Alia Atkinson is a Jamaican swimmer and phenomenal athlete who has performed exceptionally in her field.
In a career filled with several record-breaking firsts, she is known for winning the 100m breaststroke at the 2014 Short Course World Championships in Doha, subsequently becoming the first black woman to win a world swimming title. Atkinson’s success wasn’t bred overnight, but from grit and determination.
Atkinson was born on December 11, 1988, in Saint Andrew, Jamaica. She began swimming at age four at The Queen’s School; her parents originally wanting her to acquire fundamental skills in the water should any eventuality occur. The young Atkinson, however, gradually began to feel more at home in the water than on land. She began training for the sport at age seven and started competing at age nine.
Four Olympic games, and four Commonwealth games later, Atkinson’s work is far from over. She reached the finals of the 100m women’s breaststroke at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, and racked up several medals in other regional and international meets. Atkinson continues to introduce Jamaican children to the sport when she’s not competing, and has single-handedly changed the perception of swimming in Jamaica. Focusing on the bigger picture, she also emphasizes learning swimming as a life skill.
Atkinson competed at the Long Course World Championships in Kazan, Russia in August 2015. She had recently become the short course world champion, breaking the Jamaican National Record in the semi-finals of the 100 metre breaststroke; she finished third for bronze in Kazan. Her finish made her the first Jamaican swimmer to win a long course world medal. After her history-making performance, Atkinson returned for the 50 metre breaststroke. She narrowly made the final, after finishing sixth in the semi-final. In the final, Atkinson dropped nearly a second off her semi-final time, and narrowly missed the gold medal when she finished .06 seconds behind Jennie Johansson of Sweden.
At the 2018 FINA Swimming World Cup, Atkinson competed in the second cluster of stops, including meets in Eindhoven, Netherlands, and Budapest, Hungary. On the last night of competition in Budapest, Atkinson broke the 50 metre breaststroke world record, reducing her time by .08 seconds, from 28.64 seconds to 28.56 seconds.
Atkinson’s success has not been without difficulties. She arrived at the 2012 London Olympics with no suit, and even had to pay her own way to get to meets using prize money from previous ones. Her road to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is proving to be more difficult than anticipated, clocking disappointing times keeping her from advancing to the finals of this summer’s FINA World Championships. But as has happened many times before, Atkinson hopes her winning spirit will help her prevail in the end.