Penwortham swimmer is a stroke of genius

2:38pm Thursday 17th July 2008

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When Daniel Sliwinski was a child, he said his mum and dad threw him in the swimming pool.

So it was a straight choice to literally either sink or swim.

Thankfully, he chose the latter and the 18-year-old is currently making a big splash in the sport all over the world.

He said: “Apparently my mum and dad chucked me in the water when I was a kid and it was something that I really enjoyed.

“I can’t really remember. I went to lessons and I swam for the school, but I’ve only taken it seriously within the last year.

“It’s always been a half dream of mine, but it wasn’t until I broke my first British record after I moved clubs about 16 months ago that I thought it was something I could be good at and a discipline I could succeed in.”

Fresh off the plane from the FINA World Youth Championships in Monterray, Mexico, Daniel, who trains with the elite Lancashire squad Gallica, had three extra pieces of luggage on the return journey in the form of gold medals, won in the 50m and 100m breast stroke and 4x100 medley.

And he could also boast world records in his age group in all three.

However, he admitted he still had some work to do when it came to singing God Save the Queen! “It was amazing. It was the first competition where I was presented with flowers and then my medal and I had to turn while the national anthem was played,” he said. “Unfortunately I didn’t know the words, but I’ve got plenty time to learn those.”

Four years to be exact, as Daniel, from Penwortham, has set himself the target of making the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

That will involve a great deal of dedication and training - up to nine sessions a week and 55,000 metres – with East Lancashire Olympian and coach Rob Green-wood, in swim-ming pools throughout the county.

He said: “I can’t really describe what it would mean to swim at the Olympics. I think then it would mean all the hard work had paid off.

“But if I did get there I’ve still got to be committed to swimming.

“A lot of people relax once they’ve made the Olympic team, but I’ll be going all out for a medal.

“I’ve got a coach who went to the Olympics (Greenwood) so he knows what it takes. Because he’s young, he knows the mistakes he made and he’s not going to let us do the same.

“And it’s been amazing working with him. I’ve dropped nearly seven seconds off my 100m time in the last year.

“I have to pinch myself sometimes to believe just how far I’ve come.”

In the build-up to 2012, Sliwinski, who has just completed his A-Levels in physics, maths and Russian, has set himself “mini-dreams” of mak-ing the senior world team to compete in Rome and reaching the Commonwealth Games.

Rated number one in the world at under-18s 100m breast stroke, he has also been offered a full-time scholarship at Indiana University, the same campus where legen-dary swimmer Mark Spitz – who won nine Olympic gold medals – also took up a scholarship.

For the moment though, he is back in the swimming pool training ahead of representing Great Britain at the upcoming European Junior Championships in Serbia.

And who would bet against him making more waves across there?