KINGSTON, Jamaica – World joint record holder for the short course 100m breaststroke, Jamaica's Alia Atkinson took to the social media, Twitter and Instagram, following her record equalling swim yesterday to give her personal thoughts on her accomplishment.
This is what the ace swimmer wrote; "This is more than about me. A country...a nation, a race. First Jamaican swimmer, first female swimmer from the Caribbean, and I believe first black female swimmer in over 40 yrs. This is not just mine. #Caribbean waive is coming #likkle but we tallawah #never give up #never surrender"
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/More-than-about-me--ndash--Alia-AtkinsonInteresting she says "first in over 40 yrs", though. That may imply she knows about someone the sports writers have forgotten about.
On edit: ah, the world championship is the first ever, and it's about a record from before short course pools were internationally recognised for records:
Alia Atkinson made history in Doha this evening when she became the first black woman – and racer from Jamaica either gender – to win a world swimming title – and the moment came with a fourth line in the history books: in 1:02.36, she matched the world record of the woman she pipped, Ruta Meilutyte, Olympic and World l/c champion.
The first black woman ever to hold a world s/c record – in the days before FINA recognised standards in the little pool – was Enith Brigitha, of The Netherlands, 40 years ago. Brigitha, beaten by East Germans at major meets throughout her career, set the 100m freestyle standard three times in her career, overtaking Shane Gould‘s 58.1 from 1971 with a 57.04 in 1974. (I went swimming with Gould today – a thrilling experience on a day when Atkinson’s swim gave us reason to recall the world of water four decades ago).
http://www.swimvortex.com/alia-atkinson-with-wr-first-black-woman-world-champ-40yrs-after-pioneer-brigitha/
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