next year.”

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