“Why don’t you swim?”
“I hate swimming.”
Believe it or not, the second person in that exchange is now in the fast lane to the Canadian Olympic swim team.
At the age of seven, Faith Knelson was watching her older brother win medals and trophies for hockey and baseball, and wanted some of that action for herself. She liked being in the water — hence the suggestion — but didn’t like the idea of actually swimming. Still she was persuaded to take up the sport. She began competing at the age of eight, and success soon followed.
“When I was nine, I started to win medals, and I realized it was something I wanted to do as a sport,” Knelson, now 14, recalls. “I realized what my passion was.”
She gradually gave up softball and dancing and focused entirely on working at being a competitive swimmer, training with the Ladysmith-Chemainus Orcas swim team.
“I wouldn’t say I had natural talent,” she says. “My passion to be in the water drives me to be a better swimmer.”
Knelson, who lives in Saltair and is in Grade 9 at Queen of Angels School, is now on the national ID team and will be heading to Toronto next week for the Canadian Olympic trials, where she will swim against some of the best athletes in the country.
“I don’t have much of a chance at the Olympic trials, but I’m going for experience,” Knelson says.
While a spot at the 2016 Rio Olympics is a long shot, Knelson will be competing for a spot on the national junior team that will represent Canada at the Junior Pan-Pacific Championships in Hawaii in August. Focusing more on making the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Knelson is already carded by Swim Canada, which means she can receive funding for her training, and will be travelling to Bermuda in May to represent Canada against international competition.
“I think every athlete’s dream is to be an Olympic athlete,” she says. “It’s one of my dreams to compete in the Olympic games.”
Earlier this month, at the AAA provincials in Victoria, Knelson broke a seven-year-old provincial record in the 100m breaststroke. Her time of one minute, 8.63 seconds is the fastest time in Canada for U16 girls.
In addition to reaching the Olympics, Knelson is hoping to obtain a scholarship so she can compete for a university team while working on a medical degree. That’s still a few years away, but much of the foundation for that goal is already being laid.
“I’m definitely excited to see what the upcoming year brings,” Knelson says. “I feel like everything’s taking off. All the pieces are falling into place.”
Even Knelson is amazed by how far she has come in the sport.
“When I started swimming, I didn’t think I had the physical or mental ability to be a high performance athlete,” she says. “I definitely proved myself wrong.”
Not only is she an accomplished swimmer, but the girl who hated the sport has even come around to enjoy it.
“I love swimming,” she says. “I can see myself swimming when I’m 80 years old. It’s my passion. It’s something I want to do for the rest of my life.”