Varsity Lakes resident with Olympic dreams

By Cheryl Sterkenburg, Bond University journalism student

A young Varsity Lakes resident hopes to swim in the 2016 Olympic Games for Australia.

Mikaela Rawlings, 17, said the first goal she would like to achieve is to swim at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

“But my highest goal is to swim at the Olympics,” she said.

Ms Rawlings said her best achievement has been winning a gold medal for 50-meter freestyle at the national school championships this year.

Coach Ken Sabotic has Mikaela on a set a training schedule that includes swimming and gym training.

There are up to nine training sessions a week, totalling 20 hours of preparation a week.

Training tapers down the week before an important competition, which allows Ms Rawlings to build up her strength.

Ms Rawlings’ mother Tracy said the whole family supported her daughter’s dreams and enjoyed attending her competitions.

“We’ve enjoyed the journey with her and it has been a nice family bond for all of us to do together,” she said.

“We also support her by being the taxi to and from the pool. We are there for all of the swimmers, to work as a team, and support each other.”

Mikaela said the next important competition coming up for her was the Olympic trials in March next year.