Eva Okaro relishing trailblazer status ahead of World Championships

Teenager Eva Okaro is happy to be cast in the role of trailblazer as she prepares for her World Aquatics Championships debut.

Okaro became the first black British swimmer to compete in the pool at an Olympic Games at the age of just 17 in Paris last summer when she was part of the women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay team which reached the final.

Now 18, she is heading for the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore delighted to be inspiring other young swimmers.

Okaro, who won the 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in April, said: “I think it’s a privilege to be in this role and I like to be a role model to especially young girls of any ethnicity, any colour, it doesn’t matter.

“But it’s just nice to know that I’m not in this alone as well because they don’t just look up to me, but they encourage me and want to see me do well and I think that’s also a big thing, just knowing that there are people behind me and people that I don’t even know that just believe in me.

“That helps a lot with my confidence and being able to perform.”

Asked if she was aware anecdotally of youngsters who had been encouraged by her rise to prominence, Okaro added: “I’ve had a few messages before and I’ve been stopped a couple of times by little girls who are basically just telling me that they keep swimming because of me, which is really nice.”

Okaro, who still trains with her twin sister Izabella, is scheduled to compete in the 50m and 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly in Singapore, although is yet to make a decision on whether to take part in all three after missing a week and a half of training while she sat her A-levels.

Whatever happens at the World Championships, she will be heading for the United States later this year to continue her athletic and academic careers at the University of Texas, glad her exams are out of the way.

She said: “It’s definitely made me feel more relaxed, 100 per cent, because little things like even homework or turning up to lessons and waking up at 7.30am for breakfast, stuff like that, I don’t have to do that anymore so I can solely be focused on swimming.

“That’s definitely something I’ve got in my locker now and it’s just made it a lot easier for me.”