PE’s Paige swims to gold in Botswana
Port Elizabeth swimmer Paige Brombacher described hearing the national anthem as one of her proudest moments after she claimed a gold medal at the Region V Youth Games in Botswana on Monday.
Swimming in the 200m breaststroke, the 15-year-old Collegiate pupil claimed the win in a time of just over two minutes and 32 seconds, which was also a new Games record.
Paige said it was a great honour, not only to represent her country, but to come away with the gold medal in one of her specialty events.
“My racing leading up to the 200m breaststroke was not as good as I was expecting. So to swim such a good 200 was really unexpected and made me feel good about my swimming.
“To win the gold was such an honour and it meant even more to me because I was representing my country.
“To stand on the podium and hear the national anthem was very special,” Paige said.
She said she had tried to stay calm ahead of the race.
“I did not want to go into the race with too much confidence and so I was telling myself that anything could happen,” she said.
This was the second time Paige had worn the green and gold, having competed at the Cana Zone IV championships in Zimbabwe last year.
In Botswana, Paige also competed in the 100m breaststroke, 50m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley races.
Although she claimed third place in both the 100m and 50m breaststroke heats, she could not advance to the final due to a ruling that allows only two South Africans to progress.
Having recently moved to Port Elizabeth from Maritzburg, Paige said the move had been a bit daunting but admitted she had already fallen in love with the city.
“The adjustment has been a challenge as my mom stayed in Maritzburg until December 1.
“But now my family is back together and I am so happy. I love PE and the people have been so welcoming,” she said.
Looking ahead, Paige said: “I am taking a break now, then I am going to nationals in March and I have a few galas in between but my main focus is nationals for the next three months.”
She trains at Infinity Swimming Academy under David Glover.
“My plans are to improve my times and hopefully break a few SA records at nationals in March.
“I also want to qualify for the Fina World Junior Championships in 2019.”