Swim gold lands early
THE Commonwealth Games haven’t started but the accolades keep coming for two rising Gold Coast swim stars.
Elijah Winnington and Minna Atherton head into Christmas on a high after being awarded the Georgina Hope Rinehart Swimming Excellence Scholarship, setting them up for educations at Bond University from next year.
It caps a fruitful 2017 for Winnington, who has long trained at Bond and this month won seven gold medals at the Queensland State Championships.
The 17-year-old will study a Bachelor of Business.
ELIJAH Winnington and Minna Atherton are striving towards Commonwealth Games selection and now they are kicking serious goals out of the pool as well.
The rising stars head into Christmas on a high after being awarded the Georgina Hope Rinehart Swimming Excellence Scholarship, setting them up for education at Bond University from next year. It caps a fruitful 2017 for Winnington, who has long trained at Bond and this month won seven gold medals at the Queensland State Championships.
The 17-year-old will study for a Bachelor of Business with the ambition of following in his entrepreneurial grandfather Valentine Fittler’s footsteps.
“My grandfather is a business owner and my whole family works for that business,” Winnington said.
“It is something that interests me and it is something that I have been brought up to learn and … love.”
Winnington is eager to one day set up a sporting management company to work with athletes beyond the end of his own career.
“A swimmer’s career, their top performance only lasts 10 to 12 years so it’s a very short window when you are looking at an 80-year span of your life,” he said.
Atherton, also 17, was over the moon to win the scholarship after scaling back her swimming commitments to up her focus on academia.
“I spent a lot of time on the application and I was a bit nervous to see if I got it or not so I was really happy,” said the backstroker, who will study biomedical science.
“I’d always been thinking about in Grade 12 just cutting back a bit … I didn’t cut back too much, I just worked on more the sprint side of it so I wasn’t as tired at night so I could study more.
“It was a good decision for me I think.”