Often viewed as a recreational or a luxurious pass time, swimming is a seriously underrated sport in India. While the country is brimming with talented swimmers, their stories of glory and accomplishments are rarely featured in the sports news or are usually overshadowed by the latest cricketing gossip. However, Indian swimmers continue to impress on the global stage and let their achievements do the talking with relentless hard work, dedication and persistence.

In this exclusive interview with SPOGO, Indian swimmer Divya Satija speaks about her journey so far, becoming the national record holder of women’s 50m butterfly, her influences, overcoming challenges, future goals and more!

Q 1) When were you first introduced to swimming and what motivated you to take up the sport professionally?

I started swimming when I was 10 or 11 years old. My dad used to swim recreationally when we were on vacations and I would observe and wonder what swimming was like, the feeling of the water and so on. There was a swimming pool in my school and that introduced me to the sport and because I was already familiar with what swimming was about, getting into the water was easy. I was a little better than others because I had an idea of what swimming is because of my observations and I was invited to join the elite batch by my coach. The kids in that batch were already swimming quite well and in a year, I became the fastest swimmer in the district. After that I competed in the state and national level competitions and that’s how I started.

Q 2) As the national record holder of the women’s 50m butterfly and winner of a number of accolades internationally, what is your proudest achievement so far?

My only aim was to represent India and for many years I was working very hard to make that happen. My first International was at the Asian Age Group Championship in 2019 where I won my first individual bronze medal. However, the thought kept playing in my head that I had not won a gold medal at the International level, and when you do, the national anthem is played and the flag is hoisted and I wanted to experience that. In the South Asian Games in December 2019, I won four gold medals and that was my best achievement because I also heard the national anthem after my victory.

Q 3) Who are some of the most influential people in your journey as a swimmer so far and why?

I’m a person who gets easily inspired by people who cross my path. When I started swimming in 2006-2007, there was a girl named Richa Mishra who was a star swimmer and I always admired her because she used to win gold in every event. After that, when I started training with international medallists, I learnt small things from different players. Everybody would give me small tips and I would add it to my swimming ability, swimmers in India such as Sandeep Sejwal and Virdhawal Khade have always motivated me and internationally, Sarah Sjöström has inspired me and I want to be like her. She is the world record holder of the women's 100m butterfly.

Q 4) How has the experience of training under Dronacharya winner Nihar Ameen been at the Dravid-Padukone centre of excellence in Bangalore?

Since I've been swimming at my school, there have been different experiences with different coaches. Being at PDCSE at the top in athletics, the training and the culture over there is totally different. There are players who have already represented India who are working hard to achieve the goals that they have set for themselves. The environment pushes you to work hard, you can't back out, that's what the environment is like. They take care of everything, we have physios available and we have the big sized pool which is the only FINA approved pool in India. They have a bunch of other facilities available there as well for strength and conditioning. All the different coaches are working with you according to your performance.

Q 5) What are some of the challenges that you faced in your journey as a professional swimmer? How did you overcome them?

If I compare my past and my future, what all changes I've made to achieve all that I currently have, the biggest challenge I’ve faced is anxiety. To deal with that, I have worked with psychologists that Simply Sports provided me with. We also face challenges with nutrition. “You are what you eat”. So all these things need to be taken care of. The challenges always keep on coming, you have to handle the smaller things and learn from them. I can't even call them challenges because I have overcome them and it's all a part of life and they have helped me.

Q 6) What are your goals and aspirations for the future? How do you plan to achieve them?

Currently my goal is to win a medal at the Asian Games. To achieve that I have been working on every small detail that I can do to improve myself. If I aim at 50 meter butterfly, I have to get a perfect start. I need strength in my legs so I can push myself to a better start for the best outcome. I need to work on my underwater kick so I have to take small steps to get there. In the dolphin, we have underwater recordings to notice the smallest errors and change them and implement it in practice. We have coaches who came from outside the country at the national camp who made recordings, did the power test and analysis with the coach. We sit together, study the videos, work on the minute things and work towards changing those. I work on my strength and power because that's what I need in 50 meters.

If you wish to support Divya in any of the areas to see her excel, then please reach out to Simply Sport https://www.simplysport.in/donate.

You can write mail to them at [email protected].