A 17-year-old schoolgirl made history as the first black female swimmer to compete in the pool for Team GB at an Olympics.
Eva Okaro swam the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, combining with Anna Hopkin, Lucy Hope and Freya Anderson. The GB quartet finished seventh on Saturday night. “It’s our first Olympic final together,” Eva said afterwards.
“It was so much fun.”
But she admitted that she was ‘more nervous than she had ever been’ before the race. She added: “It was just kind of mind-blowing. I am honoured to be in this position.
“I think it’s an incredible achievement just to get here.” The first black woman to swim for Britain at an Olympics sent a message of support. Alice Dearing, 27, made history in Tokyo as she took to the water outdoors in the marathon swim.
Eva’s mum Helena, admitted Eva sometimes found it “stressful” to be a role model for the black community. But Alice, from Birmingham, said that she should follow her heart and not worry about anyone else.
“Just be yourself,” she said. “Don’t worry about people’s expectations. I decided to speak out about being a black woman swimming as I wanted to see change.
“I was frustrated that things were not moving as quickly as I wanted.” She added: “But I don’t think any athlete should feel pressure to talk about these issues.”
On retirement, Alice, a former world junior champion, told the Mirror that she felt it was time to move onto other ventures, possibly as a TV presenter. “The Olympics were really special,” she added. “I am just so glad that I was able to experience that in my career.”
Okaro grew up swimming with twin sister Izabella in Kent and joined Sevenoaks Swimming Club, setting British age records by the age of 14.
She was then invited to join elite training weekends with the British senior team in Loughborough as the sprinter followed in the footsteps of Anna Hopkin.
Okaro clocked 54.46, just 0.13 behind British champion Hopkin for silver to book her Olympic debut. Kevin Burns holds the title for the first-ever black British Olympian swimmer after competing at Montreal 1976.