More Than Medals: Alice Dearing and Her Mission to Diversify the Future of Swimming
Alice Dearing is a trailblazer in British swimming—not only as the first Black woman to represent Great Britain in an open-water swimming event at the 2020 Olympics, but also as a fierce advocate for diversity & inclusion.
With multiple national titles and European Cup medals to her name, Alice co-founded the Black Swimming Association to tackle the deeply rooted inequalities in access to water safety, championing lifesaving skills in Black and Asian communities.
In this exclusive interview with The Champions Speakers Agency, she reflects on her journey from competitive swimmer to social activist, explores the power of representation in sport, and reveals her bold vision for a future where everyone—not just the elite—can feel comfortable in the water.
Q: How can increasing diversity in swimming help inspire the next generation of talent across under-represented communities?
Alice Dearing: “It is massively important to have as many people from as many backgrounds swimming as we can. Swimming is a life skill, and that’s something that I’ve kind of been on a journey of learning as I’ve been going through my experience with co-founding the Black Swimming Association, but also as a swimmer myself.
“Initially, when I was coming through it, I just only viewed it as a sport or something to be done to try and be the best at—or the best you can be in. But as I got older, I realised there are a lot of people who don’t have a healthy relationship with water and have unfortunately been told all of these myths and stereotypes which are keeping our communities away from swimming.
“But also, this extends to anyone from any background. You know, this is a life skill—we should all know how to do it. And there are some specific issues which the community that I’m from, and Asian people as well, are having troubles with getting in the water. Whether that’s because culturally it’s not seen as important, or we’ve actively been told through the past that we should stay away from swimming.
“We’ve kind of arrived at a place now where there aren’t that many Black or Asian people in swimming at a competitive level. Myself being the first Black woman to swim for Great Britain— that only happened in 2021, which I’m really proud of, that achievement, amazing achievement. But at the same time, it kind of highlights the fact that we have a lot of work to do.
“Recently, there was another Black woman who swam for Britain as well—so change is happening, it’s just not happening fast enough. And having that diversity is important to showcase to people that we should all learn how to swim.
“It just helps improve health, fitness, lifestyle for so many people across so many different communities and different issues which they do face. So, I really try to advocate for swimming—to go and give it a go if you’ve never done it before. It really can open doors for you.
“I’ve been really fortunate that it’s given me so many positive things in my life, and I want other people to be able to experience those things too.”
Q: What first sparked your passion for swimming, and how did that early interest evolve into a professional career?
Alice Dearing: “Yeah, so my story into swimming kind of came from a whim from my mum—just wanting to put me and my second eldest brother into a sport. She didn’t really know where to start, so we were both doing swimming lessons at this pool. It was half an hour once a week.
“Then she saw the noticeboard for the local swimming club which trained at that pool, and I think she just emailed them. They said, “Yeah, come along to the classes on Sunday afternoon,” and she just told me like two days before. I didn’t really know how to take it—I didn’t really want to go, if I’m being honest. I was quite happy with my half an hour a week. I didn’t think I needed to involve myself any further.
“But we both went along, and we both fell in love from the first session. Really enjoyed the competitive aspect of it, really just wanted to improve ourselves and get our technique better and try and be the best swimmers that we could be.
“My brother eventually moved into coaching because he started a little bit too late to get really good—and swimming is a tough sport like that. So I started with the swimming club when I was eight years old, and he was thirteen. He still carried on for quite a while and then moved into coaching.
“Anyway, my passion came from just wanting to try and be the best that I could be. I didn’t ever look at swimming as a sport that could take me to the Olympic Games or that I would be competing for Britain. I obviously thought about it but never thought that it would happen to me, or never thought that I had the capabilities, the talent, or the work ethic, to be quite honest.
“So, it was always about getting to the next level for me. Taking a very narrow approach—like putting blinders on, like a horse or something like that—and just focusing on the next stage.
“So, for me, that started off at county level. I was really happy I got my county time and then looked up to the regional times. I was never looking at the county time trying to get a national time or something like that—it was just very step-by-step, taking it in my stride and enjoying it as much as I could.
“I’m quite honest about this—there are times in swimming when I absolutely hated it. That I thought about quitting. That I didn’t really want to do it anymore, especially being a teenage adolescent.
“But whenever those moments did happen, my mum would say to me, “Okay, just take the evening off training and see how you feel afterwards.” And I would take it off and then I would come into her room afterwards and tell her that I felt guilty that I didn’t go swimming and that I wanted to swim. And she was like, “Okay, that’s fine. We’ll just go back tomorrow—it’s not that deep.”
“This happened not often—maybe once a season or something like that, so once a year. But in me, I just knew that swimming was something that I wanted to do. No matter how hard the work was, I still felt like it was a big part of me.
“There were things I wanted to achieve in it, and I was going to keep trying and keep pushing, persevering, and trying to overcome all of this self-doubt, dislike of training sometimes, and all those barriers which can prevent you from doing the thing that you want to do, if that makes sense.
“So, just having that attitude to view training as a tool to better myself—it wasn’t the be-all and end-all of swimming, if that makes sense. Even though most of it was training, there was still so much around it that you have to contend with and try to improve yourself on.
“My passion definitely started at an early age, but it’s ebbed and flowed. I can’t sit here and pretend that it was easy the whole time and that I enjoyed every second of it. But I’m so proud of where I started and what I’ve been able to achieve.
“Yeah, I just can’t believe what swimming has given me in so many aspects of my life.”
Q: As co-founder of the Black Swimming Association, what impact are you hoping to make on water safety and inclusion—both in the UK and globally?
Alice Dearing: “The Black Swimming Association is set up to advocate for water safety for Black and Asian communities in the UK—but honestly, looking worldwide with a very global approach.
“This is an issue that we’ve seen replicated across so many different cultures, so many different places around the world, where people who look like me just don’t really get involved in swimming. Even if they live by water, or even if their jobs are on water, they just don’t swim.
“Starting here in the UK, looking in cities like London, Cardiff, and moving into the Midlands hopefully very soon—my personal aim with the BSA is very broad, it’s very utopian.
“It’s the idea that everybody knows how to swim one day. That preventable drownings do end. That we give people the tools to know how to look after themselves in and around water, how to look after each other, and hopefully get very basic swimming lessons—where learning to float and feeling comfortable in water is the goal.
“What the BSA is doing at the moment is not really swimming lessons, but more water safety, water orientation courses—where we’re taking people who have never had those opportunities to get in a swimming pool at any point, or have had severe aquaphobia, and giving them step-by-step movement every week.
“Getting used to having their face in the water, getting used to knowing how to float, so if anything did happen to them, they would have those skills. And then it leaves them in a place where they can go and learn to swim afterwards.
“We’re not specifically a learn-to-swim charity or anything like that—it’s really about advocating for our communities, basically in the boardroom. Speaking to Sport Wales, Sport England, London Marathon Fund as well—all of these amazing governing bodies within sport—to give ourselves a voice at their tables and see how we can change aquatics for Black and Asian people.
“Then also the other side of it is of course the water safety aspect, which is the core of the BSA.”
This exclusive interview with Alice Dearing was conducted by Chris Tompkins of The Motivational Speakers Agency.
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