Ep 96: Alice Dearing

Today’s guest knows a thing or two about endurance, both in and out of the world of swimming. Get ready to meet the inspirational marathon swimmer, Alice Dearing.  Alice has been swimming since the age of four, and at the Tokyo Olympics became the first Black woman to compete in an Olympic swimming event for Team GB. It has taken 125 years from swimming’s Olympic debut in 1896 for this to happen, so let’s just let that sink in for a second and ask why? Well in this episode, Alice shares some insight on the racism that has prevented black people from accessing the world of swimming.  Alice isn’t just a game-changer in elite sport, she is also trying to change swimming at grassroots level too, by co-founding The Black British Swimming Association, which she hopes will reverse the statistics that 95% of black adults and 80% of black children do not swim.  It doesn’t stop there, Alice has co-created the very first swimming hat designed specifically for Black hair, something that is vital for representation in swimming, a place which hasn’t always made space for Alice. But why wait to take a seat at the table when you can build your own, like Alice has done, right?  I really hope you will be inspired by Alice's story, as she talks about the racism and mental health hurdles she’s had to overcome to participate in sport, as well as the sheer endurance it takes to just keep swimming.  As always, if you love this chat please get in touch across socials on @joshsmithhosts because it’s always great chatting to you and come back next week for the next episode in our special women in sport series! Love, Josh xx P.S. I am BEYOND proud that this series is empowered by Nike, whose ambition - just like Reign - is to champion women and girls and ensure they feel seen and included in sport and beyond.  Nike is committed to celebrating ALL women, supporting HER journey by taking action to make meaningful change and coming through with innovative style-led products you will hear all about in this series.  I’m sure you will have already seen the game-changing new England women’s football kit - which we talk about in this episode - that includes the new Leak Protection technology embedded in the lining of the Nike Pro Short for athletes. And Nike have also just launched the Phantom Luna - a women-led football boot, backed by Nike’s most meaningful investment in women yet that has taken more than two years of research, trialling, designing and styling to develop.  We haven’t even got onto the bras, leggings, Pro Hijabs and their maternity and plus size ranges so make sure you check out all of the latest innovation for HER product at Nike.com and @nikewomen.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices