Swimmer, 46, still going strong

Silver Maphosa, Sports Correspondent
“Whatever the mind can conceive the mind can achieve”These are the words that drive Tonia Weltin, the 46-year-old Zambian National team swimmer who was recently at the Bulawayo City Pool representing her country in the Cana zone lV swimming competition against 12 other countries that included powerhouse South Africa and the host Zimbabwe.

Tonia Weltin was born on 6 December 1970 and by the age of 10 she got her first gold medal in the 50 metre freestyle race.

The youthfully built and soft spoken athelete is a mother of two young ladies who are also established national team swimmers.

Ayla aged 20, herself a 200-metre butterfly specialist could not make the trip to Zimbabwe due to logistical challenges as she is studying in Germany and Stanni aged 16 who excels in backsroke also could not make the trip as she is about to sit for her final exams in South Africa.

It has not all been smooth sailing for Weltin who at the age 16 suffered a knee injury that persisted for over 10 years forcing her out of the sport that she loved most.

That setback could have easily shuttered her dreams of ever setting her foot into the pool.

It was at that age that she set to at least give back to her community in a coaching capacity everything she had achieved including her dreams.

That was not to be as the swimmers that she had gathered to coach openly challenged her in terms of what she expected them to achieve in the water.

That frustration, as she narrates, could have been enough to disassociate her from the sport.

But it was not so for Weltin as she chose instead to replace all those negative vibrations with a lot of positives .

She was totally convinced that even at age 27 she still had a lot to offer and something to prove to all those that doubted and labelled her a spent force.

Initially she chose to work on her mindset by joining Yoga classes to intensify her focus and subsequently did lots of gym work, triathlone and eventually dusted her swimming costume and jumped straight into the pool to put in those long hours that the sport demands.

Considering that she had been out of the pool for over a decade and now a mother she had to work harder to get back into shape and compete for honours like others.

It wasnt long before she could start getting her desired times as her personal best time quickly went down to 3 minutes 20 secs in the 200-metre breaststroke and as they say the rest is history.

She quickly points out that for all the hard work that she does at training she has to complement it with a corresponding diet that includes high protein, low carbohydrates, lots of vegetables and fruits and she avoids alcohol and sugary substances.

The Zambian states that she has a formidable working relationship with her youthful motivational national coach Ian Stephenson who is no stranger to this country as he was schooled at Falcon College, 45km out of Bulawayo.

Infact Weltin has at times played a national team coaching role in some swimming assignments.

Asked on the things that motivate her she says it is always an honour especially at her ripe age to be selected on merit for her national swimming team and donning the Zambian colours representing her country together with her daughters as it gives her fond memories, especially her last four Cana editions from 2011 to 2015 among the over 17 million elligible Zambians.

She stated that she gets a lot of satisfaction when her teammates are influenced by her presence in the team as was the case in Bulawayo when little 11-year-old Jade Phiri who got a bronze medal in the 200m Breaststroke popped up to us during our interview to register his gratitude at some tips she had given the youngster earlier on before the race.

Asked on her future plans and or retirement Weltin says she will be in the water until her final breath as she is inspired by a 105-year-old Japanese woman who is still active in the water up to date.

As a parting shot to all people thinking of taking up swimming Weltin said it is not too late to start learning this life skill and states that with just basic swimming skills a life can be saved, expecially nowadays when we have to put up with the unprecedented cyclones and floods. She said the sport is therapeutic and gives health benefits that go with subjecting the whole body to some form of exercise.